01.12.2012
Archbishop’s Third Address At Advent Quiet Morning in Christ Church Cathedral
An Advent quiet morning is continuing in Christ Church Cathedral today, Saturday December 1. Archbishop Michael Jackson is speaking on the themes of preparation, expectation and carefulness as Advent begins. His third and final address is reproduced in full below.
Quiet Day Address 3: Given by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, in Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday December 1.
Quiet Day Address (3)
CAREFULNESS
In our pre–Advent explorations, we have looked at preparation and expectation thus far. The third theme of Advent which I should like us to address is: carefulness. Carefulness is, I think, a very significant religious virtue. I single it out as an Advent theme because there are many personalities whom we associate specifically with the Advent Season who give us scope for weaving such carefulness into our preparation and our expectation. There are at least three such people among those whom we know from the pages of Holy Scripture. One is John the Baptizer, he is the cousin of Jesus and I have already spoken a little of him; another two are, of course, Elizabeth and Mary who are bound together in unfolding motherhood; but we should not neglect Zechariah, the father of John, as his story too is very important. Little is made of it around Christmas, because we all want to see the baby but Zechariah himself also receives an Annunciation, like Mary, from God through the angel Gabriel.
The story of Mary and of Jesus is rightly to the fore at Christmas. And one of the events in the life of Mary which we celebrate with great joy towards the end of Advent is the Annunciation, when the angel comes to tell her the good news of the graciousness of God and the gift to her of the child of grace. The character of the child is properly special. He is to be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and he will be given also the throne of his ancestor David. It is, after all, for this reason that Joseph is his father and Bethlehem, that ‘small place,’ is to be his home. History and connection do mean something in the world of incarnational theology. Something, however, that we might fail to see as Mary holds our attention is the fact that Zechariah also had an Annunciation. The child of whom Zechariah is told is to be great – this might seem to be of little significance as we fast–forward to the manger, but please note that this word great is used of John before it is used of Jesus. We need to take good care with the part of St Luke which we generally overlook in the run up to Christmas – and it is what concerns Zechariah and his family. This has become all the more difficult for Anglicans as Morning Prayer has receded from everyday Sunday consciousness and with it the canticle: Benedictus, the Song of Zechariah, to match and complement the Magnificat, the Song of Mary. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth his wife are of priestly families. As part of his own priestly duties, he was chosen by lot, by priestly custom, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer the incense. The story is an extremely painful one as it is surely contains echoes of the story of the dismissive laugh of Sarah when she refuses and pushes to one side the knowledge from God that she will have a child.
I suppose we can draw a number of lessons from Zechariah. (St Luke 1.57–80) The first is that incredulity, not believing in yourself and not taking yourself sufficiently seriously as a child of God, is all very well but God does not always recognize it or reward it. Zechariah shows us why God simply cannot do so. Part of our personal carefulness, therefore, is that we accept the word of God as it comes to us, proofed, as I suggested when we were looking at apocalyptic, by the recognition that it is the Spirit of Jesus who is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19.10). For a mid–Atlantic liberal generation such as our own, this sort of language and approach is anathema. We throw up our hands in horror at such arrant naivety! The key, however, is that God does answer directly and there can be parts of us which do not allow or want us to accept or embrace this. And Zechariah shows us the limitation of not taking ourselves seriously in the presence and in the face of God – and in the place of deepest holiness.
How does this show itself? I think we are drawn and taken into yet another carefulness which we ought to show when God comes to meet us – let me try to explain. It shows itself in the fact that God casts out fear and yet Zechariah continues to be afraid. Not once but twice does he chance his luck and he questions God in a negative way – perhaps like Job, without even recognizing or realizing it. Within a few short verses, we have the Old Testament come alive in the person of Zechariah – he falls readily into the mocking persona of Sarah, he becomes defiant like Job – and God works in that peculiar and particular way that modern thought cannot readily cope with – the combination of the spiritual and the physical. It too freaks us out somehow. I have said it often before and I will say it again now – we in today’s world do not know how to handle the physical manifestations of spiritual evil and we do not wish to accept that physical evil can and often is a manifestation of spiritual evil. In this current context, I do not think we are hearing about spiritual evil. But we are talking about a sort of wilful disobedience in the face of God through the sort of combination of factors which might hold for any of us – incredulity, lack of self–worth, laughing off the things of God, and what in this context I might call: lack of carefulness.
It is always interesting what people do not spot – Zechariah because of his sense of personal unworthiness cannot hear what God is saying: His birth will fill you with joy and delight…From his very birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit; and he will bring back many Israelites to the Lord their God. (St Luke 1.14, 15) The job description of John as voiced by Gabriel in the following phrases is surely interesting and significant as we prepare in Advent for Christmas:
he will go before the Lord their God as forerunner;
he will be possessed by the spirit and power of Elijah;
he will reconcile father and child;
by converting the rebellious to the ways of righteousness;
to prepare the people that shall be fit for the Lord.
All of this comes from within the tradition of which Zechariah is the priestly custodian, the tradition in relation to which he and his wife Elizabeth have offered a lifetime of carefulness – and yet, with all of his familiarity with the cult and holy things, he spots none of it. This is surely terrifying – familiarity with the mechanics of faith does not necessarily bring contempt; but it can bring a deep sense of personal and individual unworthiness that God wants me, wants you, wants any of us. I revert to Revelation 19.10 and the recognition that it is the Spirit of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is for these reasons that I am convinced that carefulness is an Advent virtue. It needs to be positive and to take to itself the twin themes of preparation and expectation as forces for good which move us forwards into joy and happiness.
We are facing into the glory and the reality of Christmas and we might just spot none of it! Year on year we might spot none of it! Because we are too tired; because we are tied up with delivery of the Christmas ‘product’; because we have heard it all before….there is any number of reasons why we might slip from carefulness to carelessness, just like Zechariah. His tale becomes more and more like that of Benjamin Bunny, you might just think! And what is my proof text of his obsession with personal unworthiness? Zechariah said to the angel, How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well on in years. (St Luke 1.18) And the reality is that when human recipients of the greatness of God refuse to accept it, the Word of the Lord takes over and in and of itself substitutes for the power of speech of the human person who is reduced to speechlessness. This is the reality of refusing the Word of God through that other order of creation about which modern Christianity is so squeamish – the angels. Advent, like Christmas, is very, very uncomfortable if only we will let it be so but to a good purpose and to a good end. I do not mean that it is a fairy tale. I mean that God disciplines and prepares to a good purpose and to a good end. Zechariah is disciplined by being silenced. In being disciplined, he is strengthened and the people who have been waiting for him realize that he has seen a vision and they are forced to take him seriously in a new way. So, we see carefulness working in a variety of different ways in this story of Zechariah.
He himself is also transformed in a very unusual way. Again, we often fail properly to take account of the naming of John and the part played by both his parents in this. Custom, as often in the past in our own country, might have suggested that he be called after – or as people sometimes say: for – his father. But, for good reason, Zechariah knows that this child has to be named for his life’s work – and he is to be called John. And just like Jesus’ mother, John’s parent – in this case his father – bursts into song and gives voice to all of the things which he has learned in his silence and in his speechlessness. They are the following and I suggest that you read them for yourselves: St Luke 1.68–79. These words summarize and hold together priesthood and prophecy in a way which is latent in what we call the Old Testament but John the Baptizer gives them new life and new legs. Priesthood in the Jewish tradition ties together the public life of the people of God with their sacrificial offering to God in the sanctuary. There is therefore a dimension of justice in this. The same holds for prophecy which is the articulation of public justice to those who do not want to hear of it. And so none of Zechariah’s enforced silence goes to loss; none of the substitution of the Word of God for what he might have said goes to loss either. John combines both and he is a worthy person to prepare the Way of the Lord and he is also his mother’s son.
The focal point of all of these people caught in the web of carefulness – Zechariah, John, Elizabeth and Mary is the relationship of the two women, Elizabeth and Mary. St Luke tells the story in a very beautiful way which discloses so much of the grace which God weaves into ordinary lives, whatever our circumstances, however stressful they may be. The women met as sisters. We get a strong sense that their meeting is joyful and we get that amazing insight into ancient obstetrics – namely that these eschatological cousins kick in concert in their respective wombs! Elizabeth is less poetic than Mary but strongly and faithfully emotional. Mary pours forth a Song of gladness which, rather like the Song of Zechariah, sets before the whole world then as now the work which lies ahead of her baby. The most important thing is that, without any squeamish carefulness, she unashamedly identifies the work of the Mighty God and simply assumes that this is what her baby will do. Maybe she has the advantage over Zechariah of being very young and fearless in a particular way. The programme is outlined in ways which are strong and forceful. The proud are brought low; the lowly are brought up on high – we hear stirrings of The Beatitudes. The hungry are filled with good things and the rich sent away empty – we hear stirrings of the Feeding of 5000, of the sadness of the Rich Young Ruler and of those parables of well–to–do people who are invited and don’t turn up and others who have nothing and leap at the invitations. He has come to the help of Israel his servant – I suggest that nobody could have predicted the depth of suffering and humiliation to be inflicted on this baby as The Suffering Servant in flogging and in crucifixion. The mercy shown to Abraham and his children for ever and ever – we hear stirrings of the miracles of healing of daughters and sons of Abraham and the widening of the grace of the God of all nations to Canaanites and to Syrophoenicians, to Romans and to social and medical outcasts – as indeed we heard in the words of Rabbi David Rosen as Judaism and Zionism at its best.
Carefulness, as we are taught in Advent, needs to be courageous every bit as much as it needs to be protective – perhaps even more. Just listen to Mary and to the reconditioned Zechariah! The tradition of worship, of probing the depths of the things which matter, in the Season of Advent and in particular how ends and beginnings need one another – this is spiritually exciting. Preparation will have to be made whatever our other busyness. I make no pious suggestion other than that we offer to the Mighty God of Mary’s Song the everyday and everyperson preparations which we will in any case make at this time of year as an offering from earth to heaven; that we do them well; that we do them unselfishly; that we do them to the best of who God is making us to become. Expectation will always bubble to the surface at Christmas and at the same time we who are followers of this infant Prince of Peace, this Wonderful Counsellor, can draw out in the spirit of apocalyptic the challenges and the opportunities which the heavenly and the earthly worlds offer to one another. And we can go further because we can draw into the embrace of the God, who is to come, the Spirit of Jesus who is the spirit of prophecy and of priesthood. It is this Holy Spirit who goes before us to Bethlehem to prepare the way of this tiny human God.
Let us prepare to follow on this most exciting annual journey of faith, hope and love.