The scripture from this morning, Mark 1:1-8 has roots in texts that are thousands of years old. These are texts that tell of the longing of the Jewish people for the restoration of their relationship to God and to the land of Israel. This restoration is to be brought about by the coming of Messiah.
But...and it is a significant but...this is not without cost. God is holy, righteous, and insists on justice. The text in Mark points back to texts in Malachi 3 and Isaiah 40. These texts point to the coming of Messiah as comfort, restoration, and healing, but also to the need for justice, sifting, and purification.
Sometimes this is the way we grow spiritually. Things that seem horrible happen. We lose our jobs; our girlfriend or boyfriend breaks up with us; we find ourselves lonely at the holidays; or someone we love dies. All of these things try us.
Are they God's will? I would stop short of saying that. While the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament tell us that God sifts, tries, and refines us, the texts also insist that since Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden, we live in a world that is not what God intended it to be.
Advent (the birth of the Christ) is not just a historical event. It is an event that can happen...does happen...every day. God restoring the world through God's presence in the world. It happens every time we lift up those who have been trodden down. It happens when we speak a kind word. It happens when we minister to the sick, or comfort the sorrowful.
It is through these things that Advent happens every day. And it is through these things that God restores the world--one smile at a time--to the way God meant for the world to be.
May God come into your life in this season of Advent.
