The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
-Mark 1:1-8
After about 17 years of writing
and researching and consulting with his friends,
and then nearly 11 years of revising it after that,
in the year 1543,
Nicolaus Copernicus published what was to become a world-changing book--insofar as it changed how we (humans) saw and perceived and even studied not just our world (or our planet),
but also the whole entire universe.
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As you may remember,
in that year, (in 1543), Copernicus,
Published his work:
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.
In it, contrary to the doctrinal convictions of the church of his day,
And (also) contrary to what most astronomers had been speaking about most of the time,
Copernicus’ work argued that the sun,
(and not the earth)
was the center of the universe.
That is: the whole universe
he argued
revolves around
something
other
than us!
Something other than you and me.
Revolutionary, right?
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At the time his work was published,
that word--revolution--simply meant
to go around and around and around--
that is, to revolve.
And that’s how he used it, as he spoke about the planets and the spheres revolving around and around.
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After Copernicus, however, and after the release of his famous work,
the word revolution (itself) came to mean a lot more.
That is, it took on new meanings.
It was heavier.
The word (now) had (also) to do (not just with revolving)
but (also) with the radical recentering of one’s entire universe.
A new center.
A sun where the earth used to be.
And so on.
It took on the meaning that we often intend
when we talk about social
or political
or technological
or fashion
revolutions today.
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This radical sense of the word, a re-centering, a re-orientation, a realignment of all things,
is perhaps the closest sense we have to understanding
both Jesus’ and John the Baptist’s cry to us for
metanoia.
Metanoia is the word in Greek (in the language the Gospel was written in),
that Bible translators have translated it in English as:
Repent!
It can also be translated: Be changed! or Be transformed!
Or, as we are arguing today:
Be radically re-centered! Be revolutionized. Within you, may all things be radically re-aligned.
Metanoia! Repent. Be transformed. Let God’s love transform you.
Why?
For God’s reign of Love in near.
And in God’s reign of Love, things are changed.
In God’s reign of Love, all things are made new.
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In Luke’s Gospel (in another account about John the Baptist) more details are given about the people who gather around John.
There (in Luke’s Gospel) we find the crowd (in general)--who we talked about a lot during the Easter season--as well as the tax-collectors, and the soldiers.
They are all there, circled around John in the desert.
And they ask John on three separate occasions:
What does this mean? To be transformed?
More specifically: “What does this mean for us?”
What does it mean to re-center our universe as we come to listen to you preach to us and baptize us into something new?
Help us understand, please.
And so... John replies.
And this is what he says:
To the crowds, John replies:
If you have extra food or excess clothing
(you may or may not, but if you do, then)
share it.
Share with those who have nothing.
And in sharing, you will be transformed (as will those you share with), and (indeed) you will be near to God’s Reign of Love.
To the tax collectors John replies:
Treat the poor with dignity and care. Even though you don’t have to. Even though you may give up some personal profit. Don’t rip people off. Don’t collect extra, even though you have the legal power to take from them, don’t do this.
If you treat your neighbor this way, ceasing your exploitation, your life will be realigned (as will the life of the neighbor you were exploiting), and (indeed) you will be near to God’s Reign of Love.
And lastly.
To the soldiers he replied:
You, also, don’t abuse your power. Treat everyone you encounter not as a source for your own income or pleasure (even if the Roman Law of the land encourages you to). But treat all others, instead, as a neighbor who you are called to help and to serve and to live with, in interdependence and in peace.
Be re-oriented, he told them, in other words, to the world of neighborly love. In this way, you will be revolutionized (as will the communities who currently fear you), and (indeed) you will be near to God’s Reign of Love.
Share your things. Stop your abuse of power. And stop yourself from ripping off your neighbors.
Be transformed in this way, John implores his people.
And God’s Reign of Love will be near.
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“Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down!”
“Oh! That God’s Reign would come near!”
“Oh! That there would be peace on earth and goodwill among everyone!”
These are the statements of longing from our scriptures,
and the threads of discontent and longing that run throughout the season of Advent.
Statements of dissatisfaction with the way things are:
injustice, loneliness, hunger, poverty,
estrangement from our neighbors and from the earth, and sometimes, it seems, from God.
Statements of dissatisfaction,
Yet statements of hope: of what could be soon
And what could be here
And even what could be within us.
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As we count-up toward the birth of Christ in Advent,
may we hear John’s proclamation as the Good News that the Gospel of Mark claims it is.
No doubt, in the world:
suffering and pain and death surround.
And Yet,
We might be transformed
right now.
Placing love for and care for our neighbors
at the center of our universe,
and at the center of our worlds,
For
in so doing
(indeed)
God’s Reign of Love
is already here.
AMEN.
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