What if it was you?
A sermon preached at Saint Peter's on Rose Sunday in Advent, 2007

What if it was you?
You’ve grown up all your life, being told that you were beloved by your parents and an answer to prayer; That you were chosen by God to do something very special; That you were to be a prophet for you kinsman, to herald his ministry in the world; That you were the living fulfillment of the words of the prophets in Holy Scripture.

What if it was you?
You grew strong in spirit and lived in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey and dressed in camel’s hair. You grow popular with the people, because you see through all gile, and see people as they really are, both sinful and beloved of God. You call them to repent and cleanse them in a micvah of the waters of the Jordon River. There are so many people, drawn to you, drawn to hear your words and to rediscover the constancy of God’s love. You know that this is only a small part. You tell them, every one of them, that there is an even greater one to come, one who you are not worthy to undue the thongs of his sandals. You wait, as every day you wash more people to prepare the way of the Lord.

What if it was you?
After a long morning of so many people, so many sins, such lavish forgiveness from God, you look up and you see him standing before you. You know that he is the one you have waited for, that the time has come at last for God’s chosen one to be revealed to the world. He asks you to wash him in the river, to baptize him and you refuse. Yet he persists and you can not deny him. As he comes up from the water you know that things will never be the same. You embrace and you wait for what is to come next.

What if it was you?
Things suddenly change and not the way you expected. You are taken away by force. Not everyone has appreciated your message and you are thrown into darkness. Days and weeks pass till you lose track of time. Water is defiled with filth and the food is bitter and rancid. You are beaten down and abused. You feel weak, worn down and you don’t think you will last long. You wonder, in your loneliness, as the demons of despair pray upon you. You wonder if you really did the right thing and you begin to doubt. With death around the corner, your desperate to know your life has at least met its purpose. You send friends to your kinsman, to inquire: was it worth it? Are you really the one? The Word comes back and the signs are all there…the blind see, the lame walk, the leapers are clean and the deaf hear, the dead are raised and there is Good News for all the poor. The prophecy is fulfilled and you have lived to see the signs. Death will lose its hold and have no meaning now. All will be won.

What if it is you?
It is you know. You are that special child, beloved of God, cherished and special. You are the harbinger and herald. You have been washed in the waters of new life and sent out to proclaim the coming of our brother Christ. So many look to you, to know if they are worthy of love, if your God is real and loves them too. If you can look at them and forgive them, then surely they know that God will as well. And you see the Christ, you look at every person who comes and wades into your life each day and you see HIM in their faces—you see the promised Christ in friend and stranger, in mighty and meek, young and old…in all conditions of humanity, you look again and again and you see HIM!

And it is still you! Even when darkness comes and life deals you harsh blows. When you feel doubt and fear; and taste the bitterness of life--you are still the beloved of God…you ask friends to remind you of the signs and you open your eyes and see them. You know that darkness is never the end, but only the beginning…the dawn before the light. And Advent happens again and the signs show that all has been won, is won, will always be won by the Incarnate Son of God.

He is coming! Your hope drives you on to take the next right step towards God. And it is you who shall prepare the way and show the signs that Christ is truly near. It is you! It is you! It is you. Amen.