Balance

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 63:7-9, Hebrews 2:10-18 and Matthew 2:13-23.

I am not a fan of sports in general but I love gymnastics. I love to watch people do things gracefully, perhaps because I am not graceful. I am especially amazed by people on the balance beam, doing back flips and landing on the beam and yet not swaying back and forth because they have such an exquisite sense of balance.

We all need balance simply to stand and to walk. One of the things I evaluated on patients I visited as a home health nurse was their gait, that is, how they walked. Falls are the leading cause of death among the elderly. Every second of every day at least one person aged 65 or older falls. 36 million of such falls are reported every year, resulting in 3 million ER visits and 30,000 deaths. One out of five falls causes an injury like a fracture or a head injury. More than 95% of hip fractures are caused by falls, usually by falling sideways. (Stats from nellis.tricare.mil) Sometimes older people trip but sometimes it is a matter of the person simply losing their sense of balance.

If you think of it, much of our life is about balance. We need to eat. Eat too little and you're malnourished. Eat too much and you get obese. And what you eat must be balanced between fats, carbohydrates, proteins and fiber. In addition to the starches and meat you love, you need to eat fruits and vegetables, just like your mom said.

In the same way your life needs to be balanced between activity and rest. We are more sedentary these days and sitting too much raises the risk of heart disease, obesity, stroke and even certain cancers.

Your thinking should also be balanced. We are seeing the imbalance in our society due to people who are too extreme in their political thinking, allowing for no nuance and no consideration of other viewpoints. Religious thinking also needs to be balanced. Jesus criticized his critics for having their priorities out of balance. He said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:23-24) And you see this today: supposedly religious people who make a big fuss about relatively trivial things—like saying “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy holidays”—but ignore more important matters like being just in their dealings with others, being merciful to those who need it and being faithful in following Jesus. In the parallel passage in Luke, Jesus adds “the love of God” as something badly neglected. (Luke 11:42) As it says in 1 John, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:7-9)

Famously when asked for the greatest commandment in the Torah, Jesus added a second. We are not only to love God with all we are and all we have but we are also to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:34-40) We must balance our duty to God with our duty to our fellow human beings, who are created in the image of God. Tip the balance too far in one direction or the other and you get either a religion that neglects people and their needs or a philosophy that has no firm moral grounding and entertains any and all human desires as valid. As it says in Deuteronomy, “So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you...” (Deuteronomy 5:32-33) It's like driving on US-1. Veer too far to the right and you end up in the mangroves or the water. Veer too far to the left and you run into oncoming traffic. As someone who passed out and did exactly that, I do not recommend it.

Our center of balance should be Jesus. He is both fully God and fully human. As our passage from Hebrews reminds us, he knows what our life is like. He was not born in a palace. He was not born rich and privileged. He was not born into an empire that recognized that all humans are created equal or had rights. He was not born invulnerable to pain or death. He followed God even when it meant running into opposition from religious leaders who should have been his allies. He followed God even when it meant he would be misunderstood and literally demonized. He followed God even when it put him in the crosshairs of officials who ignored justice and used their power to punish and eliminate their enemies. And yet he kept his balance. He rebuked a follower who tried to defend him with violence and healed the wounded member of the arresting party. He prayed for the people who were in the process of executing him. He made provision for his mother's care as he was dying. He assured the condemned man on the cross next to his that he would welcome him into paradise. He showed grace under fire.

For God so loved the world that, as we read in our passage from Isaiah, he didn't send a messenger or an angel to save us. It was “his presence that saved them; in his love and pity it was he who redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” As it says, “he became their savior in all their distress.” And as Hebrews tells us, “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”

That is comforting. When this world tests our strength, our character, our resolve to follow Jesus, we know that we are not alone. Jesus has been tried and tested by this world and he will stand with us. As Paul writes, “No trial has taken hold of you except what is common to humanity. Now God is faithful and will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able to bear. But with the test, he will provide the way to escape so you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) The Greek word for “test” can also mean “temptation.” Sometimes the way to escape temptation is just to say no. When the Nazis lined up innocent villagers to shoot, some of the soldiers refused to. They would not follow orders to kill civilians and noncombatants. And sometimes they were lined up with the villagers and shot. Which is why it is part of US military code that soldiers not only may but must refuse to follow illegal orders. And it is part of the general orders for Sheriff's deputies as well. Killing innocents is the mark of folks like Hitler and Herod.

We often forget that when tempted we can say no and walk away. But here again we can rely on Jesus. As Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.” You may say, “Well, of course he didn't sin; he was God.” But he was also human. That means that when Jesus was hit, slapped and beaten, he was tempted to strike back but didn't. That means when he was preaching to prostitutes, he was tempted to use their services but didn't. That means when a rich young man wanted to become his follower, he was tempted to tell him to give him all his money but instead told him to give all he had to the poor. That means that when he was offered all the kingdoms in this world if he just worshiped God's adversary, he was tempted but didn't. Being tempted is not sin; giving in to it is. It is deliberately deciding to throw off your balance and fall.

Through Jesus we can regain our balance. We can have restored to us a sense of what is too little, what is too much and what is just right in each situation. Jesus knew when to go along with the ceremonial laws of his Jewish culture and faith and when not to, like when people needed to be healed even on the Sabbath. He knew when to pay to Caesar what is Caesar's and when to give to God what is God's. He knew when to use his powers to heal and help and when to refuse people who just wanted to see something miraculous. He knew when people needed physical nourishment and when they needed spiritual nourishment.

In medicine, the body's ability to maintain a healthy balance is called homeostasis. We have internal systems that try to keep our internal temperature from being too low or too high. Our body tries to keep our internal chemistry from being too acid or too alkaline. It keeps our blood sugar from being too high or too low. There is a healthy range for everything, as you see whenever you get the results of a blood test.

Just so, to stay healthy spiritually, we need to keep a balance. We need to maintain a good relationship with God and a healthy relationship with other people. We need to study the Bible and we need to put what we learn into practice. We need to pray for things we need to serve God properly and we need to do what we should to obtain them. We need to serve God in the world and we need a day to rest and simply enjoy God and his gifts. We need to be in the world but not of the world, in the same way that to get somewhere in a boat it needs to be in the water but you don't want water getting into the boat.

We live in a fine-tuned universe. Like homeostasis in the body, the elements in the universe exist within parameters that make life possible. If the strength of gravity, electromagnetism, the mass of the electron, and the rate of cosmic expansion, among other things, were greater or smaller than they are, then stars, elements and stable matter would be unable to form. The fact that all of these basics are just right is considered highly improbable to have occurred by accident. God made a stable and balanced universe in which we could exist.

But our world is unbalanced and it is obviously our fault. We have tried to use the gifts God gave us to remake the world without regard to what God has said about how we are to take care of his creation and each other. Some people use their gifts to make more money than they can possibly spend in a lifetime but don't use it to help those who have too little to live on. Some people use their gifts to gain lots of power and then indulge their desires and passions rather than use it to make society more just and merciful. Some people who don't have money or power will use their brains or brawn to gain more for themselves by exploiting others as bad off or worse than they are. Some folks withdraw from the world, neither helping nor actively harming others with their gifts, but just letting things get gradually worse. There are no physical restraints that are keeping us from remedying these problems, just our spiritual and moral neglect. We don't want to make the effort or the sacrifices necessary to do what's right.

So God has made that effort and that sacrifice. He has entered the world himself to show us who he is and what we can become if we change our minds and our lives and follow him. As Paul wrote, “You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be clung to, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8) You may say, “Isn't that going a bit far in one direction?” Yes, but he did it to counterbalance a world that has been going full-tilt toward destruction. We have way too many people pursuing only their own good. Jesus came to tip the world back to one in which people seek the good of all. Every person who follows him helps restore the balance.

Jesus is the fulcrum of history. He is the pivot point, the center of gravity, the perfect balance between humanity and divinity, the person in whom heaven and earth meet. He restores our spiritual equilibrium and keeps us upright and moving in the right direction, neither veering to the left or to the right. Through his Holy Spirit, he helps us walk with him on the straight and narrow path as we journey towards our goal: to be with him and to be like him, children of our heavenly Father, becoming perfect images of the God who is love.

Foreshadowing

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1-1-7 and Matthew 1:18-25.

Often a writer will drop clues or hints for what will happen later in a story. It's called foreshadowing and you've seen it in many great stories and movies. I hate to spoil films but one that came out more than a quarter of a century ago has one of the best examples of foreshadowing you can find. In The Sixth Sense young Cole tells the psychiatrist Dr. Crowe that he sees dead people. But what he adds foreshadows the movie's startling plot twist: “They don't know they're dead.” My wife was one of the few people who figured out the ending by the midpoint in the film.

Another example of foreshadowing is found in the movie The Incredibles. When Mr. Incredible goes to Edna Mode for a new costume she vehemently refuses to add a cape, citing how many disasters have come to superheroes who had capes. And in the climax of the movie, the villain finds out for himself why having a cape is a bad idea.

Agatha Christie must hold the record for the earliest possible example of foreshadowing. Usually as people are murdered in her novels, it narrows the possibilities as to which of the survivors is the killer. But in one of her books, just as in the nursery rhyme that predicts how each will be killed, everyone ends up dead. We only learn who did it in a letter left by the murderer, who is also dead. But the title foreshadows the surprising finale. It's called And Then There Were None. (Unfortunately the ending had to be changed when the novel was made into a play and then a film, so that someone could survive to figure out who was responsible.)

The Bible also has foreshadowing. Sometimes it's subtle. Humankind's fall involves a tree, as we see in Genesis chapter 3. But so does humanity's redemption. In defying the Sanhedrin's command that they stop preaching about Jesus, Peter and the apostles say, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.” (Acts 5:30) The Greek word xulon could mean tree or anything made of wood. It's used here and in 4 other passages in the New Testament to refer to the cross. Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'” (Galatians 3:13, cf. Deuteronomy 21:22-23) And this usage could be literal because the Romans experimented with different methods of making crosses, including by stripping a tree of branches and using it as the upright to which a crossbar was affixed. So in a sense the cross on which Christ died becomes the tree of life which is also mentioned in Genesis.

Sometimes the foreshadowing in the Bible is explicit, as in prophecy. In today's passage from Isaiah, God is assuring King Ahaz of Judah that he need not worry about the military coalition of Israelites and Arameans threatening him. As a sign, a maiden will have a son named Immanuel. By the time the child knows good from evil, the threat will be gone. And that's what happened then.

This however is an example of a prophecy that has more than one fulfillment. Matthew picks up on this in his account of Jesus' birth. In this case the child is not merely named Emmanuel, but actually embodies the meaning of the name: “God is with us.” And it is often true with these double-barrelled prophecies that the second fulfillment is deeper and more significant. Originally this was a sign that God would remove a military power that threatens everyone in Ahaz's kingdom. But when Jesus was born, it signals the beginning of the Son of Man's mission to remove the power of sin and death from those who voluntarily become citizens of God's kingdom.

By the way, if you are disturbed by the fact that the Hebrew mentions a young woman but Matthew quotes it as referring to a virgin, you needn't be. The Hebrew word almah does basically mean a young woman, which includes virgins. Matthew is quoting the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible most Jews read at that time. It used parthenos, the Greek word for virgin, which reveals the deeper fulfillment this time around. As Mark Twain pointed out, history does not literally repeat itself but it does rhyme.

It is important to realize that in the first century, the only scriptures were what we call the Old Testament. The New Testament was in the process of being written beginning with the letters of Paul. When Jesus taught the disciples what was written about him he was using the Torah, the prophets and the Psalms. And there was plenty there about him.

This one in Isaiah is significant but there are others that are even more so. Later in Isaiah, we are told that “in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles...” (Isaiah 9:1) Who will do this? Is it God or perhaps a future king of David's line? Maybe both. About this king, we read, “For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us; and the government will be on his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his dominion and peace there will be no end. He will reign upon David's throne and over his kingdom to order and establish it with justice and righteous acts from that time forward and forever.” (Isaiah 9:6-7) Those are some pretty spectacular names and claims for a human king.

Some scholars argue that this refers to a traditional Davidic king, perhaps Hezekiah, Ahaz's son, and that these are simply royal titles. But there is nowhere in scripture any king given these titles. Hezekiah's name means “God gives strength.” It does not use the same words translated “Mighty God.” Elsewhere in Isaiah we are told “This also comes from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.” (Isaiah 28:29) God is the Wonderful Counselor, not any man. Also it is more typical to call God our father, and no mortal is everlasting. And while Judah was not conquered by the Assyrians, Hezekiah did pay them tribute by stripping the gold off the doors of God's temple. And he did fight against the Philistines, so the peace he brought was bought with the temple's gold and the blood of his enemies. Would that be appropriate for someone called the Prince of Peace?

Though Hezekiah was one of the best of the kings of Judah, the titles in Isaiah 9 seem excessive even for him. And despite all the good he did, getting rid of pagan shrines and reopening and cleansing God's temple, Hezekiah was arrogant. (2 Chronicles 32:25) When he showed off his treasures to the Babylonians, he essentially invited them to come back and conquer Judah. He didn't mind, though, because there would be peace in his lifetime. (2 Kings 20:12-19) That was neither humble nor wise.

This prophecy begs a greater fulfillment and Jesus, who is the everlasting God, is one with the Father, never fought a war but brings peace to his followers, and is a wonderfully wise counselor and thinker, is a better fit.

Then of course there are the prophecies of God's suffering servant, whom we read about in Isaiah chapters 49-53. It is difficult to read these passages and not think of Jesus, who was despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:3), was beaten, mocked and spit upon (Isaiah 50:6), was killed among transgressors (Isaiah 53:12), was buried in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53:9) and suffered for the sins of others (Isaiah 53:5, 8). To whom, other than Jesus, could these prophecies possibly refer?

Altogether scholars have counted more than 100 prophecies scattered throughout the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus. That's too many to be a coincidence. Some think the gospel writers invented things about Jesus to make them fit. But those referring to his death are so weirdly specific. And we know his crucifixion wasn't invented. Non-Christian historians like Josephus and Tacitus confirm his execution under Pontius Pilate. A Greek satirist mocks Christians for following a crucified leader. An early example of graffiti shows a man worshiping a crucified God. And why would anyone make up the idea that their leader died an humiliating death just to fit some old prophecies? It was not a good selling point. Paul said that the cross was a stumbling block to the Jews and seemed like nonsense to the Greeks. (1 Corinthians 1:23) Jesus' death was in the earliest Christian writings because it did happen, just as foreshadowed in the Hebrew Bible.

Scholar N.T. Wright points out one interesting fact about the gospels: all of the references to the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus' first coming end with his burial. The gospel writers did not quote any eerily specific passages that foreshadowed his resurrection. Yes, there were a few references to a general resurrection of the dead at the end of the present evil era. (Job 19:25-27; Psalm 49:15 and 71:20; Daniel 12:2; Isaiah 26:19) But you have to look hard to see those that apply specifically to the Messiah. (Psalm 16:9-10 and 49:15) The reason we don't see this as easily in the Old Testament is that this is God doing something new. Christ's resurrection is not clearly predicted by anyone but Jesus himself. The disciples could not anticipate it because it made no sense to them. They knew that the dead stayed dead. And they were not quick to believe in it even after his tomb was found to be empty. Just as you and I would in that situation, they had to see and touch and eat with their risen friend before they could accept it to be true. After they were convinced, they could not stop talking about it, even when facing death.

There are prophecies about Jesus that have not been fulfilled. They are the ones about Jesus' second coming. One key passage in Daniel says, “In my vision at night I looked, and there was before me one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14) That has not yet been fully realized. Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a seed, something which starts small and grows. (Matthew 13) Jesus also said to his followers that the “kingdom of God is within you” or “in your midst.” (Luke 17:21) The church, as N.T. Wright puts it, is to be a small-scale, working model of the new creation. So God's kingdom is something that exists today but not yet in its final form. It's like a butterfly which starts as a caterpillar and ends up as a creature whose beautiful wings let it fly.

When we say that God has a plan, we are not making it up. It is laid out in the Bible, including the long portion that was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. But like a lot of foreshadowing, we only see it after it has happened. Only after the plot twist has taken place, do we say, “Oh, yeah! Remember what we were told earlier!” Only after Jesus was crucified, died, was buried and then rose again were the disciples able to see that this was God's plan all along. It came as a surprise at first but later they realized it was inevitable. They just didn't see how God was going to bring it about.

But what does that have to do with us? We are all part of God's plan. We all have our roles to play. When I acted in plays in high school, college and community theater, I and my fellow actors were the most visible, of course, because people saw us on stage. But behind the scenes were the people who made the costumes, who built the sets, who created and collected the props, who did the sound, who did the lights, who sold the tickets, who did the publicity, and who ushered people to their seats. All of those people were necessary. Without them we would be stumbling around in the dark, unable to see or be seen, with no audience to even hear us.

Or think of it this way: We are God's Mission Impossible team. Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt could not save the day without the help of Luther, the computer guy, and Benji, the techie, and Ilsa, the spy, and even Grace, the pickpocket. Not to mention superiors who trust him and who provide the finances and equipment for him to carry out his mission.

God could do it all by himself but he loves us and lets us be part of it, the way Mom gives the kids things to do to get ready for Christmas dinner. Because there is another foreshadowing right in the first chapter of the Bible. In Genesis we read “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) God intended for us to be his vice-regents, ruling under him. But we decided to ignore his command and do things our way. Yet through Jesus, who is both fully human and fully divine, he has set it up so that “they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6) And all we have to do is say “Yes” to his offer. And “Thanks!”

The Forgotten Virtue

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, and Matthew 11:2-11.

When I was a kid adults would often tell us to be patient. “Patience is a virtue,” they would say. But nobody likes to be told to wait for something. And today, with a lot of things, you don't have to be patient. Want to buy something? In the old days—my youth—you would go to the store, shop around, buy it, and take it home. Today you can do it on Amazon with 1 click. And if you are buying an e-book, you can have it instantly. Or a movie. In the old days, you looked in the newspaper to see what films were playing where, got in the car, drove to the theater, got your popcorn, sat and waited through the short subjects, and finally the movie started. If you had to go to the bathroom, you had to wait until there was a part of the film you could miss and then sprint to the restrooms. If you wanted to watch your favorite TV show, you looked in the TV Guide to confirm the day and time it played. If you missed the episode, you had to wait for the summer reruns. Now you can watch movies and TV shows instantly, on your phone if you like. Want a meal? Rather than taking hours to prepare it, you can order it on Uber Eats or pop it in the microwave.

And the consequence is that people have less patience than before. We expect instant gratification of our needs and desires and instant solutions to our problems. But that's not how big, complicated and important things are accomplished. Making stuff takes time and some of it can't be rushed. That movie you downloaded in an instant took years of preproduction planning, several months to hire the cast and crew, more months to film and the better part of a year to edit the scenes, create and insert the computer effects, compose and add the music, and then publicize and get the finished product out. It took a lot of people working long and hard to create it. That's why the credits at the end take forever. The only thing that got faster was its delivery to you. Remember: the five seasons of Stranger Things took ten years or more to make.

I think that is the attraction of magic. We would love to have what we want without all the time and, let's face it, hard work that is involved in real life. Much of the stuff that the wizards do in Harry Potter's world can be done by us, not with a wand but with machines and hard work. Mind you, I wish my broken bones could have been repaired by magic and chocolate as was done to Harry. But in the real world I was in the hospital for 40 days and in the rehab center learning to walk again for 100 days. And then physical therapy at home for months. As a nurse, I knew it would take perseverance and hard work to get better. And it made me a more patient person.

Our impatience also leads us to prefer fast and simple solutions. But to paraphrase H.L. Mencken, for every complex problem there is a simple solution—and it's wrong! Complex problems usually require complex solutions. I think the reason we don't seem to be making the giant strides in medicine today that we were in the 20^th century is that then we were targeting low-hanging fruit. In the last century we discovered antibiotics as well as anti-rejection drugs that enabled us to transplant organs. We created vaccines that greatly increased life expectancy and in the last decade of that century, we mapped out DNA. What we are left with are conditions that involve several genes, epigenetics, a complex immune system and multiple organ systems. We are still discovering new things about our bodies and we are doing it with brains that we have only begun to explore and using our consciousness which we don't even understand.

If the the elements involved in keeping our bodies healthy are so complex, and fixing them is so time-consuming, why do we expect quick and simple solutions to spiritual problems? To be sure, the broad outlines of being spiritually healthy are fairly simple, as are those of being physically healthy. For the body, it is a matter of eating healthy foods in healthy amounts, drinking plenty of water, not ingesting harmful drugs, not engaging in harmful activities, getting exercise, and getting enough rest and sleep. And since we are both physical and spiritual beings, not taking care of your body can negatively impact you spiritually. An unhealthy body and lifestyle can make it hard to remain spiritually healthy. If you are exhausted, if your brain is addled by substances, if you are not getting adequate rest and sleep, it can affect your ability to perceive things from God's perspective and to follow Jesus. You can become irritable and veer off into angry outbursts or periods of despair and severe doubt. When Jesus saw how overwhelmed his disciples were, he took them off to a solitary place to rest. (Mark 6:31-32) Jesus took naps when he could, even in a boat during a storm. (Matthew 8:24)

For the spirit, the basics are also easily stated. We are to be disciples of Jesus, in whom we see both what God is like and what we can become. “Disciple” is just another word for “student.” When you are learning a skill, you need both to understand the principles behind it and to put them into practice. We learn the principles by reading the text, in this case scripture, and we apply them to the situations in our lives. It also helps to communicate with the teacher, which means praying and listening to the Spirit who guides us into all truth. (John 16:13-15) It means self-examination, evaluating what you are doing, seeing where you are doing well, and what you need to improve. It helps to have a study group, and that is the church. A good church is full of people also intent on learning to be like Jesus. Other students can share what they learned in living out the Christian life. They can help you understand difficult Bible passages and concepts by sharing their learning and insights. We keep up school spirit by meeting together to celebrate God and sing songs of encouragement. We also come together as a community when we eat and drink the meal that Jesus commanded us to observe, where the body of Christ on earth shares the body and blood of Christ, feeding on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

But just as it took my broken body a while to get to the point where I could physically walk again, it takes some time to get good at walking in the Spirit. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like grain which is sown. It starts by growing in the ground unseen and it takes a while before it emerges and is visible. Even then it has to continue to grow and develop the features which show that it is mature. (Mark 4:26-29) So being a Christian is a growing process and it takes time. It usually takes a lifetime.

Multiply that by the number of Christians in the world. They are all at different stages in their growth. Not all of them are growing in the best soil. (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23) And there are weeds among the wheat, churchgoers who say they are following Jesus but who aren't. (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) Getting the world ready for the King and the culmination of his kingdom in its fullness will take time. And all these complications make it a complex process. We need to have patience until his coming, as James says.

Still, even John the Baptist was getting impatient, as we see in our gospel reading. Stuck in jail, he began to wonder if Jesus was in fact the one sent to usher in God's kingdom. John knew he was probably facing execution. Why hadn't Jesus rallied his followers, overthrown the wicked powers of this earth and rescued him? No doubt John was thinking of those passages in the scriptures, like verse 4 in our reading from Isaiah where it says, “Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” John's preaching was primarily about God's coming judgment. There is evil in the world and John couldn't wait for the Messiah to start taking names and kicking butt. So why wasn't Jesus doing that?

If when Jesus first came, he started dispensing strict justice, there would be an end to all evil on earth—because every human being would be ended! As Paul says, “There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12) In the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the farmer doesn't want to pull up the weeds before harvest time because that can also uproot the wheat. (Matthew 13:29) Getting rid of evil people is even more complicated because unlike bad plants, bad people can be redeemed and become good people. Jesus isn't going to end the process before the right time comes. The Bible says, “God is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) God is being patient for our sake so we should also be patient.

But Jesus is also looking at the other part of the prophecy like verses 5 and 6 in our reading from Isaiah, where it says, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” So he tells John's disciples to pay attention to the positive things he is doing. Jesus is not simply interested in opposing evil; he actively does what is good. He heals, he forgives, he brings good news to those who desperately need it. And by this he will convince more people to trust him and turn back to God.

In Advent, as we said last week, we anticipate both the comings of Christ. The first was to redeem us and plant the seeds of the kingdom of God. The second is the harvest time, when the weeds and wheat will be separated, when evil will be judged and punished and good will be rewarded. John was only thinking of judgment. But that had to be prepared for. A good teacher knows that it is not enough to tell their students about the wrong way to do things; they must demonstrate the right way as well. Jesus came the first time to demonstrate the right way to live for God and treat other people. The next time he comes, he will see who has been learning and applying what he taught them properly. He will see who has let his Spirit teach them and produce in them the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

In contrast to the fruit of the Spirit, Paul points out that “The actions of human nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, divisions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and other things like these. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21) It's not because God is a killjoy; it's because these attitudes and actions are not healthy for individuals and certainly not healthy for any community that wants to last. You can't have a peaceable kingdom of God unless you have people who have been transformed into the spiritual and moral likeness of Christ. And the transformation of lots of people will take time.

In the meantime, we will have to put up with the painful process of people (including us) changing their lives as well as the resistance of people who don't want to change. Some people like and even encourage chaos. It gives them the opportunity to exploit others who are willing to give up their freedom in exchange for promises that things will be easy and safe. Letting things go on as they are, even though they will fall apart, is a lot easier than building them up and maintaining what is good. The irony is that what is easy at first—not doing the hard work of doing what's good—makes things much more difficult later. And when you don't keep things in good shape, they become unsafe.

Life is hard no matter what you do. You have to choose which kind of hardness you want to deal with. It is hard to do what's right but it is also hard to live with the consequences of not doing things right. It is hard to treat others as you would like to be treated but it is also hard dealing with the consequences of treating people badly. It is hard to love and obey God but it is also hard to deal with the consequences of rejecting his love, forgiveness and healing. And trying to create an adequate substitute for the source of all that is good is doomed to failure.

We need to rediscover the virtues of patience and perseverance. Jesus never promised that his way would be easy. He said instead we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him. (Luke 9:23) He also said “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) And he made a lot of promises to “the one who overcomes.” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:8, 12, 21) But we can only overcome our ordeals through Jesus. (Romans 8:37) Paul said “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) As Jesus said before he endured the cross and conquered death, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Better Than Jesus?

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72, and Matthew 3:1-12.

I originally started this sermon relating how I went to Wendy's and found that the voice on the speaker was Artificial Intelligence rather than a real person. But that almost completed sermon was completely erased by my computer and replaced by 7 pages of hashtags, even though I had clicked on the Save icon. Which illustrates the point I was making. As someone said, to err is human; to really screw things up takes a computer.

Despite what the tech bros say, A.I. is not going to be our savior, partly because there is not now, and several experts think there will never be, what they call General Artificial Intelligence. Computer programs can do certain specific tasks better and faster than humans but they cannot do things like use common sense, or rely on lived experience, or understand how other people think, or have a sense of humor or doubt themselves. Because they don't actually think. They scan what others have done and then do a summary or make something similar, like make a picture in a particular style.

Yet the tech bros think they can replace any human activity with A.I. A lot of the stuff you read, hear and see on the internet is computer generated. In Germany and Japan they are working on making robot nurses. In Kyoto, Japan they have a cute anime-style Buddhist robot/priest who preaches sermons. In 2017 to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, an exhibition in Wittenberg, Germany created a clunky robot that gave blessings in 5 languages and would even print them out. Neither of these are a substitute for a person. They can't listen or empathize or speak from experience.

The problem is that not only can't we duplicate what God has created, we are flawed and biased and so our flaws and biases end up in whatever we create. Elon Musk tweaked his A.I. Grok to only say complementary things about him. When people on his platform X (formerly Twitter) found out, they asked questions about how he compared to other people. It said he was better than any person in any field of endeavor, even athletes like Le Bron or Simone Biles. Grok even said that Musk was a better role model than Jesus and better at resurrection in that he could rise from the dead faster! I'd pay to see that.

A.I. is just the latest attempt by humanity to create a better world without resorting to God, or as N.T. Wright puts it, to get the fruits without the roots. At least the people who were flocking to John the Baptist knew what to look for. His message, as we read in today's gospel, is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Nor was he talking about the afterlife. Matthew's gospel appears to have been written to Jewish believers and to keep from offending them by overusing God's name, he said “kingdom of heaven” instead of “kingdom of God” as all the other gospels do. And Jesus' own message echoes John's. Jesus said, “The time has come and the kingdom of God is near. Repent, and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15)

Unfortunately, the people then, like some people today, were thinking of a kingdom like any other, only holy. They were thinking of a kingdom with boundaries and a political system. Their idea of a Messiah was a holy warrior king like David who would defeat the Romans and expel them. The problem is they didn't even learn from their own history. David's kingdom split up after his son Solomon died. The northern kingdom of Israel was run by bad kings until it was conquered by the Assyrians and the people were taken into exile in 722 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah survived under kings descended from David, some good and some bad. That kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians and they went into exile in 586 BC. They were allowed to come back 70 years later under the Persians and then the Greeks. They became independent for about 100 years and then came under Roman rule. All earthly kingdoms, empires and nations rise and fall.

Earthly kingdoms take up specific areas of land and offer earthly resources and power. So earthly rulers want to keep what they have and gain more if they can. The people living on the land are only relevant as a workforce and taxpayers. There are leaders who would gladly rule over a land of robots. They would be less troublesome.

Jesus famously told Pilate that his kingdom did not come from this world. For one thing, his followers weren't warriors, fighting for Jesus. (John 18:36) What earthly kingdom doesn't have a military? And in what sense can that be a kingdom?

In both Greek and Hebrew the word usually translated “kingdom” meant first of all the authority to rule as king and secondly a realm over which he ruled. A better translation might be the royal reign of God. That makes the specific patch of land almost irrelevant. After all, as the psalmist says, “The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1) So God reigns everywhere. But like the tenants in one of Jesus' parables a lot of its inhabitants don't acknowledge that. (Matthew 21:33-44) They think they can run the world without the need of God.

16 of the 40 recorded parables of Jesus are about the kingdom of God. (Matthew 13:3-52; 18:23-34; 20:1-16; 21:28-44; 22:2-14; 25:1-30; Mark 4:26-29) Each gives us a glimpse of some aspect of the kingdom. Using everyday examples from a world in which 90% of the people were subsistence farmers, Jesus compares it to the sowing of seed on various soils, to a field where weeds and wheat grow up together, to a tiny seed that grows into a huge shrub, and to something that grows gradually almost without you noticing it. No doubt drawing upon his experience making things for people of various classes and professions, he compares it to workers in a vineyard, to a fishing net, to cooking with yeast, and to a wedding banquet, a joyful event to which everyone in a village is invited.

But the fullest examination of the kingdom of God is the Sermon on the Mount. God's kingdom is one where its citizens realize how impoverished they are without God, where those who mourn find comfort and courage, where the world is given to the gentle, where those who hunger and thirst for the right relationship with God are satisfied, where mercy is rewarded in kind, where hearts are purified by the vision of God, where God adopts those who make peace, and where loyalty to God is rewarded despite how badly it is treated by others. Those who let God reign in their lives preserve the world like salt and their deeds shine like a beacon in a dark world. They obey God in the smallest thing. They do not harm others either physically or with angry words. They understand that it is not enough to love God without also loving their neighbors. They know not to sin with their actions or with their intentional thoughts. They are willing to cut out things that they used to think of as a part of themselves if they are coming between them and God. They keep their promises, say what they mean and mean what they say. They don't retaliate. They go the extra mile. They are generous to those in need. They love all who are created in God's image, including their enemies. They strive to be completely good just as God is. (Matthew 5)

Those who obey God as their king do not make a performance out of their piety. When they pray, they acknowledge God's holiness. They ask for his kingdom to become a reality in this life and that his will be done here as it is in heaven. They ask for their daily needs and ask that he forgive their failures to do what is right to the same extent that they forgive others for their failures to do right by them. They ask not to undergo times of testing and for protection from the evil one. They keep their sacrifices to themselves and do not try to amass treasures that don't last but seek treasures that last beyond this life. They keep their eyes open to what is good and don't let their perspective become warped or dark. They realize that they cannot serve both God and money and so trust God for what they require and don't let tomorrow's anxieties take their mind off of the priorities of God's kingdom. (Matthew 6)

Those who take God's royal authority seriously don't usurp it by passing verdicts on other people. They take care of their faults before helping with those of others. They value what is sacred and treat it as such. They keep asking and seeking after the good gifts God shares. They treat people well, the same way they would like to be treated. They don't go along with the crowd but realize that the path God wants them to follow will come with difficulties. They are on guard against false prophets, and see what kind of behavior their teachings result in. They know that God isn't impressed by fancy words or flashy feats but by the person who actually obeys God's will. They build their faith on the firm foundation of Jesus' words, knowing they will be able to weather whatever storms come their way. (Matthew 7)

This is why the kingdom of God needs no borders. Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in his name, Jesus is there and reigns in their midst. (Matthew 18:20; Luke 17:21) We are his ambassadors, obeying him and passing on his message in whatever place we happen to be. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Part of that message is in what we say and part of it is in what we do. We negate the message when we do the opposite of what we say we should do. But how are we to be completely good in the way our heavenly Father is? We are not perfect. We screw up. But as Jesus said, “What is impossible for mere humans is possible for God.” (Luke 18:27) Which is why when we accept Jesus as our king, he sends his Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, to help us become the people God intended us to be. The Spirit helps us with those things we find so hard to do, like believe (Acts 10:44-48), repent (Psalm 51:10-12), obey (Ezekiel 36:26-27), pray (Romans 8:26-27) and love (Romans 5:5). The Spirit gives us talents and abilities to share with others. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) The Spirit produces moral and spiritual qualities in us. (Galatians 5:22-23) It is the Spirit who allows us to be citizens of the kingdom of God worthy of the name.

People will never be able to create something on their own that transcends their flaws and biases. And we will never be able to make a nation that pleases God simply by taking the reins of power and trying to force people to be godly through following laws. Paul, a zealous Pharisee, realized that the law cannot save us; it can only show us what we are supposed to do. It cannot give us the power to do those things. Only God's Spirit can. (Romans 8:3-14)

In Advent we anticipate Jesus' first coming as one of us, and his second coming as the triumphant king who is returning to set up his kingdom, not just as a spiritual realm but as heaven on earth. Because in Jesus, God and humanity come together. The perfect kingdom that we hope for but cannot achieve on our own will be established forever by the only person who can bring it off. Unlike A.I. Jesus understands us. He knows what it's like to be human, to be misunderstood, to have people say you're wrong when you are right, to have your family not believe you, to be betrayed by a friend, and to have your other friends abandon you when you are facing the worst thing that has ever happened to you. And yet he forgives those who are in the process of executing him and gives Peter 3 opportunities to acknowledge his love after he denied Jesus 3 times. When he comes again, Jesus will judge the world with justice but also with mercy.

So Advent is also a minor penitential season. We examine ourselves and confess our sins and rededicate ourselves to the process of becoming like Jesus. Contrary to what any A.I. says, there is no one who compares with Christ. And if it could truly think, rather than parrot what it is programmed to say, it would admit it.

We are not brainless machines. We have the ability to think. We have common sense. We can have insights. We can make choices. So the question is: why do we resist the obvious? Why do we look for salvation in any other person or system or technology? Jesus is what we are looking for. Accept no substitutes.