Narrative Lectionary Reflection
December 2, 2018
Reflection
There is a story told about Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu during the apartheid era. It is an example of this faithful waiting, knowing that the injustice that reigns now will fall one day.
Tutu held a church service/protest rally at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town. Outside of the church were hundreds of policemen there to intimidate Tutu and the worshippers. While he was preaching, the police, who were armed, broke into the cathedral and lined the walls of the sanctuary. They took out notebooks to record Tutu’s words.
The Archbishop continued preaching, talking about the evils of apartheid and reminding those gathered that this oppression would not endure.
Then Tutu made a pointed statement directed at the police.
“You are powerful. You are very powerful, but you are not gods and I serve a God who cannot be mocked. So, since you’ve already lost, since you’ve already lost, I invite you today to come and join the winning side!”
And then those gathered broke into song and dance. The police were left dumbfounded.
Tutu was correct of course. The police and the whole apparatus of apartheid had already lost. In a few years, Nelson Mandela would be released from prison and South Africa would become a multiracial democracy.
We live in faith because we know that one day, the walls of injustice will come tumbling down.
Our text today reminds us that God is with us as we faithfully wait. Even when it might seem dark, we can put our hope that the barriers that keep us from becoming a whole society will fall. God has promised this and God will do it.
More likely than not, you are reading this around the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is the four weeks before Christmas where we prepare for Christ’s coming. The word Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus, which means, coming or arrival. So we have a season where the practice of waiting is front and center. Advent is about waiting for the arrival of Christ, but it is also about waiting for the time when God’s kingdom is fully realized. God’s kingdom is breaking through now, but it is not fully here. We trust in the future when the things that divide us, like race will be thrown away. But we have to live faithfully in now where there is still distrust and fear. We have to wait.
The prophet had to learn to wait for vindication. God was calling the prophet to trust in the midst of waiting; to live a holy life expecting that God will answer in due time.
But that is a challenge, isn’t it? It’s hard to wait for God’s justice when injustice seems to be running amok in the land. Waiting means sometimes waiting a long, long time. Waiting means having to see more injustice.
Towards the end of C.S. Lewis’ book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, we are told that Aslan the Lion is on the march to restore Narnia. It’s interesting when these words are spoken because at the time the kingdom was still under the power of the White Witch who had made Narnia where there was only winter. The winter was slowly receding, but winter was still here.
But Aslan was on the March. We are on the winning side. Hope is on the way as we wait. God is coming.
Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century.
Come Sunday 