A Journey's Beginning
Resting in Advent and at Bombadil's Home
In a previous essay, I mentioned Advent being the beginning of a journey. I also wrote about how we often skip ahead in the journey and go straight to the cross. It is important to go on the journey, but I also began to think about why we may want to skip ahead. What motivates Christians to cram the cross into Advent and Christmas?
I have a few thoughts on this. But I believe the primary reason the cross gets put into Advent and Christmas is based upon a fear of the openness of the Nativity stories. They are not pointing forward to death or a cross. They are connecting a past with a hopeful future. The Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John all contain nativity stories. Matthew and Luke are narrative stories and John is a cosmic retelling of creation, but none of them mention sacrifice or death. Mark, being a Gospel of martyrdom is different, but even the beginning of John The Baptist proclaiming the coming Messiah is a hopeful beginning.
In the Gospel of Luke we have Mary’s song:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his child Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever. (Luke 1:46-56 NRSVue)
This song is one of hope and promise. It is this which is echoed when Jesus reads from Isaiah in Nazareth.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19 CEB)
These are hopeful and deeply subversive claims. Mary’s speaks of changing the systems of the world, while Jesus brings the hope of God’s promise while omitting the expected day of vengeance. Come to think of it, maybe there is some foreshadowing of the cross in the overthrow of the status quo. Yet, in all seriousness, these are not talk of crucifixion or of sacrifice. That’s what I think is a motivator for bringing the cross into Christmastime. We are afraid of the hope.
I don’t mean we are afraid of hope, but we are afraid of the hope presented without the evangelical twist of humans being unworthy of God’s love outside of the sacrifice of God’s son. My recent essay on forgiveness eludes to the problem. Scripture shows forgiveness and mercy as givens when we encounter Jesus. There is literally nothing we can do to obtain those because they are given freely. We place the conditions, not scripture, and certainly not God. Shocking stuff!
For too long, evangelicals have taught or assumed that “the Gospel” is the cross. Even though we have four Gospels that contain so much more than the cross. Yes the bulk of their content climaxes in the events leading to the passion. But, they all have front and back matter that is just as much a part of the story. The Gospel of John even rewrites the cosmological beginning to show how important the incarnation is to the story of all things.
I believe the fear is that we don’t want people to get ideas about the possibilities of the Gospel prior to the cross. The nativities are just a bit too open and relational for those who want to emphasize a fateful style or an ineffable God who sends the Son into the world simply to die. Immanuel is not a promise of death, but of life and transformation in the Kindom of God. The nativity has an element of the possibility of what if.
A friend and I were talking about this recently and he mentioned a quote that said “you can’t have Advent without the cross or John’s prison.” Or at least something like that. I agree wholeheartedly that we cannot leave out John’s prison. There is a deep lesson in the questions of John the Baptist when he asks if Jesus is the real deal or not. My friend’s sermon on this passage mentioned the fact that when Jesus send the reply back to John he leaves out the release of the prisoners part.
“Go, report to John what you hear and see. Those who were blind are able to see. Those who were crippled are walking. People with skin diseases are cleansed. Those who were deaf now hear. Those who were dead are raised up. The poor have good news proclaimed to them. Happy are those who don’t stumble and fall because of me.” (Matt 11:4-6 CEB)
That’s a hard one because John is in prison for his convictions and his speaking truth to the powerful. Maybe this is our small bit of foreshadowing, because the death of Jesus is through the violence of human systems. But, it is also a truth that we often imprison ourselves and then doubt. That’s why I believe we have to include John’s prison. But the cross can surely wait. It is there in the far distance, but not even in a glimmer of a foggy idea. Advent is the once and future coming of Immanuel and that is enough.
If the Gospel is only about the cross, we don’t need Advent, Christmas, or the Ascension. If the Gospel is only about the cross, then everything else is superfluous. But the beginning and others are important or the Church would not have included them in the ongoing story of God. I have the same issue with those who try to make epics like The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) about their climactic moments.
Claims like “the eagles could have just carried the ring to Mount Doom to be destroyed” miss the point. Tolkien was not just telling a tale of the destruction of the One Ring. No, this is a story of friendship, journeys and how stories are part of an ongoing larger tale. It takes the Hobbits about a month to travel from the Shore to Rivendell. Along the way to the creation of the Fellowship of the Ring, they spend an extended period with Tom Bombadil. There are those who believe the Bombadil passage is not important or that to does anything to advance the story. But Tom Bombadil is crucial to the story of LOTR. In the encounter with Tom Bombadil we are introduced to the idea of great power that does not seek to control, reshape, or oppress. It is the strength of Tom Bambadil that I believe is carried by Sam as he faces a quest for which he would otherwise be poorly prepared for.
Yes, the destruction of the ring is important and what saves Middle Earth. But, that is not the totality, nor the entire truth within LOTR. I personally believe that the “diversion” to Tom Bombadil’s home is crucial to the story of LOTR. Because Tom Bombadil reveals the possibility of someone for whom great power is not something to be grasped, but something which is only important in how it can aid those who do not have power.
This is why we should allow ourselves to rest in Advent and hope in Christmas. Don’t fear the absence of the cross; there will be time enough for that at Easter. Wesleyans should especially be immune to the fear of needing to skip ahead. Prevenient grace tales care of the fear. The Holy Spirit is always working and we always have the possibility of encounters with Jesus. We don’t need to force it.
Beginnings can be crucial to stories that have depth. The beginning stories of Incarnation carry deep truth and we should not skip over their truth to tell the ending. I believe them to be just as important as the cross in the story of the Gospel. Only in the midst of Advent can we truly appreciate the God who loves us enough to become one of us. Without Advent and Christmas, the cross misses an important facet. The beginning is as important as the climax. For Christians, Advent and Christmas reveal to us a God who loves each and every human being. A God who comes to the poor, the outcast, the marginalized. The God who says I AM here and with you. Without Advent and Christmas the cross becomes a grotesque display of violence.