Day of the Church Year: 1st Sunday of Advent
Scripture Passage: Luke 21:25-36
When I first bought my house, Brian very kindly offered me cuttings of bamboo from his yard. My front and backyards were bare canvasses in need of shade for myself and the chickens. So, I accepted the cuttings and excitedly planted them in a strategic spot on the east side of my house where the sun shined too brightly through the windows on summer mornings. At first, I worried about the bamboo, watched it expectantly, and carefully watered it. With surprise and delight, I watched the bamboo cuttings grow thick, green leaves on a stalk so strong and tall that, in just a few months, the bamboo hit the eaves of my house—which didn’t work for me—because it looked messy. I was sad when I decided to take a set of large clippers and chop them down. At the time, I pondered asking Brian for more cuttings and setting them in a better spot. But wouldn’t ya know? That bamboo came back! With a vengeance! I had to dig it out by the roots to stop it from growing in the small space between my east-facing windows and the chicken coop and decided to transplant a few cuttings to the northwest corner of my yard where they could grow freely without hitting a building. Again, I wondered if the plant would survive its move, but I shouldn’t have worried. My patch of bamboo has now survived multiple choppings, choppings nearly down to the ground. Six weeks ago at its most recent chopping, the bamboo was, I’m not kidding, at least twelve feet tall and those few bamboo cuttings now an area six feet by six feet. I now know the mystery and the miracle of this stand of bamboo. It’s always going to come back. For even now, stalks of new, thick, green leaves are poking through the mulch in my backyard in an area six feet by six feet.
Every morning for the last few weeks, the words of Jeremiah’s prophecy and Isaiah’s prophecy have come to mind as I’ve watered the garden in the backyard and glimpsed my patch of growing bamboo. From Isaiah 11: “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” From today’s prophecy from Jeremiah: “In those days and in that time, I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David.” The words from Isaiah begin a vision of the peaceful kingdom brought about by the coming messiah, a messiah during whose reign a wolf will lie down with a lamb and a leopard with a kid. The words from Jeremiah promise justice and righteousness after a devastating Babylonian exile in the form of righteous Branch, capital B Branch. In the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Israelites wait for God to send a messiah who will bring justice and righteousness. They wait for a shoot to come from the stump of Jesse, a branch to spring up for David. David is, of course, King David, the most celebrated king of Israel, the most triumphant, the beloved of God, the one who loved God with deep devotion, and Jesse is the father of David. The ancient Jews assume the messiah will come from the line of Jesse and David even if they have to wait. And they do wait...even though it looks like all has been lost, even though it looks like this is the end of the road for the people Israel. They wait for the 39 years of the Babylonian exile. They wait through spiritual, cultural, physical agony. They wait for a shoot, for a branch to grow up out of the stump of Jesse.
The Babylonian exile ends after 39 years. The ancient Jews held captive in Babylon return to Israel. They begin to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, the one destroyed by the Babylonians. After the devastation of the exile, however, the leaders of Israel return to their old ways even though God had warned of the consequences of injustice and empty worship practices. After years of deprivation and grief, instead of embracing justice and righteousness, the leaders of Israel—in true, human form—exploit those in poverty and forget about widows and orphans whose care is the very definition of justice according to the prophets. Meanwhile, the people wait to be surprised by a shoot from the stump of Jesse, by a branch sprung up for David.
This Advent as we are mired in our own mix of injustice and unrighteousness, in a world of greedy and self-focused leaders, in communities languishing from a still-continuing pandemic and all its effects, we too wait to be surprised by God. We too wait for racial injustice to end, for our leaders to work together for the sake of the common good, for compassion and goodwill for all people who flee their countries as a result of political persecution and economic strife. Every Advent, we wait for the coming of the Christ child with a curious suspension of time. We know Christ has come already and changed the world forevermore. Still, we wait with bated breath for the coming of Christ who will execute justice and righteousness.
The difference between us and the ancient people of Israel is that we believe the messiah has already come and that the messiah’s kingdom of justice and righteousness has already been established. We wait, yes, for that kingdom’s flourishing, but the surprise on this first Sunday in Advent is that Christ’s coming two thousand years ago, his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and finally the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on us means we live already in Christ’s kingdom of justice and righteousness. We wait, yes, and we also act as agents of Christ’s kingdom come this Advent. In a world that has already received the messiah, we are the green shoots from the stump of Jesse, the branch sprung up for David, we the body of Christ in the world. Not me, not you individually, but we the body of Christ together. We the body of Christ welcome strangers and feed anyone who’s hungry. We the body of Christ advocate for those who are vulnerable and pray for one another and the world. We the body of Christ build community in a world that is more and more divided. We the body of Christ contemplate how to best use what power and influence we have for the sake of our vulnerable neighbors. We wait, yes, and we also act with justice and righteousness, in some large but mostly small ways, like a green shoot growing from a stump. Christ and his kingdom of justice and righteousness has come and is come and will come and come soon. Thanks be to God! Amen.