Paul Young—Year C Advent 2

Anthony: All right, we’re here to talk about the lectionary text for this month. Our first passage of the month is Matthew 3:1–12. I’m going to be reading from the NRSVUE. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the second Sunday of Advent, December 7, and it reads,

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” 4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So, it says the kingdom of heaven has come near. So said John the Baptist. And yet we just look out into the world. And I’m thinking about a podcast of viewers I just recently listened to that dealt with ideology and how it can be weaponized and just so much division and hurt and outrage. Was John the Baptist wrong? Is the kingdom of heaven near? And if so, help us see the reality, because this is what I believe: When theology is neglected, ideology rushes in to take its place, often cloaked in religious language. And that causes problems. And I know I’m hitting on a couple of subjects here but just tell us about this kingdom of heaven that’s come near even in the face of so much adversity in the world.

Paul: I love the way that it’s written. It says, “The kingdom of heaven has come near. This is the one …”

Anthony: Yes.

Paul: The kingdom of heaven is as near to us as Jesus is. So, the identification here is between Jesus and the kingdom of heaven. And so, where is he? Was John the Baptist wrong? Absolutely not. But he identified the kingdom of heaven as the person of Jesus or the writer did.

And so, where is Jesus? Where is the kingdom of heaven? Elsewhere it says “the kingdom of heaven is in you.” Jesus says, “On that day, you’ll know I’m in the Father, you are in me, and I am in you.” So, when it’s saying the kingdom of a heaven is at hand, John the Baptist, in terms of how this is written, has got a twinkle in his eye, and he’s like, “Ah, kingdom of heaven is near.” And that’s because Jesus is near.

And so, right from the get go, we have to not think of the kingdom of heaven as a geographical place or as a nationalistic place or as any of those things that we get stuck on. But it’s a person. And that person dwells in you. In fact, that person dwells in every single person who has ever been conceived.

Paul in Acts 17 says basically the same thing. And he’s announcing it to pagans. It’s like, “You are the children of God, and so you might seek him because he’s near.” And again, I think Paul had a twinkle in his eye. And so he is, he’s making the case, “You live and move and have your being in him.” And he’s talking about the same stuff. It’s like his Damascus Road verses, like when “God was pleased to reveal himself in me.” That’s his Damascus Road experience. That’s where he was blown away by the fact that Jesus, the kingdom of God, is in him. And he says, and now I preach him in the Gentiles. That’s the good news. Christ in you, right?

So no, there’s no mistaking here. What we see in the world is not, it’s not ideology that has gone wrong. It’s the existence of ideology, period. The kingdom of God is not ideology. The tree of life is not ideology. The tree of being right, the knowledge of good and evil, the independent decision that something is wrong and something is right — that’s not the tree of life. So anytime you get stuck, we get stuck, I get stuck making a declaration about, this is evil and this is good, and taking a stance against it, I’m not eating of the tree of life, which is love and relationship.

And that comes right down to our personal relationships, right down to the way that we love the person in front of us. And sometimes it’s harder to love a family member than it is to love a stranger. And I’m like, oh my gosh. I have been eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil most of my life.

And the new Jerusalem, the city of God — in Hebrews 12, it has come. We are already a part of it. And it’s not a mountain full of fire and all of that. It is the kingdom of God, the new Jerusalem. It is the body of Christ. It is all of these metaphors. And the river of life comes from within it, outwardly, through the gates. And it’s the trees on either side of that river of life are for the healing of the nations, as well as the fruit are for the healing of the nations.

That’s not ideology. And that city has no tree of the knowledge of good and evil in it. None whatsoever. That is the way the world functions. And I’m not talking about Paul. Are you saying that nothing is nothing is evil? Anything that is not love is not good. But that’s not what we do in our relationships. We declare, “I’m right. You’re wrong.” And we have to understand that ideology is religious ideology. My way of looking at God is right. Your way is wrong. So, my job is to change you. Well, if you’ve been around anybody that’s holding onto an ideology, you can argue until you’re dead. You’re not going to change them. And so, what changes anything?

Anthony: That’s right.

Paul: Love. The person in front of you does not need to know you’re right. They need to know that you love them. That’s the thing that is going to open up the heart, open up the world, and actually would change the world. Ideology just adds to the violence.

And ideology exists because people are fearful. There is no fear in love, and we don’t need to have an ideology at all. Love is the place of power. Love is that which actually changes the world. Fear just compounds the evil that’s in the world. And so, I want to be done eating of the tree of being right.

And we’re surrounded by so much information about so many things that we can do absolutely nothing about. And I was, like, stop. Just stop. If there is a person or situation that is right in front of you, respond to that because it’s real. All of this fear-based ideological stuff — it’s not real. It’s not eternal. Love is eternal, because love is the very nature of God who dwells in us.

And this is why people are all indwelt by the full presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But God will not rip you through the bars of the prison you call home. That is not what love does. Love will climb into the place you are and love you until you’re ready to walk out of the prison.

Anthony: So, what I hear you saying is, the way that we can bear witness, faithful witness, to be a faithful expression of the Spirit who abides in us, is just to love the person in front of us. That’s the witness that the kingdom of heaven has come near. Is it not?

Paul: Yeah. And that’s the fruit. That’s what John the Baptist is going after. He’s going, like, repentance — that’s changing your mind. Look, if you’re saying your mind is changed, then bear fruit that matches it. Make sure that the ways of your being match the truth of who you are and the truth of who you are has got to be grounded in the very indwelling union that you have with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That’s eating from the tree of life.

Anthony: And wouldn’t you say that repentance is not a one and done kind of scenario, but it’s ongoing? Because, I mean, every day, Paul, it seems like I fall flat on my face on something and realize, oh, I had that wrong. And there’s just this perpetual nature of having our minds renewed. Don’t you think that’s how repentance works?

Paul: Yeah. It’s an ongoing process — in our fear and trembling work out our salvation. The salvation is once complete, finished. Jesus does not have to die again for anybody. God submits to us because God loves us. And this is a God who submits by nature but continues to work in us. And we come to all this and in our fear and trembling, not about God, but just as the state of being human, we begin to work out with what has already been worked in.

And so, it’s all about living from the inside out. And so, your mind is going to be changed and renewed and renewed and renewed. And what challenges you? Like somebody said to me, I’ve got it right here. They said they thought they were complete human beings and then they got married. I personally think marriage would be a lot simpler if there wasn’t another person involved. And but that’s the …

Anthony: You said it not me.

Paul: I know. Let me talk to you about your marriage and see what buttons got touched and poked at. The part of the reason we love our enemies is because they can bring crap to the surface in ways that our friends wouldn’t. And it’s like, oh, when I have this kind of a visceral response to that person, that’s the exposure, and that’s the Holy Spirit bringing things to the surface in order to heal us. And love your enemies. Turn the other … it’s all Sermon on the Mount stuff.

Anthony: Thank God that he is a healing God. And like you said, salvation — one and done. It’s finished, it’s complete. But Lord, continue to renew our minds. Metanoia our minds over and over again and remind us of your goodness.