Surprised by Joy (Advent 3)

Isaiah 35: 1-10 & Matthew 11: 2-5
Roger Lynn
December 13, 2015
Third Sunday in Advent
(click here for the audio for this sermon)

The prophet Isaiah proclaims that there is joy coming. And to those who first heard his words he must have seemed more than a little bit crazy. The Hebrew people to whom this wild proclamation is addressed had been living in exile in a foreign land, cut off from home and family and faith. Life was hard. Life was not in their own control. And all the signs they could see pointed to more of the same. The wilderness and the desert were nothing more than barriers between them and where they wanted to be. Joy was not at all what the exiles would have been expecting. It simply was not on their radar. And yet, Isaiah looks beyond present circumstances and dares to envision abundance springing forth at every turn. “The desert shall rejoice and blossom.” (Isaiah 35:1)

John the Baptist has a similar experience with Jesus. He has been watching and waiting for the coming of God’s reign. And mostly he doesn’t seem to find much evidence. Just in case we might miss this point, Matthew introduces the scene by reminding us that John is in prison at the time, having run afoul of the political powers-that-be. He sends a message to Jesus, asking if he is “the one.” You would think that if anyone could recognize the Messiah, it would be John. But apparently Jesus didn’t quite match up with John’s expectations. Maybe he was looking for a political leader. Maybe he was hoping for a military conquerer. Whatever the case, he doesn’t seem certain about Jesus. And so he asks – “Are you the one?” Jesus’ reply must have been a surprise, although like most surprises it really shouldn’t have been. Quoting from Isaiah, Jesus says that the answer to John’s question can be found by looking around at all of the unexpected ways in which God’s activity in the world is being experienced.

If we rely simply on what we see going on around us in the usual places we think to look, joy will frequently elude us. We don’t have to look far to find unsettling news that can throw us off balance and drive joy completely beyond our awareness. And the message of both Isaiah and Jesus is still as true for us as it was for those who first heard it. Experiences of joy await us at every turn. What is required is that we keep our hearts and our minds and our lives open to such experiences. What is required is that we pay attention. It is not a matter of waiting until the world is perfect, and it doesn’t mean ignoring the darker side of life. It is a matter of discovering what is already here, just waiting for us to notice. And when we notice, the experience helps to re-shape and transform the whole of life, including even the darker side.

Singer/songwriter Sting wrote a song several years ago called “Love is the Seventh Wave.” It draws on the notion that every seventh wave in the ocean is a larger wave than the others. In this song Sting engages in the same sort of joyful visioning that we see in Isaiah and Jesus. He looks beneath the surface circumstances of life and discovers something deeper and richer and more enduring.

All the bloodshed, all the anger
All the weapons, all the greed
All the armies, all the missiles
All the symbols of our fear
There is a deeper wave than this
Rising in the world
There is a deeper wave than this
Listen to me

At the still point of destruction
At the centre of the fury
All the angels, all the devils
All around us can’t you see
There is a deeper wave than this
Rising in the land
There is a deeper wave than this
Nothing will withstand

I say love is the seventh wave

(click here to view the YouTube video of Sting singing this song - or click here to view the YouTube video of a fun version by the Duhks)

We can choose to believe that the six waves we see define the whole of life. Or we can choose to believe that there is more – another wave we have not yet experienced, but which is real nonetheless. When we pay attention we discover joy in the most unlikely and unexpected circumstances. Singer/songwriter David Wilcox tells the story of a game he and his wife used to play with their son when he was three and four years old. It was called “the navigation game.” When they were driving somewhere, if they weren’t in a hurry, they would come to a stop sign and say, “Hey Nathan, do you want to navigate?” At this point little Nathan, sitting in his car seat in the back of the car, would look at his options and then point down one of the roads and say, “That way!” This would continue at each intersection until Nathan decided they had come to someplace interesting, at which point he would announce that it was time to stop. They would then stop and explore wherever their journey had led them. On one such adventure, the journey led them to the part of Asheville, North Carolina which is down by the river where a long row of warehouse buildings are located. As David tells the story there’s not a lot there, so they just got out and watched the river go by. But after a few minutes the big doors on the warehouse right behind them opened up and they could see sparks flying around inside, like someone was welding or grinding something. “Let’s check it out!” said Nathan. So they did. And what they discovered was an artist’s studio, with the artist up on scaffolding, welding together a giant dinosaur out of car bumpers. In reflecting on this experience David says, “If you’re three years old and you find a dinosaur, behind a closed door, completely winging it, you could start to believe in this guidance stuff.” 

The world is full of wonder. There are possibilities for joy at every turn. And God is just waiting to offer us surprising guidance. All we have to do is look around. All we have to do is step out in trust and see where the guidance will lead us. We won’t always discover thirty-foot dinosaurs. But we will always find the presence of God. And that, finally, is where our joy comes alive. What will you discover today?