Advent 3, 2001

"To whom do you listen?"

By Fr. Joseph Neiman

St. Mark's Church, Paw Paw, MI

In Matthew's Gospel presented to us this morning, we hear this question of Jesus: "What did you go out to see?" I take that as a question which we might ask as well, albeit in slightly different terms. It might be: "Where do you look when you seeking meaning in your life? To whom do you listen?"

We are presented this weekend also with two prophets, Isaiah and John the Baptist. Matthew tells us Jesus considered John a great prophet. "Truly I tell you, among those born of women, now one has arisen greater than John the Baptist…." We also hear that marvelous little verse: "Let anyone with ears, listen."

To whom do you listen?

Let's look for a moment at Isaiah, at John, and then see the implications of these prophets for our lives this December.

The Dictionary tells us a prophet is "a teacher or interpreter of the supposed will of God, especially any of the Old Testament or Hebrew prophets." It also says a prophet is "a person who foretells future events" (Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus 1996).

Isaiah is clearly an interpreter of the will of God and one who foretold future events. He is in fact one of the greatest prophets in all of recorded history, and clearly the favorite of the New Testament evangelists who quote him more frequently than any other prophet or author of the Hebrew Scriptures (or Old Testament as we call the books). Almost every title we give to Jesus, such as Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, King of Kings, and such come from the writings of Isaiah.

Little is known about Isaiah, except what we can see in the Book which bears his name. He was clearly well educated and in a position to enter the royal courts of the Kingdom of David as all the evidence from both the Book of Isaiah and the other references in the Old Testament attest.

As noted in the first chapter of the book, he was the son of someone names Amoz and lived in the eighth century before Christ in Jerusalem under the rule of four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He was married and gave his children symbolic names, performed what were called miracles, prophesied - as did others - through symbolic actions, and oppression.

The Book of Isaiah is divided into five sections of approximately the same length, each beginning with an attack on the arrogance of his people, an appeal for justice, and ending with a prophecy or vision of the impact of faithful living not only for his people but for the whole of creation as well.

Parts of the book speak of events not in the 8^th century, but much later during the Exile in Babylon and the subsequent return to rebuild Jerusalem. Thus the book contains not only the words and deeds of the prophet, Isaiah, but also those of his disciples who acted and spoke in his name.

When I say that, I mean Isaiah did not have a vision of future events, as we popularly understand that phrase. Isaiah spoke of a descendant of David who would rule his people with justice, of a virgin who would bear a son who would be called Immanuel. A disciple of Isaiah during the Exile spoke of a suffering servant who would bear the sins of his people and make intercession for the transgressors. But Isaiah did not envision Mary. Isaiah did not envision Jesus. He did not envision the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and his exaltation as the Lord of heaven and earth "so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Phil 2:10 (NRSV), as Paul describes in the Letter to the Phillipians.

We'll come back to an understanding of prophesy in a moment, but first let is look quickly at John, the Baptist, whom Christians came to believe was the Elijah figure spoken of by the prophet, Malachi (4:5), as one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.

From Luke we learn that John was born to an elderly couple, that his father was a priest in the Temple, and that he was distantly related to Jesus (Luke 1). We see from all four Gospels that he left the priestly caste and went out into the wilderness to live as an ascetic living on locusts and wild honey and dressed in leather garments -- a picture of one like Elijah, the famous prophet described in the Second Book of Kings.

Like Isaiah, John was not starting a new religion, but rather calling his people to faithfulness. But he did initiate  a new ritual, called Baptism, which was not like the Temple purification rites. This ritual was one of a kind, a death to one way of life and rebirth to another. He challenged his people not to rest on their identity as circumcised sons of Abraham, but to see that God wanted men, women, and children to live faithfully in anticipation of the last judgment, which was coming soon, so they would not suffer the purifying fire as would those who continued to oppress the lowly.

It is interesting to note that everything recorded about John's words and deeds parallel those of Isaiah. A detailed list of those parallels are best left to Bible study.

Does the fact that Isaiah did not know Jesus, and that John was not in fact Elijah make our approach to the words and deeds of Jesus any less significant.

I do not believe so. Isaiah may not have been transported into the future to see events that are recorded in his book, but he knew God. He and his disciples were very familiar with the mighty acts of God in the past, could see the hand of God at work in the present, and knew, therefore, that God would act similarly in the future. In that sense he could foretell the future. He knew God would continue to act loving leading God's people to wholeness if they would live faithful.

Both Isaiah and John call us to faithful living, to obedience to the will of God for our lives.

So to whom do we listen? To whom do we turn to find meaning in our lives?

Many among us today look to prophetic type persons, whose writings sell well in this millennial era: Malachy of Ireland, Nostradamus, Joseph Smith, Edgar Casey, Jeane Dixon  and now Miss Cleo. They look to see how these persons allegedly knew about future events that have now or soon will come to pass. Some of the disciples of these prophet types believe it is only through secret knowledge that one can understand the inevitable destiny that awaits them. Some look to see if they will win the Lotto, find the right lover, get the best job, and so forth.

The prophets inspired by the Spirit of God, Isaiah and John the Baptist, however, speak openly and publicly, not in secret codes. They use the words and images from the Bible, to-be-sure, for that is their language for understanding the actions of a compassionate and merciful God, as James noted in what we heard a few moments ago.

We are approaching the celebration of Christmas, the day on which we celebrate that God, the Architect of the Universe and Author of History, took on human form in order to lead us to the life God intended for us to live. God would teach us through the words and deeds of Jesus that we, who are created in the divine image, can be creative, can be loving, can be compassionate, can seek justice, can become whole in body, mind and spirit.

Through the power of Spirit, God speaks to us in the quiet of our hearts, as God did to Elijah. God speaks to us through the recorded words and deeds of Jesus in the New Testament. God speaks to us through the words of others who are seeking to be faithful, both the written words of spiritual writers and the spoken words of Christian brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. God's word spoken in all of these ways seeks only one thing: our well being! Our salvation! Our wholeness! Do we have ears that hear, do we listen?

The awesomeness of the Incarnation is difficult for us to comprehend, and so we need to use signs and symbols to grasp some of the meaning of Emmanuel, God with us.

Our homework this week, is to appreciate the gift of those special people in our lives. As we wrap gifts, let us pause and reflect on the person to whom we are giving that gift. What does he or she mean to me? How has he or she influenced my life? What is the bond we share?

Note particularly those whom we love and who love us. The love energy they share with us is but a small expression of God's love which comes to us through them and through so many other means. As we grow in our appreciation of them as a gift in our lives, we can expand our appreciation of the great gift of the Babe of Bethlehem in our lives. God is with us. God is with us. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Paul would teach us (Rom 8:31).