Good Shepherd United Church of Christ

Christmas Preparations                      Malachi 3:1-4
Dec. 6, 2009                                        Luke 3:1-6

I hope that you notice that I frequently preach from Old Testament scriptures.  I do this for several reasons.  First, to display the important companionship of our two collections, the Old Testament and the New Testament.  It is an odd fact that many Christians forget that Jesus was  Jew, all the disciples were Jews, Paul was a Jew.  We need, as Christians, to remind ourselves of our indebtedness to Jews for our understanding of God.

There is a story, a true story- I know, I was there- of a teacher leading a Bible study of the Gospel of Luke.  A Catholic student noticed that Jesus kept quoting Isaiah, which the student found confusing since, of course, Jesus is Christian.  "No, no!", exclaimed the teacher, "Jesus was a Jewish boy, who studied with the rabbi in the temple."  The student was nonplussed but slowly assimilated the information that Jesus was a Jew.  After pondering for a moment, the student stuttered out...."Well, all right, I get it that Jesus was a Jew...but...surely not the Holy Mother?"

Preaching Old Testament supplies an opportunity to confront as dangerous and Biblically insupportable an ugly tendency in Christian history towards "supersessionism".  Supersessionism goes roughly like this:  the mean ole God of  the Old Testament, the hateful punishing God of the Old Testament has now been superseded by the sweet affectionate, forgiving God of Jesus.  And furthermore, God favored the Jews for awhile, but since they did not recognize Jesus as Messiah (a fair-haired, fair-faced, fair-tongued German looking Jesus), God now favors Christians.  And furthermore, you must have a specific and narrowly spelled out personal relationship with Jesus to get into God's favor or you will land in hell with all the others- Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and well, maybe even Catholics.

That's where that ideology of supersession takes you and it is not a place that is true to either Testament or the person of Jesus Christ.  Both testaments proclaim God who manifests as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, One who is dissatisfied until all are gathered by grace.  Both testaments depict the spirit of God as a verb- proclaiming, anointing, challenging, calling, cajoling, healing, forgiving, welcoming, judging...Both testaments describe God in multiple, variant images- rock, breath, wind, child, warrior, judge, doctor, mother, farmer, bread maker...Both testaments declare that God is everywhere- there is no place beyond God.    God is in the heavens and on earth, in playgrounds and prisons, in schools and shops, at home and in all the nations.  In other words, God is unconfined.  And God is indiscriminate, would exclude no one from loving kindness.

Today's texts depict God as one who comes with fire to prepare humanity to receive God's kingdom.  From Malachi we have the image of fire for purification.  From Luke the image of the fire that burns away the chaff- that part of the wheat which has no nutritional value and no propagating value.  This is good news, remember...not news that God desires for you to burn in hell, if you don't get it right.

A group of women were studying the book of Malachi.  They came to verse 3, chapter 3:  "God will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver".  The students wondered what this said about the character of God.  One of the group volunteered to find out about the process of refining silver and report back.  She phoned a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him work.  She did not mention any interest other than her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

She arrived at the silver studio and watched as the silversmith held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up.  He commented that he needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire, where the flames are hottest, in order to burn away the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us where the flames are hottest.  She remembered that the verse says God "sits" as a refiner and purifier of silver, so she asked the silversmith if it's true that he has to sit by the fire the whole time that the silver is being refined.  The man answered, "Yes", he not only has to sit there holding the silver, but also must watch over it intently the whole time lest it be accidentally destroyed.  The women sat silent for awhile, then asked, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

The silversmith smiled and said, "Oh, that's easy!  When I can see my image in it."

If today some of us feel the heat of the fire, we might remember that God is like a silversmith, waiting patiently to see the holy reflection emerge as purities melt away.

When John the Baptist comes screaming out of the desert, barking, "Repent! Repent!" and refers to the winnowing fire, please do remember previous mentions of fire in our scriptures.  Malachi with his silversmith imagery;  Daniel as he walks through the fiery furnace with his friends Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego.  This image of fire is a continuum and bespeaks the character of God- the promise keeper, the one who comes as prophets proclaim.

The imagery ought not terrify you, but rather get your attention.  This is not about a "gotcha" God bent on hellfire and damnation for the world, except for that special minority who gets the code right.  Who would worship a god like that?  Certainly no the people who take the prophets as their guide.

One Sunday 4 years ago I decided to worship at another church, after the early service at my home church was completed.  That morning the preacher made a troubling comment.  He said it was his opinion that Jesus warns more frequently about hell than he mentions heaven.  That just did not ring true for me.  I decided I better check it out- so I went to my trusty Biblical Concordance (that's what you would do, isn't it?) to satisfy my doubts.  In fact Jesus speaks far more frequently of "heaven" or "the kingdom of God" and also gives us multiple, various examples of ways to get there.  Yes, there are ways to go astray, but there are so many paths home and they all pretty much have to do with the Great Commandment- love God and love neighbor as yourself.

John the Baptist's message is not about becoming a Christian- it is a message that requires you to give yourself over to God and is bound up with the idea that past failures do not predict a failed future.  We are not stuck in postures of greed, envy, malice, distrust which ruin human relationships.  Every generation has a new chance.  Every person is given a fresh start.  The world is not fixed.  No one is fated.  The future is open and fluid and responsive to the Spirit's intervention.

John did not invent this- he learned it from Old Testament prophets.  The repentance which John demands sets us on the high road.  Repentance acknowledges that there are evil events and evil behaviors and we ought not pretend otherwise.  We ought speak the truth about them and put our shoulders to the wheel to turn them around.  (The Baptist mentions the sharing of material goods and a fair tax structure as examples, if you read the rest of the chapter).

The kind of repentance John the Baptist advocates is about being more alive, more eager, more confident about the advent, the coming of God, a God who is interested in the removal of despair, interested in saving us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore...who is interested in rejuvenation, fresh starts...a kind of repentance that releases us from bondage to the past, prepares us and turns us to receive God's future.

The prophets speak consistently:  LOOK!  Get ready!  Don't be afraid!  A great thing is about to happen!

And God will come as a silversmith...as a winnowing fire that devours the extraneous, leaving the good seed.  Leaving us with a fresh start, a new outlook, a purer reflection of love....If you ever hear someone propose that fire has to do with a Gotcha god, intent on punishing "non-believers"...don't you believe it!

The God of the Old Testament, proclaimed by Jesus, comes with Good News- we'd best believe that.  That God, who does that God come for?  Everyone.  When does this God arrive?  Soon and very soon.  Where does this God arrive? at the home of the humble heart.

The Good News is that the God of the Prophets and the God of the Apostles keeps to no boundaries- nothing is beyond God, and maybe more importantly, no one is beyond the reach of God, who is like a refiner of silver, sitting patiently, watching for the reflection to emerge.  And may we sit patiently with one another as we await the emergence of holiness in our midst.

AMEN