That Someone Greater Is Jesus, and that Something Greater is Love

Brad Sullivan

3 Advent, Year B

December 17, 2017

Emmanuel, Houston

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

John 1:6-8, 19-28

That Someone Greater Is Jesus, and that Something Greater is Love

So, John the Baptist really upset the uber religiousy folks of his time, didn’t he?  He was there, baptizing folks to testify to the Light of God, to lead people into repentance from the ways they were living that harmed themselves or others, and to prepare their hearts for the coming of God’s kingdom.  That sounds like a good thing, something folks could pretty well get behind, but the priests, the Levites, and the Pharisees, they were having none of it.  The priests and Levites were the ones with primary responsibility for the Temple worship, and the Pharisees were a group within Israel, focused on upholding the religious laws and rules of Israel. 

You might thing that such religious type folks would be glad to see someone taking their faith seriously, calling people to repentance, but not so.  The priests, Levites, and Pharisees were questioning John, basically wondering, “Who gave you the right or the authority to be out here baptizing?”  “Are you the Messiah, Elijah, the Prophet?  No?  Well then explain yourself.  What gives you the right or the authority to be out here baptizing folks?”  You can hear in their questions the fear that their power and authority might be questioned.  John wasn’t authorized by them, so there was this fear that their way of living and leading their religion was being questioned or even undermined. 

So, John responded, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”  In other words, John was saying, “This baptism that I’m doing, guys, it ain’t nothing to get your knickers in a twist over.  You wonder about my authority and the things I’m doing…oh, just you wait.  I know you guys love the way you live out our religion and that you love having authority over our religion, but this whole salvation thing, God’s grace and favor, isn’t going to be only for you few uber religious types.  Truth be told, God’s grace and favor never was reserved only for you uber religious types.  God’s grace and favor is offered to all, and if you have your knickers in a twist because I offered a baptism of repentance to those you deem unworthy, just wait till God decides to sit down and eat with them.”

Ok, so I suppose if we’re being honest and fair, the way of the priests, Levites, and Pharisees to live and lead their religion was being questioned…

…and if we’re being honest and fair, we see this played out again and again in the church as well.  There was the reformation.  That was a pretty big questioning of how the Roman Catholic hierarchy was doing things.  Even now, today, we have a change going on in our religion.  Folks who want to love God and people but aren’t really religious. Some have been pushed out of the church (big C Church, worldwide) because of various ways of life which others within the church deem unworthy of Jesus.  Some have left the church because they have a passion for loving and serving people and they see the majority of the time, energy, and money of the church going almost exclusively to worship and building which serve the church primarily and others as an afterthought.  We see folks today within the church following news practices, old practices, new ways of living out our faith with a greater emphasis on serving others than on expensive, well-rehearsed and polished corporate worship. 

These changes, this turning around, this repentance, has left some of the traditional religious types none too happy.  There has been division and splintering.  Repentance, by its very nature, causes division. 

The fact that repentance causes division is not a bad thing.  John’s baptism caused, or revealed division.  That’s not a bad thing.  Such cause for or revealing of division is necessary.  It hurts, and it is ok, so long as it is followed by something or someone greater.  Someone greater than I is coming, John said.  Something greater than repentance is coming.  That someone is Jesus, and that something is love.

In Revelation chapter 2, [and now I’ve got your attention, right? Oh my God, preacher man’s gone to Revelation!  Now things are getting real.], in Revelation chapter 2, Jesus gave this message to the church in Ephesus:

‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first (Revelation 2:2-4)

The church in Ephesus, they were working on repentance.  They were trying to stop evildoers within their church from causing harm.  They had done well, Jesus was saying.  They had stopped some of the harm by those causing harm, but their repentance had led to division, and they had lost the love they had for each other.

Repentance will almost inevitably bring division, hurt, strife.  If we leave things there, we end up with fracture, splitting, us versus them, winners and losers, permanent division.  Repentance is good.  John’s baptism was good.  After John’s baptism, however, came someone greater, Jesus.  After repentance comes something greater, love.

Even in the midst of repentance, we need to make sure that the presence of love is what drives us.  With repentance, are we making ourselves clean of others, removing others so that we look or feel better?  Are we concerned with our own righteousness before God, or are we concerned with how well we love and serve others?  Remember, our righteousness before God has been taken care of by Jesus on the cross.  We’re not going to make ourselves any more righteous before God than Jesus already has.  His love for us is greater than our repentance.  In our repentance, we’re not seeking to be righteous before God.  In our repentance, we are seeking amendment of our ways and healing of our hearts so that we may more fully love others. 

Repentance is of course, not the only thing that can cause division within a church. Sometimes division is also caused by flood waters drowning a church building, and groups of people end up divided over how they want rebuilding to happen.  With rebuilding, just like with repentance, such divisions are inevitable.  We all care deeply for our church home, for what our church home is going to be and for how we are going to get there, and surprise, surprise, we’re all different.  I think Jesus is glad we’re all so different.  The body of Christ is as varied as humanity.  I think Jesus is glad that we care so deeply.  We are a caring and loving people, and we want our building back so that we can serve others in our community.  We’re still able to worship.  It’s not exactly our home, but we’re still able to worship. 

What we don’t have is our building as a resource to serve the needs of the community around us, and so I think Jesus is inspiring all of us to want to rebuild, to want to do so well, and to want to do so in a way that will serve not just our worship and fellowship needs, but will serve the needs of the community around us.  We all have different ideas, passions, and dreams for how we are to get there, and I think Jesus is glad for that too.  Only this Jesus would have against us, if we were to let those differing desires truly divide us and if we were to abandon the love which we had at first.

Our vestry has worked hard with the diocese to get us back into our building, and they have not done so in the exact way previous vestries might have.  Might, because we’ve never had this situation before.  Our current vestry has worked not in the way previous vestries might have, but in the way this vestry has.  What I have observed of the vestry and planning workstream tasked with getting us back into our building, is that they have worked faithfully, they have worked with integrity, and they have worked well.

This post-Harvey life is a season of forced repentance for us, a prolonged season of turning around, of changing our ways, because our church building was drowned.  We will not be what we were.  We will be something new, a new people by water and the spirit.  We will have division along with way, as is inevitable with repentance, but remember, we’re not seeking righteousness before God, but the healing of our hearts so that we may love more fully.  We must not abandon the love which we had at first, for something and someone greater than repentance is here binding us together.  That someone is Jesus, and that something is love.