The Messenger -- Dec. 6, 2009
THE MESSENGER
Malachi 3:1-4 and Luke 3:1-6
Getting ready for Jesus demands our full attention, and we rarely give anything our full attention. Multitasking is the password for survival in our world: texting and phone conversations, chores and news radio, prayer and grocery lists, dinner and homework, working out of a briefcase in the doctor’s waiting room. It seems that we must do at least two things simultaneously; one isn’t enough anymore. And in the Christmas season, this juggling of tasks and schedules reaches phenomenal proportions.
A redeemer to come will accomplish purifying salvation. Messengers prepare the way, ready the intended recipients. Malachi, whose very name means “my messenger,” and John the Baptist, the voice in the wilderness, appear this morning to capture the attention of the wholly distracted, to turn our eyes homeward to God, and to help us perceive what in our lives needs clearing, changing, eliminating. Both prophets call for singular, simple, and selfless devotion to God. What is hilly, fragmented, and complicated will become simple in response to their questions. Will you love God alone, love God for love’s own sake? Will you welcome God’s Beloved Son into an open heart? We know our distraction, our busyness, and our selfishness. The redeemer will come and do the work of purification at our invitation, but our focused cooperation is necessary. One thing at a time.
“O come, O come, Emmanuel” we sing, perhaps with little intention to really make our hearts presentable for such meaningful company. The messenger reminds us: focus, take stock, prepare! We have to want the purifying, to open ourselves to it, and to commit to faithful pursuit of the goal of loving God with our whole selves. We must give ourselves to this love alone.
For those who practice Islam, formal prayer has its own focused and uninterrupted time, where only one duty occupies one’s full attention. We Christians could learn to honor God better through the purity of one thing at a time. Those asking for the presence must prepare for it, ready themselves for the gift of grace – make room for it in the midst of much life-cluttering activity and stuff.
You want to invite Jesus to your heart? Is there room there for another? Is the invitation for you or will it simply honor the Messiah? What needs doing in your heart as you await the Messiah? Is the way prepared, straight and smooth, and free of damaging distractions?
A jeweler traveled to study with a Chinese jade master. On the first day of training the master blindfolded him, put a stone in his hand, said “This is jade,” and departed. At the end of the day, he wordlessly took the stone and removed the blindfold. The next day the master blindfolded him, put a stone in his hand. “This is jade.” The days, weeks months went by this way. One day the master placed a stone in his hand, and the blindfolded student burst out, “I came to learn jade from you, the Master who knows so much. For months you simply set stones in my hand in the darkness. I have had enough! And today – of all days – this stone is not even jade!” The master removed the blindfold and, smiling, said, “Your lessons are done. You may go now.”
The messenger calls us to one thing – the truest of loves in relation to the Holy One and to one another. We know it fully by training, by exposure to it, in the simplicity of its practice. Unlike the student of jade, we never finish mastering this love. But we make ready again and again, for the coming of the Christ, Love Incarnate in our world, in our hearts. The messenger cries, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make the paths straight.” May it be so.