Waking Up for Adventure - 1

Advent 1 (2010)
Matthew 1:1-17
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Sermon
(This is the first of four Advent sermons. The title for this series is “Waking Up for Adventure” and does not always follow the lectionary texts assigned for the day.)

Waking Up for Adventure
Many of you are aware that the seventh and final episode of the Harry Potter series is out in theatres. It is titled “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and opened in theatres on November 19 around the country. The Harry Potter series has been one of the best-selling books of all time. The movies have raked-in record-breaking sums of money. It is a testament to the world’s love of a good story – a good adventure story.

Adventure, my friends, is what Advent is all about. This first Sunday of Advent, as we begin the countdown to another celebration of our Savior’s birth, I want to help you prepare yourself for the adventure of Jesus’ birth. A drama filled with intrigue, tension, exotic locations, and fascinating characters.

As you know from your own reading and movie going, there are certain things great adventures have in common.

And one of the first things you see are colorful characters. Today’s gospel reading is a nice long list of names that make up Jesus' family tree. If there was an ancestry.com for Jesus this would be the result. His background shows a wide variety of types of people. There are shepherds and kings, and poets and warriors. Many of us are coming a few days of celebrating Thanksgiving with extended family. In the Brown household, we had almost the entire tribe of in-laws camped-out in our space. Twenty people . . . twenty interesting, fascinating people lived under the same roof for four days and four nights. What an assortment of characters! And the stories that were told! It reminded me of my own youth when carloads of family would arrive at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving, telling stories of days gone by. I remember the story of my dad and aunt fighting as brother and sister. Aunt Betty was chasing my dad through the house and karate-kicked him through the screen door. When he landed on the other side, he didn’t move a muscle. He didn’t breathe or blink . . . dead like a possum. Betty barked at him “Get up Dickie!” “Get up!” Then she began to get worried, “Dickie? Are you ok?” She knelt down beside him to check his pulse, trembling for what she might have done to her little brother. As soon as she placed her ear next to his lips to see if he was breathing, he laughed out loud, “Gotcha!” Then she jumped on him and beat him some more.

Ahh, . . . good times. I never got tired of hearing that story.

It’s one of the stories you can tell in front of children . . . you know what I mean? Because there are stories that are fit for children’s ears and stories that you might hesitate telling.

You may or may not know it, but Jesus' family tree has both kinds of stories as well. There are all kinds of people in his family. There are respectable and upright types and then there are those whose stories you might not share in polite society. For example, as the list goes on you run across the name of Tamar. Do you know who Tamar was? Well, in a sense, I guess, you might call her an entrepreneur. She was in business for herself, if you know what I mean. She was in the oldest profession. She operated a brothel. She was CEO of the local “cat house” in Jericho at the time of the conquest of the Holy Land. Not something that many of us can find in our families is it? Or read further in Jesus’ gene pool and you find the name of “Ruth.” And who was Ruth? She was from Moab. She was a foreigner. In a world that was concerned with keeping a pure and clean gene pool, to have foreign blood was looked down upon. Yet, Jesus’ background included people who were looked down upon.

Every great adventure has great characters and the adventure that you and I are invited to join is no exception. In fact, Jesus makes no exceptions when it comes to who is invited. All people . . . no matter how squeaky-clean or morally suspect, are included in God’s great adventure.

A second thing you see in great stories is the setting. And in the adventure of Jesus’ coming, you see it set in an exotic setting. The language is different. The music has a different beat. And the people wear unusual garb. As the characters move around the setting in their foreign-looking dress they fulfill their unique roles.

Not too many years ago, Karin and I were on a rare date downtown Indianapolis. It was in the heat of August, so we were at an outside table on the sidewalk on Washington Street. There we were, enjoying the moment of closeness, when out of the corner of my eye passes an individual in a Star Wars storm trooper costume. I looked around and saw another and then another. And over there was Princess Leah . . . over there three Luke Skywalkers . . . Jaba the Hut! I looked at Karin, and then at my adult beverage, then to the storm troopers.

It turns out the national Star Wars convention was in town that weekend. And heavens! Did they ever dress the part?! Man! Were they were living the story, acting the character, and caught up in the moment.

When it comes to the Adventure we have with Jesus Christ, you should know that it is not only the people in the Bible world who dress differently. They are not the only ones who put on new apparel and live a different story. But each one of you, as you become part of the adventure of Jesus’ life, will dress differently. You will present yourself to the world differently. You live out of a new sense of identity and character.

The apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:27,

“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

And in Romans13:14 he says,

“put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

As one of the characters in Jesus’ adventure, you have a new sense of self, a new identity to live from. And as you allow yourself, as you give yourself the freedom to get caught up in the moment, to live the story, you will never feel more alive.

A third thing you see in great adventures is a mind-bending plot. There has to be a sense of the tension and urgency running from beginning to end. And you have it today. As the Gospel of Matthew ticks off name after name starting with Abraham and ending with Jesus the Messiah, you begin to understand that God is bringing everything to its conclusion in Jesus Christ. He is the culmination, the climax of the entire drama, the holy adventure. His ending becomes your ending. Now tell me, my people, where does the story go with Jesus? What is its conclusion? Resurrection! . . . New Life! . . . New Creation! The mind-bending plot that you are a part of ends with a new beginning, where all of life is as it should be, and should have been all along. And everything you are and do clothed with Christ brings that moment one scene closer.

Of all the adventures you have read or seen or heard, there is no adventure like the one Jesus calls you to. It is the one that makes your pulse race and your heart beat. It is the one that will light your imagination and cause your mind to soar. What I am asking you today, my friends, is “wake up!” Wake up to the adventure of Jesus’ life. Embrace the characters he has assembled. Clothe yourselves with Christ. And move to the new day that is coming upon us. Don’t hold back! Pour yourself into it! Live the adventure!