December 15, 2013 Third Sunday of Advent James 5: 7-11 Matthew 11: 2-6
Rev. Catherine Purves
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything
before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven,
we were all going direct the other way…”
This is the beginning of Charles Dickens’ famous historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens was writing about the situation in England and France in 1775 at the time of the French Revolution, but he could have been writing about the first century, the world into which Jesus was born and the time when the new church had to struggle to survive. Or he could have been writing about our own day. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
I heard an interview on National Public Radio this week with the parents of one of the children who were killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting one year ago. Those two grieving parents, both scientists, have set up a foundation named after their six year old daughter, Avielle. It is dedicated to supporting brain research, trying to answer the question of why someone would take a gun into a school in order to kill children. The foundation is focused on prevention and community-building. They are raising money and gaining a lot of support for this important work. Avielle’s parents expressed the hope that something good might come out of their tragedy and that other parents might be spared the pain they felt. They talked about their daughter, showed the interviewer her paintings, and confessed that they still cry each and every day over the child they have lost. And this week, on Friday, there was another school shooting in Colorado. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
In our reading from Matthew’s Gospel, we learned that John the Baptist was in prison. His ministry of baptism and preparation for the arrival of Jesus came to an abrupt end when King Herod had him arrested. Overnight John went from being treated like a powerful prophet to being a forgotten nobody rotting in a jail cell. Meanwhile, Herod, that faithless king, was continuing to revel in his sin. John had been so sure that God’s Kingdom was breaking into history and that Jesus was the Messiah, the new king who would rule Israel. Why was Herod still in power? John began to second-guess his own beliefs about Jesus. So he sent his disciples to confront Jesus, and to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
John’s experience of moving from absolute certainty to sudden doubt when his own life situation abruptly changed may sound familiar to you. In the best of times when things are looking up, when you’re feeling healthy and strong, when those you love are also doing well, and when God seems like a real and present companion in your daily life – in the best of times it isn’t hard to have faith. But that can all change in an instant, when an accident lays you low, or an unexpected diagnosis throws the future into question, or a loved one gets a divorce, or your financial security ends up being less secure than you thought. When the best of times suddenly become the worst of times, it can feel like you are on a slippery slope, and your ready ability to see God at work in the world can also be undermined. As John sat in his jail cell alone and discouraged and surprised at this unexpected turn of events, he began to have doubts. We can all probably empathize with John’s situation and his questioning of his faith.
Jesus sent back word to John, describing his own ministry. “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” That was all good. God appeared to be powerfully at work in Jesus. It wasn’t exactly what John had expected the Messiah to do. Herod was still king. John was still in prison. In fact, it wouldn’t be long before Herod was pressured by his queen to have John executed. His disciples would come and remove John’s body for a quiet burial. And, of course, Jesus himself would soon be arrested, tried, and condemned to death. At this point in his ministry Jesus was surrounded by devoted disciples, the crowds were large, and miracles abounded, but soon he would be betrayed, abandoned, and crucified. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
Sometimes we tend to idealize other periods of history. The age of the early church is one such time. It was an era of tremendous missionary growth as the new faith in Jesus swept across the Mediterranean world and beyond. This was also an age of miracles in the Spirit-filled church. Imagine being inspired by actual eye-witnesses to the resurrection. The Christian faith was new and powerful. The apostles were devoted, the martyrs were brave, the churches were growing. It was the best of times.
But our reading from James reveals that it was also the worst of times. Nothing was yet firmly established; the church was young and vulnerable. Very soon they expected Jesus to return as judge, but no one knew when. How do you live with any kind of confidence or security when the end of the world could be today or tomorrow? Living at what they thought was the end of the age must have felt like the worst of times. James counselled the new Christians to have patience through their suffering. He lifted up the prophets as an example of the kind of endurance they would need. He even mentioned Job. If ever there was a man who lived through the worst of times, it was Job. Things turned out well for him in the end, but who wants to live the life of Job? It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
It seems that what Scripture is telling us is that it is always the best of times and the worst of times. If we are hoping that the ever-changing state of the world or the state of our own lives will give us reassurance and encouragement, we are going to be disappointed. Just when we think we are living in the best of times, we will discover that it is the worst of times. God is the only constant in our fluid and unpredictable world and in our changing and finite lives. In this tension between the best of times and the worst of times, we discover that we must simply trust in God at all times.
Apart from God, there is no external certainty or assurance based on the way the world is or how much things are improving. We cannot rely on ourselves to make life better; we cannot put our trust in basic human decency; we cannot assume that any man-made institution or government will endure. We cannot even find a strange solace in our pessimism about the age in which we live, because it will always be the best of times and the worst of times. Scripture maintains a realistic view of this challenging balance, because it is never all good or all bad, but somehow both at once.
Listen again to the words of Charles Dickens:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything
before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven,
we were all going direct the other way…”
Dickens is describing a revolutionary age that seemed to bring out the best and the worst in people. It was a time of uncertainty, a time of testing, a time of decision. He wrote about the world in 1775. He wrote about the first century and the twenty-first century. The challenge we face is the challenge he envisioned. It was the same challenge presented to John the Baptist and the same challenge that confronted the early church. Each present time may be experienced as the best of times and the worst of times.
What we as Christians can affirm is the fact that God is Lord of all time. It is this knowledge that sustains our faith and enables us to endure. In Jesus Christ, God laid claim on all time and turned it toward his purpose. We can now believe that all of our best times and our worst times are leading somewhere, because all of history is leading to God’s Kingdom. We are simply called to be patient and to endure through our joys and our sufferings. It is the best of times; it is the worst of times. But we must nevertheless affirm that it is God’s time.