There are occasions in our daily living that bring us up short by reminding us just how old we are getting. A month or so ago my children were talking about a rocking chair that we have in our basement and I told them that their grandmother had gotten it with S&H green stamps. Their looks questioned my lineage from Mars. Green stamps? For those too young to remember, in the old days gas stations and grocery stores would give out little stamps equal to the amount of your purchase as a promotion. The stamps would collect in the glove compartments of the car and the bottom of purses, in kitchen drawers and in coat pockets. Every once in a while somebody would collect all the green stamps and lick them and stick them in books. Green stamps always tasted terrible. Then with considerable discussion some item from a special catalog would be chosen and someone would gather all the books and trek to the redemption center. The stamps would be turned in, and some item would be "redeemed," bought back. In a sense the item had already been paid for, when you bought the gas or groceries or whatever but it had to be claimed. Since the passing of green stamps we don't commonly use the word redemption anymore--until that is , we get to the text that we have for this morning.
Jesus begins our lesson in discussion with the disciples. His description paints this awful picture of the confusion of the cosmos; distress among the nations, the roaring of the waves, the shaking of the heavens. Our natural reaction to such convulsions on the earth would be fear and trepidation. The expectation would be that people would crawl into a cave or at the very least quake in bed with the covers pulled over their heads. But no, to these signs and portents Jesus says "stand up, raise your heads for your redemption is drawing near." Just when all the world seems to be crashing around your ears, just when the forces of the universe seem to be aligned against you, just then; stand up, raise your heads for your redemption is drawing near.
Throughout the Bible, God's prime activity is redemption. God
continues to attempt to bring us back, to buy us back, to claim
us. Despite people's attempts to turn away and to thwart God's
saving activity, despite natural and unnatural catastrophes redemption
happens at God's initiative. Nothing that we can do, no amount
of effort on our part, can redeem us, only God can. But God will
redeem us and in this is our hope. Often associated or even equated
with salvation, atonement, forgiveness, and justification, redemption
has its roots in the practice of buying something back. Redemption
is a transaction that recovers something or someone originally
belonging to the purchaser which for some reason has passed from
possession. Now why if we had originally belonged to God would
we now have to be redeemed? Because the world and the forces that
work in it co-opt us. We can begin to believe that the world
of power and avarice, greed and intimidation are just the way
it is, we lose hope. We are co-opted by the dark side. We get
sucked into believing that what we see is what we get and sometimes
what we see is not very pretty. But Jesus tells us to stand up,
raise our heads for God has come to buy us back.
In the Gospel of Luke, it is interesting that Jesus will move
from this discussion with his disciples directly to the frightening
and catastrophic events of his trial and crucifixion, his buying
back of humanity, with the painful price of himself. While the
final consummation is still a future event beyond human apprehension,
the divine initiative in redemption, as Luke would have it, is
just around the corner. This lesson is about invincible radical
hope. When everything is falling apart, raise your heads for God
is in charge and on this final stage God can be depended upon
to take over. This is hope based not in our own efforts but in
God's activity.The people of God are called to live in hope, regardless
of those things which might understandably strike fear in the
hearts of many and cause them to live cynically or irresponsibly.
The people of God can see beneath the surface of chaos, and are
enjoined and empowered to live in the confidence of God's victory.
They know that, even when the winds of winter blow coldly, summer
is already near. No matter what may happen in heaven and on earth;
indeed these may even pass away; but God's victory is sure; God's
words will not pass away. It is so easy to deny or forget this
hope when the world seems filled with confusion and hatred, destruction
and terrorism. I was so moved last week when Dave Johnson who
had just gotten back from working on Project Build in South Africa,
got up at the announcements to describe the situation in South
Africa. Walls and barbed wire are everywhere, he says. Those walls
and barbed wire are the outward signs of fear and suspicion. A
fear that seems insurmountable, but is a reality of the world.
To that fear our lesson says "stand up and raise your heads,"
for as Dave said, God is at work here. God is at work here. Stand
up, raise your heads for God can bring redemption even to what
seems a nightmare.
In a few weeks we'll be singing that haunting carol, "O Little
Town of Bethlehem." In these Sundays of Advent, the four
Sundays before Christmas, we also look toward Bethlehem with the
same mixture of hope and longing. Bethlehem remains a plain-looking
little Arab town. For years it had a flourishing tourist industry
in December, but this year Christmas and Advent will not be celebrated
in Bethlehem. There is simply too much tension between Muslims
and Christians and Orthodox Jews. Crowds in Bethlehem would provide
an audience for one cause or another. A troop of pilgrims could
invite violence from zealots of one religion or another. Ironic
to think that Christmas will not come this year to Bethlehem of
all places, but again: Bethlehem is as ordinary as can be. Bethlehem
is pretty much like everywhere else, only a little more so: divided
into bitter factions, poised on the brink of violence, desperate
for peace.
"The hopes and fears of all the years" meet in Bethlehem.
Yet Bethlehem is not at all ordinary. The very mention of the
place is enough to start us dreaming and hoping. What with over
280 deaths in just the past few months in this land is not hard
to become cynical, to believe that peace will come only through
greater military power and intimidation. It is easy to be overcome
by the realities of the world. To this Jesus says, Stand up, raise
your heads for your redemption is drawing near. Our lesson today
is about radical hope. There are times in our own lives when chaos
seems to reign. One thing and another seems to come apart. Betrayal
and disillusionment are the order of the day. The more we try
to hold to our values and standards the more we are confounded.
To this Jesus says "Stand up, raise your heads for your redemption
draws near." The good news is not to be found in ourselves,
in our own ability to save ourselves, for that ability is not
in us--No, God comes to redeem us, to buy us back. God breaks
in to our world amidst signs of distress and confusion. God breaks
in and buys us back---and that is what Advent is all about.
Amen.