Having an INcredible Advent

When is the last time you have seen something incredible – something that made your jaw drop and you couldn’t believe that what was happening was happening?  (in a good or uplifting sense)

Today’s Advent readings are filled with ‘incredible’ things taking place.

The prophet Isaiah speaks about the desert blooming with abundant flowers and flowing with the waters of life once again. Isaiah also says that the “eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will hear, the lame will leap and the mute sing.” Furthermore, those who feel small and fearful in this world will feel encouraged because God is coming to right what is wrong.

Then in the gospel, Jesus heals a man who could not walk. He tells the man, “Your sins are forgiven.” Instead of marveling at this and recognizing that God’s work is in their midst, they get offended and say to Jesus, “Hey, you’re not authorized to say that!” So Jesus says, “I am authorized to say it, but for your sake, I’ll say something else…How about I just tell him to walk!” And the man does.

What do you make of these readings? What messages seem to pop out for you?

As I read the first reading, I think about it two ways. In a literal sense, I hear a promise that God can make a way out of no way. In places where we do not expect abundance, God can make it happen. In places where there is some kind of limitation, these barriers are overcome. Among people who have been beaten down and made to feel afraid, they take heart because reparation is coming.

In a metaphorical sense, I hear that those who are unable to do things are given what they need to finally be able to do them. We are given the ability to see or hear what needs to be seen or heard. We are able to move where we need to go and find our voices. And we will be given the courage and heart to be able to do all of this – to enact God’s plan in our lives and in the world.

Greg Greenway is a folk artist who has a beautiful a capella song called, “What Must Be Done” (sung with the group Brother Sun). In it they sing, “Some people do what must be done. They see the hole in the fabric that must be sewn. They see the way blockaded and they roll back the stone. They see the day beyond the horizon, and they do what must be done.”

My sense is that Isaiah is singing this kind of song to us. Throughout so many of the prophetic readings of Advent, we hear the promise that God will respond to the world’s longings (and literally the earth’s longing) for healing justice. And we hear that this will be done, in part, by God’s raising up a people who do what must be done.

Which relates to the gospel.

Jesus is doing what must be done. He sets people free and embodies God’s healing justice. He is not caught up in the words used to describe it. He just does it. The Pharisees and religious leaders, however, get mired in the lingo and power games. 

Jesus knows that nothing incredible can happen under those circumstances.

Doing the incredible is going to require us to let go of some things. We might need to let go of our egos or our position or our prestige. We might need to let go of our certainty or our doubt or our discouragement. And it will require, as Richard Rohr suggests, to pray (as we do in the Our Father), “Thy kin-dom come, (and my kingdom go!).” Doing the incredible will require us to trust, take risks, act in spite of knowing the outcome and “speak the truth, even if your voice shakes.” 

Advent is all about the incredible, but not necessarily in the Hollywood or Hallmark sense of things. We do not always overcome everything and not everything works out for the better. I think it bears saying that the incredible might mean that we have the strength to see a difficult thing through or endure a challenging situation. We might persist in spite of our doubts or stay a course that does not have a guaranteed outcome.

We might just get up and go through another day with hope. Sometimes, that is incredible.

Advent is a time for believing that no matter what is happening in our lives right now, there are possibilities and emergent realities just beyond what we can see from where we are. Some of these only come into view when we release where we are right now and surrender to the Mystery all around us. And we have many who have gone before us who can testify to this if we are looking for it.

May you be given what you need this Advent to do the incredible.