Pointing Fingers

Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.

They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Romans 15:4-13

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,

that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,

and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name";

and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people";

and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him";

and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope."

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"

Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan,

and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

"I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

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When Isaiah delivered up this prophecy, he had no idea who he was talking about. A branch from the root of Jesse. The spirit of the Lord resting on him. The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the baby goat; the poisonous snake shall not hurt a child at play. A little child shall lead them in this way, in the way of peace and tranquility among all creatures, even predators and their prey. It’s not just about peace among creatures, though – this text also concerns peace in the whole sociopolitical and economic structure. “With righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth”; not judging by what can be seen or heard, but more deeply than that.

Such beautiful words. But who was he referring to? Who will bring this peaceable kingdom, this future reign of God? Who is the ideal ruler that Isaiah is pointing to?

John the Baptist knew who he was pointing to; he was pointing to his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth. But as a prophet, he also knew that he was pointing not merely to a human leader, but to the Christ. And he knew this before Jesus had ever begun his public ministry. He was not speaking from convincing evidence, based on what he had seen of Jesus so far. According to Matthew’s gospel, he shows up suddenly in the wilderness, looking and behaving much like the prophet Elijah, and offering not words of comfort, but a call to worship, a call to change course, to repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Not “is coming”, but “has come near”.

John the Baptist was pointing to Christ, warning the people what the arrival of Christ meant for them. “Behold the Lamb of God!”, he says to his disciples as Jesus walks by, in the gospel according to John. There he is!

But John the Baptist didn’t quite know what was coming either, or how Christ would bring about the promised kingdom. He perceived, and he told what he believed. He helped others to prepare their hearts, to repent, to change course.

But we know from the gospels that even John the Baptist, this prophet, this cousin, wasn’t sure! Later on in Matthew’s gospel, when John is in prison, he sends word to Jesus asking, “are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?

Could it be that even John the Baptist could not imagine that the promised one would say something like “blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek”? How could this be the one who was promised, to clear the threshing floor and to separate the wheat from the chaff?

When John said, “bear fruit worthy of repentance”, did he imagine that such fruit would be gentleness and humility?

There is a famous picture by Grunewald, from the fifteenth century, of Christ’s crucifixion, with John the Baptist standing off to the side, holding the Hebrew scriptures, pointing his finger to Christ. 

This was what John the Baptist did; he pointed to Christ.

The apostle Paul never actually met Jesus before his crucifixion. He was, in fact, a fierce enemy of the early Christians, participating in their persecution and torture. He was an expert in Hebrew Scripture, and was determined to follow the Torah and to destroy those who saw Christ as the Messiah. And then he had a vision of Christ, a vision that threw him physically to the ground, and that spiritually changed the course of his life. He spent the rest of his life pointing his finger to the Messiah, the resurrected Christ, the one who had come not only for the Jews but for all people. He endured prison and torture in order to bring as many people to Christ as possible. His letters are for us a potent expression of who we are and whose we are; a way of pointing the finger toward Christ as the Messiah, Christ as God, Christ as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies, as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Paul’s words this morning that the words of the scriptures are for our hope. What an amazing turnaround that was for him, to understand the Hebrew Scriptures as offering hope, not fear; not a basis for identifying enemies, but as a basis for understanding the love of God in Jesus Christ!

These three – Isaiah, John the Baptist, and the apostle Paul – all pointed toward Jesus Christ. Separated by hundreds of years, these three – and all pointing in the same direction.

Those of you who work in corporations may have experienced something that we called “buzzword bingo”. It’s a game that is played by paying attention to the crazy corporate buzzwords that you hear. One of the common phrases I remember was “getting everyone’s arrows pointing in the same direction”. I thought about that as I read these scriptures this week.

I also heard the words sung in Handel’s Messiah, from Isaiah 53: “all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way”.

How can we be the body of Christ if we have all turned, every one, to our own ways?

How can we reflect the love of God if we can’t get our arrows, our fingers, all pointed in the direction of Christ, all aiming toward obedience to our Lord and Savior?

How are we called to point our fingers? Not in order to identify enemies, but to point out the love of God in Jesus Christ!

How we look or behave personally is not so much what following Christ is about. It’s not about following some detailed code of morality or behavior.

After all, John the Baptist was a pretty strange dude.

The apostle Paul was as zealous a man as you could ever find, both before and after his conversion – both in word and in deed. He was on fire with his faith.

And Isaiah – well, we don’t know much about how he looked, but the book of Isaiah reports that he went naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign and warning to the Egyptians and Ethiopians of what would happen to them.

We don’t need to look a certain way; we don’t need to be anyone other than the child of God that we were created to be.

What matters is our heart and our will – whether or not we have turned them over completely to Christ.

What matters is whether our fingers are pointing not to others in judgment, but to Christ in love.

During this season of Advent, how are we using our lives to point toward Christ, to allow others to see how Christ is the center of our lives, how Christ has changed everything, not just for us, but for the whole world? How are we reflecting Christ in our lives? How do people see and understand the God of love when they see who we are and how we live?

It’s been almost a year since you stated the mission of this congregation, using the words you see on the inside front cover of your bulletins. You claimed these words as the way New Life Presbyterian would point toward Christ.  What has changed since then? What is bringing new life to these words? What life-changing fruit, fruit worthy of repentance has come about since then? How does New Life Presbyterian Church point toward Christ in word and deed?

As we come to the table to be nourished by Christ, the one to whom we point, let us recommit ourselves to being Christ’s people, to pointing to Christ in everything we do. This Advent and always, let us repent, turn to Christ, for the kingdom of God has drawn near, and calls us to get on the path and live out this journey as the people of God together.