Living in coronavirusworld 224: from the inside out

 12/7

pop up tests

West Park

Cold day.  On my walk. I see a pop up cover testing site in response to the spike in numbers.  Down at 86th and Amsterdam, new scaffolding is going up at West Park to replace what came down in the hurricane.  

John 1: 6-8,19-28

Tonight in Bible Study, we’re looking at the Gospel reading for the third Sunday in Advent. Usually known as “Joy” Sunday. Or Mary’s Sunday. The pink candle Sunday. And usually the Sunday when we read Mary’s militant magnificat. But the actual reading for this Sunday in Year 3 is John’s version of John the Baptist. A second visit in two weeks. Why? What’s up with that? The Magnificat is only an alternate. The John reading doesn’t; seem to have much socio-political punch and pretty much leaves me cold. I’d just as soon go to the Magnificat. But for that very reason I want to go with John. The pericope is cut to leave out all John’s cosmic Christ prologue, we’ll get to that on January 1. Some commenters believe that was originally a separate  poem anyways. All we’re left with is John.  Clearly based on Mark 1, which we studied last week, it becomes John’s own creation.  This is the most developed testimony of John about the Christ in the gospels. 

Luke is the only other Gospel to include Messianic expectations of John. The Messiah being the anointed king expected at the end of time. (His repeated denial seem to indicate that even in the time of John's writing, this was still an issue.)When John uses the word Jews, (19) he is referring to religious authorities, most likely Pharisees. But that word usage will create havoc and suffering for Jewish people for millennia. The Levites were Temple assistants, liturgical aids, administrators, musicians, guards, singers, etc. I explain that indeed the names rooted in Levi, eg Levy, Levine, etc., came from the tribe of Levi. Names like Cohen, Kahane, etc. come from the priestly class. Ultra Orthodox Jews believe that when the Temple is restored, people with these names need be ready to take on the assigned tasks. Ignoring how immigration officials at Ellis Island randomly assigned those names to Jewish immigrants for decades.  The question they bring to John is who are you, really?

Is he Elijah? Expected to return at the end?  Or a prophet like Moses?  He denied this  and quotes Isaiah 40: 3, he is the voice crying in the wilderness. The one they seek is “among you” but you don’t know him, referencing the prologue’s "..but the world knew him not..” He says the one who comes after me will be greater than me because he was before me, referencing the prologue's eternal Christ again. Amber Lee immediately gets that this is an early Trinitarian formulation.  That  if Jesus is divine, he had to be there from the beginning and if God is one, then Jesus and God are one and so eternally. This  all takes place on the east bank of the Jordan, in what today we call Jordan. And I describe how Jordan has its own set of holy places on the rive bank in parallel to Israel, most notably Jesus’ baptism place. 

So what is significant about all of this? First, in contrast to a certain contemporary President we endure, John is adamant that this is not about him. He is only the Messenger. The message matters, not him. And while the other readings today explicitly speak of liberation and deliverance (Luke 1:46b-55, Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11 and Psalm 126), John sees his job as preparing the people for restoration. The one who comes will baptize with the Holy Spirit, the people will be changed from the inside out. And that inside work is important. As much as Psalm 126 calls us to rebuild cities, we need to rebuild broken hearts, broken relationships and broken spirits. We are called to deal both with the external and internal. As much as we are to work for peace and justice, we are also to work for compassion and connection, it’s both/and.  Which I need to hear. I’m always suspicious of the internal focus as taking way form the external. A place to get lost. But the older I get, the more I recognize the importance of the internal. 

Certainly laws shape behavior and attitudes often follow behavior but the current division in our country shows the limitations of that strategy. Certainly the current President has shown how easy it is to organize unchanged hearts. 

We are called to make the path straight. We do that through living as citizens of God’s reign. When we touch people with love and through our actions, we have made straight the path and prepare the way for people to open their hearts to God’s transforming presence. 

I came to see that preparing the way is every bit a concrete justice work as the Magnificat.

(Thanks to Jon van de Laar, a Methodist pastor in South Africa for his thoughts on this passage.)

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Because we are living in coronavirusworld, we gather on ZOOM to remember our friend Rachel. We share out stories about this woman who, as one person put it, was old New York, when a nurse could  own a townhouse on Central Park and there were annual bloc parties.  We celebrated her attitude of grace toward life, never judging, accepting. Understanding  how complicated life could be. Anyhow important love is and passion, wherever, however they come.Welcoming any in need of a place to stay. I recalled how when she hit 90, she decided she could smoke again and how our communion was a Nat Sherman special cigarette from the tobacconist and a shot of single malt scotch on ice. And how I came to enjoy the Westminster Kennel Dog show with her, something I never would have done otherwise. And her profound sadness when her daughter died of bipolar and depression. So many stories. She was a woman in full. I said the final prayers. We had a toast, appropriately. And said farewell.