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Are We There Yet…?

The Rev. Thomas W. Simmons IV

My son George, who is almost 3 ½ years old now, has been grappling with the concepts of time…and waiting…and anticipation.  He has this game called Digin’ Rigs, which turns my computer into the driver’s seat of a bulldozer or a crane or front end loader or steam roller.  He loves the game and is often eager to play but we restrict his time in front of screens to about 30 minutes a day. 

When he asks to play we say, “You can play this evening.”  To which he replies, “Is it this evening yet?”  No, George.  This evening is this evening.  You have to wait and be patient.  “Is it this evening, yet?”  This can go on for several minutes.  You parents know what it’s like.  It’s a variation on the “ Are we there yet?” theme.  

But it IS hard to wait! We know that, don’t we?  Well so do the people in the Bible.  Our three lessons this morning deal with the same sort of questions and feelings.  “Are we there yet?”  “How long, Lord?”  Our three readings this morning tell the story of the people of God waiting for the coming of God. 

The story begins with Isaiah who brings us back to captive Israel: attacked, overturned and deported to Babylon because they had been so unfaithful to God for so long. In the 200 years or so since King Solomon died, Israel had fallen further and further away from God until God arranged for a little “time out” in Babylon for 70 years to bring them to their senses. 

But now the time of punishment is coming to an end.  They are almost there.  God calls his prophet and gives him a new message.  “COMFORT, COMFORT to my people, says your God… Speak tenderly to Jerusalem…that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” 

You can imagine how good that news was for people who’ve been waiting in exile for 70 years.  God is coming and his glory will be revealed for all nations to see.  Get ready for his arrival.  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  He is cutting a path through mountains and valleys, like when they cut the Green Way out to Leesburg. Nothing will stand in his way.

As in the Exodus, he’s coming to get you and will bring you back to the land of promise.  Like a Shepherd he will re-gather his scattered flock and carry them back to the green pastures of the Promised Land.  God fulfilled this promise with the decree of the Persian Emperor Cyrus, who like Pharaoh allowed the people to leave. The people returned and rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple under Ezra and Nehemiah, just as God had promised through Isaiah. 

Now, I can imagine a devout Israelite, reading Isaiah’s words and thinking, “Hmm, this restoration is great, but it seems that Isaiah had a more glorious fulfillment in mind.” Is that the end of story?  Are we there yet?  Well no, not yet.  This was just beginning.  Isaiah’s promises look to a more glorious coming of God, a much fuller pardoning, restoration and intimacy with him.  These promises look to the coming of Messiah. 

That brings us to our Gospel lesson where Mark announces the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Messiah.  Just as Isaiah cried out announcing the coming of God and urging the people to prepare a way for him, so John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness proclaiming the coming of Christ. 

He is coming!  He is so exalted that we aren’t even worthy to wash his feet!  He will baptize Israel with the long-promised Holy Spirit.  Prepare his way, REPENT!  John offered Israel baptism as a sign of repentance and cleansing from all evil. 

Christ came, preaching good news of God’s reign.  He extended his hands to the world and offered hope to those weighed down by sin, peace and comfort for the outcast and exiled, healing for the lame and blind, freedom for those oppressed by sin and demonic power. 

Jesus came as Immanuel, “God with us,” and fulfilled his work by dying and rising from the dead to free us from the power of sin and death, weakness and evil.  In Jesus we see - “all flesh sees” - God come down to earth, God dwelling in the midst of his people, God saving, restoring and shepherding his beloved people.  These are the things Isaiah had promised. 

Now, I can imagine a devout Christian who beheld these events wondering, “Hmm, is this it? Didn’t Isaiah promise more than this? When will God come with might and rule with his right arm?”  Are we there yet?  Is this the end of story? No, it’s not.  It is in fact just the beginning of the story. These promises look to a much fuller pardoning, restoration, coming of God and intimacy with him.  These promises look to the second coming of Christ. 

That’s what Peter addresses in our Epistle lesson.  People were wondering what was taking so long.  They’ve seen Jerusalem destroyed and were thinking that would be it.  Why hadn’t Christ brought the kingdom to fullness?  Are we there yet? 

Peter acknowledges their complaint but reminds them to not ignore the simple fact that God has a different sense of time than we do.  Whereas we measure the days, he measures the millennia.  “With the Lord one day is like a thousand years.”  He says that God is not being slow, just patient. And he is very patient. 

He needs to be. He’s waiting for us, each of us.  He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.  He’s patiently waiting for us to respond – for the WORLD to respond – to his promise and invitation.  You think it’s hard waiting for the Lord?  Well imagine what it’s like for him to wait for US!  Now THAT’S got to be frustrating! 

Remember two weeks ago we saw that “Christ must reign until he puts every enemy under his feet”? Well, he’s waiting for nothing less than the salvation of the human race and he sent us out to “make disciples of the nations.”  He’s waiting for them and he’s waiting for us to go and tell them.  We’ll start by Christmas caroling in the neighborhood across the street and then figure out where we go from there. 

When the work is done, Jesus will come and the promises given by Isaiah will be fully and finally fulfilled (say that 10 times quickly!).  He will purify the earth, purging it of the taint of sin, death and the curse and remake a new heavens and new earth, “where righteousness is at home.”  I like that.  It’s a new world where we’ll be at home – right? 

So Christ will return and we will live happily ever after.  Are we there yet?  It think so.  Is that the end of the story? Yes it is, finally – and yet the story is really just beginning.  We will enjoy eternity on this renewed earth, living in perfect fellowship with God and one another. 

The limitations, sin, disappointments, tears, onerous burdens, anxieties, losses, failures, illnesses that mar you life and mine will no longer hinder and assail us. We will be all that we were created to be, in perfect union with Christ and one another. They say that we only use 10% of our brains.  I wonder if that will be true in the new heavens and new earth.  We’ll see. 

This is the Christian’s hope, as we confess it every week, with hundreds of millions of other Christians for the last 2000 years: “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”  And that is the story of our hope, from Isaiah, Mark and Peter. 

And let me close with Peter’s words, “since all these things will happen, what kind of people should you be leading lives of holiness and godliness waiting for and hastening the coming of the Lord? ...Therefore beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish.”   

That’s the work he has given us to do in this season of Advent and for the rest of our lives. AMEN