December 12, 1999
It was about four in the afternoon on a Wednesday about two months ago and the moment had arrived — my daughter Rebeckah was ready to be born. Katie and I had arrived at Eisenhower about 1 a.m. the previous morning. By around noon, Katie got some pretty fancy drugs. Around 3 p.m., the machines came in — you know, the ones that look like they belong on the set of Star Trek. By 3:30, all the nurses had assembled and Katie was ready to really push; but they all told her no, no, don't push! Everything was ready, except the doctor.
The nurse called back once or twice and said, `I think this one's ready," and suggested that maybe they get a doctor in here soon! Meanwhile, Rebeckah insisted on being born. About the time her head became visible, the nurse (who I'll will never forget) got on the phone and said, "You tell that doctor if he doesn't get in here RIGHT NOW I am going to catch this baby myself!" That seemed to convince him. I guess he was in his office several blocks way. He dropped what he was doing and came. He took one look at Katie — gasped, quickly robed, and Rebeckah was born. The baby arrived. He was finally ready to receive the child.
On this third Sunday in Advent are we ready to receive the Christ child? It's not a question we often ask ourselves during Advent, not even the Church asks itself that question. When someone asks you, "Are you ready for Christmas?" They usually mean is your tree decorated with all the trimmings? Are your presents purchased? If not, get on the internet. Is the food ordered? Are your plane tickets ready to go?
Are you ready for Christmas usually has everything except spiritual connotations. In Jesus', world maybe it was not so different. In his world, they needed a savior because wars raged throughout the land and political and family factions quarreled with one another. People ran dirty political campaigns and there was violence in the streets. The prayer "peace on earth" was universal and resonated throughout the first century world. Looking back then, were they ready to receive the message? My answer would be yes.
How quickly Christianity spread throughout the first century world. The gospel writers elected to write in Greek which was the universal language of the day. Even Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, not in Latin (the common language of the day), but in Greek so that everyone could understand him. People were ready for a message, and it came. They were ready for the person much later. We all know what it is like to be unready for a person and unready for their message.
This happened to Rainer and Carolyn (I asked their permission to tell this story because it's just too good!). As you know, Rainer and Carolyn are both multilingual. Rainer grew up in Austria and his first language is German. Caroline speaks fluent German. Rainer, as a Renaissance man, also speaks Greek. One day they were in a taxicab in Greece and Rainer asked the driver a question, and the driver turned around and answered him in Greek. Then Carolyn asked in English, "What did he say." Rainer turned to her, answering in perfect German, "Why?" Because he had learned Greek in German, translating that in English was a different story. The message was there, and so, too, was the messenger. The two just weren't quite ready to mesh.
Is that why two thousand years later the term, "peace on earth" is still so difficult for us, where rage and violence continue? Is it because his message was irrelevant or is it because it was so simple that we don't understand it? John's gospel today puts it in very clear terms, "No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. Christ cannot be born in anyone who isn't prepared to receive him."
Are you ready for the Christ child to be born? Are you ready for the messenger and the message to come to you once again in this Advent season? There are really only two answers to that question; there's no in between. It's either "no" or a resounding "yes."
Let me tell you how the authors of the Bible described "yes." They picked a very specific Hebrew word, "hi neh ni." It is found throughout the Old Testament beginning when God called Abraham to be the father of nations. With a resounding "yes," Abraham proclaimed, "I will!" And we translate that as "here I am." Even when God called out to Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac, Abraham answered "Yes, Lord, here I am. I am here, I am ready, I am willing to listen."
God called Samuel in the temple much later and he answered, "Speak, Lord, your servant hears." I am here. And today in the song of Mary which we read together, that is the faith beneath this whole idea, "Here I am. You have chosen me."
Are we ready to receive Christ with the same passion as our forebearers? I would say there are three elements that need to be present in our lives in order for us to receive Christ, or else his teachings will make no sense to us.
The first is a faith in God. Not a simple intellectual assent saying, "Yes, there may be a God, or yes, God may have become a human being," but faith that God is the lord of your life — that God can actually come to you in the form of a helpless baby and yet be strong enough to strengthen you day and nights, to see you through the dark night of your soul, to lead you into incarnational moments and later into Easter moments. Do you believe in God?
Secondly, do you believe that there is a difference between right and wrong? Many of Christ's teachings guide what we do, how we treat one another. Our culture's destructive obsession with creating and even recreating personal morality doesn't compare to Jesus' ethic of compassionate love, of self sacrifice, of fidelity to God above all. Do you believe in God as your lord of life? Do you believe that God will lead you into discerning the difference between right and wrong?
And finally, the third ingredient — genuine empathy for all people. Why? Because God created them and Christ died for them. Jesus didn't spend much time among people except for misfits and rejects. He didn't care who they were so long as they came to him. Can we really trust in God? Can we truly believe that what we do is measured in moral terms? Do we all consider people important because God made them and Christ redeemed them?
When we say, "Yes, here I am. Speak, for your servant listens," then we can receive the Christ child. John's prologue says it best: "To all who received him, to all who believed in his name, he gave them power to become children of God."
AMEN
The The Rev. Sean Cox
seancox@stmargarets.org
12 December 1999