PROPERS: THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR C
TEXT: LUKE 3:7-18
PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2021.
ONE SENTENCE: We should yearn for the gift of foresight that is as clear as hindsight.
As a child, I yearned to travel back in time. I just knew that if I had been “there”, I would have recognized the miracle of the incarnation, would have seen the infant Jesus as God’s movement in the world, and later would know, without a doubt, that Jesus was the Messiah.
And I wondered: Why didn’t the people of Israel and Judea see the miracle with the clarity that is so obvious to us now?
In today’s gospel lesson, we have the continuing account of John the Baptist. In a few short days, we will hear the familiar story of Mary and Joseph traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled in a census. There, Mary will deliver her first-born, Jesus.
Yet, largely, the world did not take note.
Years later, John the Baptist would emerge. He was a sketchy figure, opposed to religious institutions, and largely was ignored, living on the edge.
The birth of Jesus had mostly escaped notice. It was over three decades before he began his active ministry. We are told he created a stir wherever he went as an adult. He was noted for his opposition to the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees. He was largely abandoned by his small band of followers when he was put on trial and executed.
I told myself: I would have seen through all that.
But would I have?
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The Scottish poet, Robert Burns, is noted for a pithy rhyme:
“O wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us…”
That brief verse, of course, is from Burns’ poem, To a louse. But if paraphrased, can say something quite profound. Consider this:
“O wad some power the giftie gie us
To see the world as I would see it…”
In other words, it would be so nice if our foresight – and even present sight – would have the clarity of our hindsight. It can completely change our perspective and understanding. We would know, without any wrestling or doubts, how to act, or which side to take.
I have become aware of one application of that desire.
I am fascinated by World War II and the bravery of the men who fought for the Allies against the forces of totalitarianism. That period was one of moral clarity, seeing the dangers over the horizon, and acting out of courage to save the world. I have long-adhered to an understanding that the will to fight for our principles was never in doubt.
But history tells us that isolationism was rampant in the United States leading up to war. The nation, especially Congress, was reluctant to enter the conflict. The Lend Lease Act was as far as the president could get the Congress to take sides.
There were many factors affecting public policy. The Axis nations sought to walk a fine line to prevent the United States from entering the war on the side of England. There were many, many issues that led to a sense of what I call raging ambivalence.
Then came Pearl Harbor and the moral clarity which came afterwards.
My father was one of the World War II veterans who never mentioned the change in the nation’s perspective on December 7, 1941. But change it did. As it did for me and members of following generations.
We now see that era in absolutes. We have lost the sense of ambivalence which embraced the nation before December 1941. We find it hard to fathom that a member of Congress from Mississippi voted against declaring war on Japan after Pearl Harbor.
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My question: How do we become able to see current events with the same moral clarity that we see in retrospect? How do we know what is the right thing to do now?
That questions can apply to many episodes in history: How could we have seen with moral clarity the civil rights movement? How could we have seen with moral clarity the situation which would be revealed in light of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s “red scare” tactics? How could we have seen clearly the truth of the strategy that would lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union?
I am aware of a congregation in Mississippi that ran-off a progressive priest in the early 1960s because he embraced the families of the three slain civil rights workers. Yet later the same congregation called a priest who was far-sighted on that same issue. How could they have bypassed their earlier myopia?
There is a multitude of such questions. The questions are cogent for every situation and generation. The old saying is true: Hindsight is 20-20. But how do we convert that clarity of hindsight to clarity of foresight?
That is a question for us today – in many situations.
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How many of us here would have heard with clarity the truth of John the Baptist’s message of repentance? How many of us would have seen the beauty and grace present in that stable manger in the remote village of Bethlehem? Not many of us, I suspect. The societal and peer pressure would have been too great.
Sadly, I do not have a simple answer. But we can pray to have the eyes of God, to see the world and its moral complexities as he sees it.
As Jesus seeks to convey, we are to have the eyes of love and not the eyes of law. To once again paraphrase Robert Burns:
“O wad some power the giftie gie us
To see the world as HE would see it…”
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