The 'H' Word

Joshua J Sander
“The ‘H’ Word”
11/29/09

Jeremiah 33:14-16
Luke 21:25-36

I have an admission to make. I recently bought something for myself and Emmi to play with and… well… this is tearing me up, but… we do not fall within the listed age range printed clearly on the outside of the box. I should have noticed when I was ordering it on-line, because it clearly says “Ages: 5-12” in several places. I, um, am not between the ages of 5 and 12. And neither is Emmi. But we plan on thoroughly enjoying our Lego brand Advent Calendar! It has been sitting safely in its box on the coffee table in my living room since before Thanksgiving, and we can barely wait any longer! Or at least, I can’t. Emmi keeps telling me that there are only 24 days in the calendar, and that I have to wait ‘til Tuesday to open the first little door and build the first tiny little model... it’s been driving me crazy!

And can you blame me, really? After all, it has been Christmas in Wal-Mart and Target and probably any other store you can name since, oh, about October 31st! And as excited as Christmas makes me, even I feel like Halloween is a little early for Christmas to arrive. But my tree went up on Thanksgiving. I even have my old Lego monorail set circling it, just waiting for me to start working on that Advent Calendar so it has something Christmas-y to carry around the tree! After all, that’s what Advent is about, right? It’s like that pretty song from A Charlie Brown Christmas, “Christmas time is here / Happiness and cheer / Fun for all that children call / Their favorite time of the year…” The ever-growing commercial juggernaut that Charlie Brown so eloquently bemoans would certainly lead us to believe so.

But I have to admit that, despite my childlike glee over my Lego Calendar, today’s scripture lessons take us to a different understanding of Advent. Today’s lessons take us more to “Come, O Come, Immanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile…” than they do “Christmas time is here, happiness and cheer…” In the Jeremiah text, we find a time when the Hebrew people are war-torn, caught between the expanding Babylonian Empire on one side and Egypt’s futile resistance to the Babylonian expansion on the other—a time when the Hebrew people suffer in exile. It is into an atmosphere of injustice, defeat, and despair that Jeremiah speaks here. No happiness and cheer in sight—just the promise of a coming justice to be executed!

In the Gospel lesson we find Jesus in Jerusalem, at the Temple, foretelling the destruction and overthrow of both. And it is not at all difficult for the Disciples of Jesus to believe. Just consider that the Roman military leader known as Pompey actually took Jerusalem and successfully laid siege to the Temple itself during the time of Julius Caesar. After Julius Caesar was assassinated came Caesar Augusts. Augustus took ultimate power over the Empire through war and intrigue—he gained control through bloodshed and kept the Senate in line with the fact that he controlled the majority of Rome’s legions and could, if he had to, overthrow the Senate with brute force.

It was during the rise of Augustus that Herod the Great took power as the Roman client king of Israel. He was voted by the Senate to be “King of Judea.” This decision was backed up with military power as Herod took Jerusalem with the aid of the Roman army. He then protected his crown ruthlessly and with great bloodshed, executing whoever threatened him. Sometimes there was even a trial. The clearest insight into Herod the Great’s personality can be found in the Gospel of Matthew as he decrees that all children in Bethlehem and it’s vicinity below the age of two be put to death in an attempt to keep the child Jesus from one day taking power. Herod the Great never saw Jesus’ rise to popularity, but his son, Herod Antipas wasn’t any less evil. Herod Antipas was the one who had John the Baptist beheaded. Perhaps we should be singing some Credence Clearwater Revival, “I see a bad moon rising / I see trouble on the way…” Because it is into an atmosphere of political intrigue, instability, and violent executions that Jesus speaks here. No happiness and cheer in sight—just promises of signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars as the powers of the very heavens will be shaken!

Unless you’re the kind of person who keeps up with the Revised Common Lectionary, you probably weren’t expecting such dark texts to begin such a joyous season. It’s counterintuitive to focus on the Babylonian exile and the promise of a day of judgment when you know that just around the corner are shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night. On the other hand, when you are a defeated and exiled people with no rights, what do you have to hope for except a day of judgment and a time of justice? It’s counterintuitive to focus on the depredations of the Roman occupation of Judea when you know that just around the corner are choirs of angles singing “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace…” On the other hand, when you are a people oppressed by the impressive violence and might of an evil Empire, what do you have to hope for except for an apocalyptic upheaval which is even mightier? As Kate Huey puts it, “We know that the might and violence of Rome were impressive to behold, but on this day even the heavens themselves will collapse, and the stars and the moon will fall out of their places in the sky, nothing will work as it should, and things will no longer go on as they have in the past.” Even if you take into account the common metaphor of Jesus’ day, with the sun as a symbol of Rome and the moon and stars as symbols of the Empire’s client kings clustered around it—we’re still talking about the collapse of an Empire. And Empires rarely go down quietly and without repercussion.

You see, we have to go to the dark places to understand the point of these texts. If we refuse to acknowledge the darkness of exile and oppression we cannot begin to recognize the light of hope that shines in these scriptures. Advent is preparation for Christmas, yes, but it is all about Darkness and Light. We have to acknowledge the need for a Savior, for a Messiah, before we can have one. We have to acknowledge that there’s darkness out there, that it’s dark even in here, before we can ask that the light be turned on.

But maybe I’m preaching to the choir when I remind you that there’s darkness. I certainly don’t intend to leave us sitting in a dark place this morning. So let me share a story with you that always sheds a little light for me. It comes from an award-winning graphic novel entitled The Sandman, and it was written by one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. In this story, Morpheus, the Incarnation of Dream, has descended into Hell to retrieve something that was stolen from him. In order to get it back, Dream challenges a demon to a battle of wits. The demon begins, saying:

Demon: I am a dire wolf, prey-stalking, lethal prowler.
Dream: I am a hunter, horse-mounted, wolf-stabbing.
Demon: I am a horsefly, horse-stinging, hunter-throwing.
Dream: I am a spider, fly-consuming, eight legged.
Demon: I am a snake, spider-devouring, poison-toothed.
Dream: I am an ox, snake-crushing, heavy footed.
Demon: I am an anthrax, butcher bacterium, warm-life destroying.
Dream: I am a world, space-floating, life nurturing.
Demon: I am a nova, all-exploding… planet cremating.
Dream: I am the Universe—all things encompassing, all life embracing.
Demon: I am anti-life, the beast of judgment. I am the dark at the end of everything. The end of universes, gods, worlds… of everything. And what will you be then, Dreamlord?
Dream: I am hope.

Thus Dream defeated the Demon. But as Dream attempts to leave Hell with his prize, Lucifer attempts to bar his way with legions of Demons at his command.

Lucifer:Tell us why we should let you leave? …you have no power here… what power have dreams in Hell?
Dream: You say I have no power? Perhaps you speak truly… But—you say that DREAMS have no power here? Tell me Lucifer Morningstar… Ask yourselves, all of you… What power would HELL have if those here imprisoned were NOT able to DREAM of HEAVEN?

And the Million Lords of Hell part before Dream like the waters of the Red Sea before Moses and Dream walks out of Hell unmolested.

…Despite the fact that his people were defeated and powerless and suffering in exile, Jeremiah dared to dream that a day would surely come when justice and righteousness would be executed throughout the land. Jeremiah stood face to face with a demon and said, “I am hope.” Despite the fact that his people were at the mercy of a depraved and violent Empire, Jesus dared to give his disciples a dream that one day soon everything would change. Jesus stood face to face with a demon and said, “I am hope.”

This is the message of Advent, ladies and gentlemen. These are dark and uncertain times. But it is important in dark and uncertain times to dare to Dream. And Advent holds a challenge for each of us as well... for it is important in dark and uncertain times for you carry the light of Hope. You don’t have to be Jesus. You don’t have to be a prophet from the Hebrew scriptures. You don’t have to be a hero from a graphic novel. You just have to remember that the “H” word that holds the real power is “Hope,” not “Hell.” The message of Advent is the Light of Hope.

Let us pray. God of Hope, these are most certainly dark and uncertain times. The world is frightening. It is so easy for us to skip directly to the joy of Christmas, because if we don’t, we find that we tunnel vision in on our own problems, our own fears, our own darkness and uncertainty. It is all too easy for us to abandon the Hope that you have given to us, let alone dare to stand up and carry that hope to others. Help us see your Light. Help us dare to Dream, to Hope, and to embody your Light as we do your work in these dark and uncertain times. In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Amen.