Last weekend was quite a weekend to remember! Lord Carey was with us, preaching and teaching. It all led up to the wonderful ordination service on Monday night when three deacons were ordained to the priesthood. We had four bishops participating as well as Lord Carey, the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury. Many people have commented on the fact that such a service required a tremendous amount of organization for it to go as smoothly as it went.
I’m going to tell you a secret. Whenever you have a large group of people participating in an event like the ordination service, things never go completely as planned. What you do, is plan the best you can, and then “go with the flow,” knowing that the plan will be altered, just not knowing how it will be altered, or when, or by whom! But that’s a metaphor for life, isn’t it? Life never goes according to plan. You can plan as much as you want, but there is only one thing that is sure and that is that things are never going to end the way you plan for them to end.
Another event is occurring today while the world is watching. Nelson Mandela’s body is being buried in his ancestral home village of Qulu. Mandela died on the 5th of December and his death is being mourned throughout the world. Known as the father of the nation of South Africa and the founding father of democracy, his life was devoted to achieving equality for black persons in South Africa. Mandela spent 27 years in prison because of his efforts to fight the system of apartheid. Eighteen of those years were spent on Robben Island. His room was 8 feet by 7 feet, and he slept on the damp floor on a straw mat. He spent his days breaking rocks into gravel and his nights working on a law degree. During this time he was permitted one visit and one letter every six months. He eventually was released and helped to lead the country in the abolition of apartheid, the dismantling of institutional racism, poverty, and inequality, and devoting himself to fostering reconciliation. Mandela said of himself, “I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.” Mandela is an inspirational model to countless people of forgiveness, of how not to let injustices of the past imprison one’s spirit in the present. My favorite quote of Mandela is this: “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
It’s safe to say that Nelson Mandela didn’t plan for his life to go the way it did. He didn’t plan to spend 27 years in prison. He could not have planned that he would eventually become the President of South Africa. You can plan as much as you want, but there’s only one thing that’s sure, and that is that things will not go according to your plan.
John the Baptist was a man who definitely had plans. He was a powerful preacher, known throughout all of Israel. He knew the Messianic prophecies and he believed that the Messiah would overthrow the Roman government and make Israel the greatest of all nations. Furthermore, John believed the Messiah had come and would soon make his move. John saw his role as being one who would prepare the people of Israel to receive the Messiah. He understood that to prepare rightly for the Messiah was to repent, whether we’re speaking of the repentance of a peasant or of a king. In fact, he preached at least one sermon in which he accused King Herod of having broken God’s law by marrying his half-brother’s sister, Herodias.
John was a fortunate human being. He didn’t have a life of ease; he lived in the wilderness, wore unbelievably uncomfortable clothing, and ate locusts and wild honey. But what he had was a clear sense of purpose. He knew without a doubt what God wanted him to do. And he was good at it. Countless people came to hear him, and many were led to change their lives because of his preaching. All of that went according to plan—John’s plan as well as God’s plan.
All of a sudden, however, John’s life changed drastically. The authorities took notice of his antiestablishment preaching. Herod didn’t like him saying that there would be a new king, and Herodias was livid with him for questioning the legitimacy of her marriage to Herod. Because he spoke treasonously of a government in Israel other than Rome, he had broken the law. Now John is in a deep hole from which there is no escape. It’s dark and damp. That free spirit that preferred the wilderness, that was at home with wild beasts, was imprisoned, with thoughts of execution inevitable. This wasn’t the plan. Where was the Messiah?
So John sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you he who is to come or shall we look for another?” You can hear the despair in the question. While John had been sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah, he obviously had not been given the whole plan. He did not understand that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world.
As Jesus was wont to do, he didn’t answer John’s disciples’ questions with an outright yes or no. He compared his deeds to Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me.” In other words, “You know the scriptures; judge for yourself.” In that day as in every day since, we have the record of Jesus’ deeds, but each person must decide for himself or herself whether or not to put faith in him.
John’s question was no idle curiosity, no religious speculating, no philosophical reasoning. His question was from deep within him. He was in trouble. He had been brought to his knees, and he was asking the question all of us ask when the foundations of our lives are quaking. Whom can I trust? Is there any meaning in my life? Has anything I have believed in or done had any meaning?
The answer Jesus gave may not have been what John wanted to hear. He may have wanted something like this: “Yes, I am the Messiah and I will send my disciples, along with ten legions of angels, to rescue you. Everything will be fine.”
When we go to God with our burdens we want those burdens to be lifted, and sometimes they are. But often they remain and we are left to see God in the midst of our trials. After all, Jesus himself was not spared the burden of the cross. Isn’t that at least part of the meaning of the incarnation, God taking flesh and living among us as a human being? He chose a humble birth, not birth in a palace. He chose to live among us as One who serves, not as one to be served. He offers to be with us in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, and to show us the way through those circumstances, that his love may sustain us and triumph through us.
What trials are you facing right now? How have the plans you’ve had for your life been disturbed? Maybe, like John, you’ve been brought to your knees and led to ask some very basic questions about the direction and purpose of your life. Have you taken this burden to Christ in prayer? He is here. He is near us and he wants us to rely on his love and mercy. When we allow this to happen, God makes whatever burden we bear bearable and gives it meaning. When that happens, it doesn’t matter that our plans have been changed. Even the most evil things can work for good.
Sermon preached by the Very Reverend Fredrick A. Robinson
Church of the Redeemer, Sarasota FL
3rd Sunday of Advent
15 December 2013