First Sunday in Advent

Summary

So, The Justice League movie is out, as is the Thor movie.  These are both Super Hero movies, two of a multitude which have come out, and will come out in the theaters.  From the early Batman and Spiderman movies of the 1990’s, to the rash of Super Hero films in the Twenty-first Century, a season does not go past in which some film company is not offering us the story of another Super Hero.

Now, I have to admit I have seen almost none of these movies, and certainly none in the Twenty-First Century.  I know I viewed one of the first of the Batman movies back in the ’90’s, and the Superman film from the ’80’s, but I have not seen any others.  I am just not into Super Hero movies, though I was into some of the comics back when I was a kid.  The Fantastic Four were favorites of mine, and I kind of liked Captain America because his story started during World War Two.  But frankly, I was more interested in, Sergeant Rock, or Nick Fury, if any of you remember those two comic book heroes?

For those of you who have never been interested in Super Hero movies or the comics, a Super Hero is a character who appears in our midst, at just the right moment to save us, to save a city, to save the world from some catastrophe or another.  The Super Hero saves people by using their super power.  Superman is super strong, and can fly.  Spiderman can climb walls like a spider and also shoot webs like his namesake.  The Flash is super fast.  Wonder Woman is strong, and a good fighter.  I won’t go on, but you get the idea, there is some power that makes them super-human. Through their super-human powers, usually brought about because of an accident in a science lab, or through the body’s mutation, the Super Hero, or heroes, sometimes they work as a group, avert a catastrophe usually created by a Super Villain, like the Joker, or Lex Luther, or somebody like that.

To make the story extra exciting, the catastrophe is usually averted right at the last moment, and in a way that the Super Hero’s superpower is able to be used.

Quite often in the stories there is a secondary character who says something like, “If only Superman were here, he could save us from this burning building!”

And then Superman does.

I bring all of this up, because today’s Old Testament scripture form Isaiah begins a bit like a character in a Super Hero movie or comic book, crying out for help.  Listen again, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at your presence…”

Isaiah is calling out to God to save the people from their enemies.  He reminds God of what he has done in the past, and beseeches him to come and do the same thing again.  Isaiah calls for God to act for the people’s salvation.

Well, today is the first day of the season of Advent, the time when we get ready to celebrate Jesus’ arrival at Christmas, so we know that God listened.  We believe that God tore open the heavens and came down, came down to be with us, and so saved us from our sin, from ourselves.

Yet he did not come, as the people had hoped he would…the Jews were waiting for some kind of a Super hero.  They were waiting for bolts of lightning, earthquakes, wildfires, wild winds, stormy seas, blinding lights, loud voices, and superhuman strength.  That’s what they wanted!  Frankly, that’s what we want too!

Instead, we got a crying baby greeted by smelly shepherds, a young mother, star-gazers from the East, a murderous king, and numerous angels visits.  So, instead of Spiderman swinging his way on a web in to save the day, we have Christmas, a holy day centered upon the  normal birth, of a normal baby, into a normal family on the fringes of the Roman Empire.  Instead of a savior named Batman or Aquaman, we instead get one called, Immanuel.

Immanuel?  Yes, Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.”

For that is what we need in this world, God with us, in the person of Jesus the Christ.

Jesus is the One promised by God, through the prophets of old.  The One who would save us from our sins, and give us life forever with him.

And that is what he has done for us, yet he did not do it in the way that the Jewish people had imagined.  There were no earthquakes at his coming, nor fire raining from the sky, nor when he was older did he raise an army, or lead a revolt against the people’s oppressors.  No, Jesus came quietly, and lived normally, right up until the point that he didn’t.

Even though, at times it seemed that Jesus had superpowers; walking on water, healing the multitudes, multiplying food for thousands, transfiguring before his disciples, raising persons from the dead, and finally rising himself from death, these are not the super powers of the movies’ and comic’s Super Heroes, they are the true powers of our God.

Yet the greatest power that Jesus wielded here upon earth was the power of…can anybody guess?

To answer that, let me tell you a little true-life anecdote.

The band U2 put out an album back in the early Twenty-first century that was entitled, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.”

That’s a strange title for an album of songs, even by today’s standards. Yet, I understood later why they had named it such, when the lead singer Bono was asked, “So, Bono, how do you dismantle an atomic bomb?”

Bono answered in all seriousness. “Love. The only way to handle the atomic question is through love.”

Love? Yeah, love. You have to remember that Bono is a Christian, and takes his faith so seriously, that he throws himself into the biggest questions of the day, trying to offer solutions and answers to the difficult questions of life. And he does so, using his Christian faith as his guide.

So, with that one word answer, Bono actually gave the answer to most of life’s most difficult questions, and the answer to what was the greatest power that Jesus wielded, here upon earth, or in heaven for that matter.

Love. Jesus’ love, Godly love is the greatest power that exists.

Throughout his life, and then especially in his death, Jesus exercised that power fully, so that we might know his forgiveness through his love.

It is God’s love, given us in the baby Jesus that changed the world, and still changes our lives every day. For it is God’s love lived out through our faith, that wipes away our sins, calls us into relationship with the world, and changes our lives so that we can care and love one another, as Christ has loved us.

Live in this most perfect gift, today, and each day this Advent season, as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas…and then keep on living in it, for God’s love, is life.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

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