And of course Jesus goes on over the next three years to show that unexpected truth, that as God’s Messiah he is a model of humility and self-sacrifice – not of power and dominance over others. Right there at his baptism he sets the tone for what his whole witness will be. It’s a message I think we’re still struggling to understand, this profound example of God’s strength made perfect in weakness. Even the King of kings is not exempt: this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased…and he will live and die like any other of God’s beloved children. And all of us will be called to follow him.

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The feast that celebrates the appearance of Jesus, good news to all the world, is laced with fear and uncertainty. And there’s plenty of reason for the fear. The Magi ask, where is he who is called ‘King of the Jews’? That title will next be heard when Pilate is questioning Jesus during his trial, then in the mockery from the soldiers who torture him, and finally as a sign posted on the cross over his head. The sweet story of the Christmas baby has Good Friday close on its heels.

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But sometimes our devotion can distract us from the message. Sometimes we need to be reminded: God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world to reduce to nothing things that are (1 Cor 1:27-28). Not on accident, but on purpose, God came to be one of us as a fragile child in a dark, scary place. Not as a plan B, but as the plan all along. That ought to tell us something.

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What he knew was that his betrothed was pregnant and it wasn’t his; that they were poor; that even with Mary heavily pregnant they would have to travel to Bethlehem like others of their family and clan to satisfy the regime; that when they arrived there they would find no place to stay, would be homeless at the birth; that nearly as soon as the child was born they would be fleeing as refugees to Egypt. It’s a story of hopelessness and sadness for Joseph, not anticipatory joy. His own dreams were being replaced with God’s dream, and he couldn’t understand what God was about.

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It's such a poignant moment. We don’t really know whether John the Baptist ever makes up his mind – whether he ever understands just what he was preparing the way for. Does he get a glimpse of the world transformed? Or is he forever waiting? Those two disciples walk off stage and what happens next? – what do they make of Jesus’ answer, what do they talk about with John? So it’s one of those open questions left for us to answer. We see all that Jesus did and what God can still do in this world. What do we make of it?

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Advent is a season with two faces. One face is a sweet and lovely one, preparing for the birth of a baby, a vision of peace and joy and all creation singing together. But the other face is a fierce one, with winnowing forks and fire, judgment and wrath.

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But meanwhile, in the church, Advent is happening.  We light one candle each Sunday – just one candle.  We pray for mercy and sing quieter hymns and chants in a minor key.  We hear scriptures of longing for the coming of God’s kingdom, the time of peace for all people. We do one thing: hold the space for our longing because we know we need it.

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No leader, elected or kingly, and no human system, can be the focus of our trust. They all fail; they cannot heal us or bring us life or bring about the beloved community here on earth. Only God can do that. Jesus is Lord – not anyone else. Not the false shepherds that Jeremiah rails at, who destroy and scatter the sheep. Not the powers and rulers who crucified Jesus on the cross. No one but God is God. No power except God’s is true.

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We start first with expressing our thanks – which serves to remind us of what God has done and is doing for us. When we start with thanking God, it’s like writing those thank you notes. We pause to remember that everything we have is not just a given – and neither is our life. What we have and what we are can’t be taken for granted. Even when we’re at our worst, or the situation around us is completely dire, we begin our prayers with thanks because there is always something to be thankful for – even if it is just that God is with us in the suffering.

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Lots of answers to one strange question. But we might have a whole lot of other questions to ask about resurrection besides the one the Sadducees throw out. Jesus doesn’t go into detail about what resurrection looks like, you notice. He

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All Saints is a feast day with a lot of room in it: it’s one where we remember all the saints named and unnamed of the church, and where we also know ourselves again to be part of the communion of saints past, present, and yet to come. This Sunday is for all of us.

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That’s what’s at the core of the parable Jesus tells today in the gospel, the one about the Pharisee and the tax collector. Two extreme characters, one main point. It begins, Jesus told this parable ‘to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.’ Tell me that you don’t immediately have someone in mind when you hear that description.

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And yet it does strike a chord, somehow – because prayer is a practice that does sometimes feel like we’re pressing our case over and over again, and the response can definitely take a long time coming. In dark times, hope can feel hard to hold onto. All of us has been there – maybe even now.

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All of this is meant to be good news. And it is good news, albeit sometimes terribly and frighteningly good news. God wants a relationship with us – all of us, our whole selves, every bit of us. And God wants us to fulfill a purpose – God’s purpose, God’s intention for our lives.

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When I lived in France, I often heard the proverb, ‘good accounts make good friends’ – the idea being that not having clear boundaries about money with your friends damages your friendship. And yet scripture, and maybe even this strange parable, seem to be saying that getting your money back is much less important than your friendship – much less important than your relationship and the well-being of the other person.

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So this is a profound message for the church to claim: that here all of us, all of us sinners, whatever we think, whatever we’ve done, whoever we are, come together around the table, welcome to be with Jesus. I believe we must keep claiming this. We need this desperately. 

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Hospitality is not an opportunity to show off your status or increase it to advantage; nor is it an opportunity to engage in quid pro quo. Hospitality is a time for intimacy, breaking bread together, seeing each other with different eyes. Not the carefully curated Facebook self, but the real self.

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These scriptures describe for us the life of faith, showing how to move forward in response to God’s call. Faith, says the letter to the Hebrews, requires both knowing our past and looking forward to our future. The ‘assurance of things hoped for’ is that knowledge that comes from recognizing that things we hoped for, prayed for, dreamed of, actually did come to pass. It means recognizing God in what has already happened. While ‘the conviction of things not seen’ looks ahead to what is not yet known, believing that things will come to pass as God promises, just as did things in the past.

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