Advent 3 A + Virgin's light + 12.11.22
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Saints, Oxnard
(Isaiah 35:1–10
Canticle 15; James 5:7–10; St Matthew 11:2–11)
Have any of you ever had a simply excellent teacher in your
life? It could have been in school, or it could have been a relative who played
that role for you. Someone who helped you understand life in a deeper way, and
yourself? Maybe even who helped you grow in your relationship with God and
creation? Above all, that made you a better version of yourself by
acknowledging what you already held inside?
In today’s gospel passage from Matthew, I like to think of
Jesus as a Master Teacher, because of how he responds to John the Baptist’s
question. First of all, a bit of context. John was in prison. Now, with news of
Brittany Griner’s release this week- praise Jesus! And other awareness we might
have around correctional settings, we know that being in prison can be
incredibly difficult for a human being. And in the time of Jesus even the
meager protections that some (though not all) prisoners receive today were
stripped away. If you were in prison, you didn’t receive food unless someone
brought it and your life was on the line. Conditions were unsanitary at best
and hope seemed far away.
And so it happened that this person, all full of fire and prophecy in last
week’s gospel reading, is today seen huddled in a cell, questioning everything!
He begins to wonder- was I right to shake everything up like I did? Is this
Jesus fellow even the real deal? You can just imagine him, beginning to lose
that light inside, his hope slowly dying. And so his faithful disciples don’t
just bring him food (at least I assume they did- that part is not obvious
here), but they sustain him by going to ask Jesus if he really is the Messiah.
Now this is the interesting part. Because in a way, Jesus
doesn’t answer! Or rather, his answer is very indirect. He quotes Isaiah. He
says to tell him that “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news
brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” For someone
raised on the Hebrew scriptures, this is definitive proof that Jesus is the
Messiah. The fruit of what he is doing is so much more important than the title
he claims. Someone can say they are the Messiah all day, but can they heal? Can
they bring good news? If not, they can get out of the way! This moment reminds
me of that moment we have all had with a really good teacher- family or school
teacher. You know, the moment when you ask a question and they say: look at
what you see in front of you. What do you think? And they help you work it out
yourself. Because true learning does not happen just by being told what to
think. True learning happens when we receive information for ourselves and
understand for ourselves.
Jesus goes a bit farther here. He goes on to remind the
people gathered around him, including one assumes, John’s disciples, who John
the Baptist is. He says: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A
reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in
soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did
you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is
the one about whom it is written,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’”
In these words, Jesus reaffirms John’s role as the prophet
who laid the way for him. He is reassuring him that yes, you have made a difference!
Your ministry was not in vain. You laid the way for the Messiah.
One hopes that John’s disciples carried this message back to
John. Although he sadly passed away shortly thereafter due to political
machinations, one hopes that he went at peace, knowing that no matter what the
kings of this world might do, God was still very much at work in Jesus.
God has many qualities, but in Jesus we are reminded that God
is also our foremost teacher. God sits with us and helps us learn. God doesn’t
give us the answers but helps us to learn for ourselves. God helps us find the
strength within. God helps us to remember who and whose we are.
One of our scriptures today, the alternative to the Psalm, is
the Magnificat. It is the response of Mary to God’s request via Gabriel that
she bear the Messiah. At first one imagines her unsure, just a child, trying to
process this mysterious thing that is happening to her. But then, you see her
in a full-blown glory attack, singing:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.”
Although it may not look like it, although it may look like something shameful
and scandalous, in reality Mary knows she has been blessed. And that God will
use this blessing to bless the world in Jesus. Mary knows and she treasures
this in her heart. By God’s grace, she finds a strength she didn’t know she
had. Later, as if in reflection of the passage from James today, she will find
patience she may not have known she had, as she persevered through Jesus’
torment.
Tomorrow is the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is not
only a tribute to the Virgin Mary herself but it also recognizes the powerful
apparition of the Virgin to an indigenous leader named Juan Diego, which lead
to the founding of a church and included the miraculous appearance of the same
image we have adorned in our church today. I love this story because in it,
Mary does not just show strength in herself, but she empowers another. Juan
Diego is on the lowest part of the social ladder in ancient Spanish colonial
Mexico, but by the power of her message and her miraculous acts of providing
roses where none should grow as well as an image of herself as a very classy
calling card, he is empowered to speak to the church authorities and ask for
the construction of a place of worship in the Virgin’s honor. A humble leader
is lifted up, empowered by the Virgin, and many of the people of Mexico have
felt that empowerment in their faith ever since. This week, we also recognized
the Virgin of Cotoca, who appeared in the area of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. In the
town of Cotoca, some runaway slaves were running for their lives because they
had been accused of killing someone. In the jungle, they tried to chop some
firewood. But in the process of chopping the wood, they encountered in the bark
of the tree a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary. They prayed and asked that
she intercede for them, not allowing them to die for the death they had not
caused. When they returned to town carrying this miraculous image, they learned
that someone had already confessed to the crime, and they were spared.[1]
Each of the apparitions of the Virgin didn’t just show her strength, but
empowered the people with whom she interacted. Usually, the people that the
Virgin reaches out to are the downtrodden of their area- the indigenous person,
the slave or the child. People who, like John, need a ray of hope in their dark
times. They need to know that they are not alone, and her appearances have left
those who experience them strengthened by her presence among them. For some of
us Episcopalians, this may sound like a foreign language. In fact, even the
Episcopal Church in Mexico does not always honor the Virgin of Guadalupe
because it is concerned about seeming too Roman Catholic in doing so. But the
spiritual effect of these apparitions is not so different from the way that
Jesus sends strength to John in his dark prison cell.
And in the same way, Jesus speaks to us in our low moments
across the centuries, reminding us who we are. Reminding us to dig deeper, and
find the strength within. We, too, can do big things. No matter what this bad
old world tells us. A light shines, and we find strength inside. Praise God! Amen.
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