Second Saturday of Advent
Scripture Reading for Today:
Calamitous Anticipation
I have always wondered what it would be like to be alive at one of the turning points of human history. From the harnessing of fire, through the development of agriculture, to the beginning stages of climate catastrophe, there are countless moments when life on planet Earth is forever changed by the actions of humans. Not every transformative moment is anthropogenic, the season of Advent allows us to pause to look back to Jesus’ arrival on planet Earth, surely one of those moments where things are forever changed, an act of a gracious God responding to the mess we’ve made. The mess that humans make is what Habukkuk faces. God, explain to me how you can be good and let so much evil go on in the world, like unjust economics, exploitation of humans, irresponsible leaders and idolatry. For the record, Habakkuk is not writing about 2020.
The third chapter of Habakkuk is a prayer, and our reading today (Habakkuk 3:13-19) is the conclusion of that prayer. Habukkuk addresses God with his struggle: how is God good when there is so much evil in the world? And Habakkuk prays for God to come in power and smash the wicked’s house, raze the foundation, and pierce their head with a rod. Habukkuk sees God-driven violence as a way of repaying and ending the violence around him, as a way of making things right.
The idea of making things right by smashing evil does have some appeal. And in 2020, I often find myself praying with Habakkuk, crying out for calamity to come down upon the evil that we see (Hab 3:16b). However, that idea comes from my brokenness, for God appears to have a different view of how to make things right. The Messiah arriving as a marginalized baby is the first hint of this different way.
But what do we do while we wait for evil to be vanquished and for things to be made right? In the midst of waiting for calamity, we can become quite passive, even when anticipating the coming King. We fail to recognize that our anticipation – not only in Advent but throughout the whole of the year -- is meant to be active, and the process of making things right is at hand. We anticipate the coming King. Anticipation is not waiting, is not us expecting or predicting a coming King. Our anticipation is an action that acts as a forerunner or precursor of the coming King.
By sending Jesus, God has addressed and continues to address our cry and the cry of Habakkuk. By pouring out the Holy Spirit on all of humanity, he empowers us to be the calamity that falls upon the evil that besets us: it is not something we have to wait for, it is something that we need to be. If nothing else, the Coronavirus pandemic has revealed the power of individual or small group action to impact the progress of a disease. Choose to wear a mask and be physically distant, and rates of infection and mortality decline. Gather without masks and spurn distancing guidelines, and bring sickness and death to our family and neighbours. It is clear that our choices individually and collectively can mitigate the pandemic.
Which brings us to the Gospel reading for today: a parable about two sons who are asked by their father to work in the family vineyard. Son #1 initially refuses his father’s request, but later changes his mind and does the work anyways. Son #2 initially says “yes” to his father, but later forgets his promise and doesn’t do the work.
Son #1 is the “no-yes” son: he sees that the task before him is huge and this prompts his refusal. But something happens, and he is transformed for action. The parable leads us to prefer Son #1’s “no-yes” ways. Surely we all know of moments in our lives where we are Son #1. I can recall times where I have said “no” because I am overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. I sometimes say “no” because I don’t think my efforts will make a difference. I sometimes say “no” because the pain, suffering, and exploitation that I see in the world leads me to lament, to want to wait silently until the darkness has passed over.
In the parable, we behold Son #2 with contempt: he is initially obedient, but the cares of the world, or perhaps the size of the task, get in the way. Jesus’ followers are too often Son #2. We cry out against many things: climate change, exploitation of Indigenous persons, systemic racism, human trafficking…the list is endless. In these moments, I believe that the Holy Spirit comes and shows the way forward saying – let’s work on these things, here is the way forward, say “yes” to action. But when we see the sacrifice that change requires and the size of the task, we say “no”.
We need to be a “yes-no-yes” people…a chimera of the two sons. We initially say “yes” through our prayers, but then too often say “no” when the reality of the task seems too great. But God is looking to us to say “yes” again, and this requires transformation. Habakkuk is transformed over the course of his book, from doubt to trust. And in Advent, our active anticipation of Jesus the coming King, is part of our transformation.
If we, in this moment of Advent waiting, really understand the state of our planet and our role in it, only the hardest-hearted person isn’t brought to tears. The isolation of those in long-term care facilities, the racialized impact of the pandemic, the continued hate towards Indigenous persons. These things, if I really pause and let the reality wash over me, lead me to weep. But the Spirit says “Go.” We anticipate the coming King, but we are not to wait. We are to go out weeping: we have the seed for sowing, and our hope is that we will come home with shouts of joy (Psalm 126:6). This pandemic is changing our society in ways that we cannot yet imagine. We are, in fact, at one of those moments in human history where we will look back and see that everything changed. And there is much work to do.
We anticipate the coming King, but the power of the coming King is at work to transform us from children who are saying “no” or “I don’t know”, to a child who says “yes:” says “yes” not just in our words, but also through our actions and willingness to go and do the hard work that God has set before us. This is work that brings calamity on the structures that propagate exploitation, injustice, climate change. This is the work we do in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the work of anticipating the coming King.
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