Vindication

HMPC - Advent Family Worship

December 13, 2009

Luke 2 - Simeon (and John the Baptist)

Vindication - getting proved right, correct, in the face of doubters and scoffers....Vindication is winning an argument, proving a point, vindication is justifying and defending, it is proving innocence, vindication is resolution - it is closure. Settling the score.

Vindication is Al Pacino in the closing scene of Sent of a Woman defending his protege and proving his innocence; it is the young lawyer in the conclusion of the courtroom drama A Few Good Men showing the arrogance of the general; and laying a trap for the man to condemn himself. Vindication is when the truth gets revealed.

Sometimes vindication can come through argumentative humor: A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they were a very large mammal their throat was very small. The little girl stated Jonah was swallowed by a whale. The teacher reiterated a whale could not swallow a human; it was impossible. The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah." The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?" The little girl replied, "Then you can ask him." Somehow I doubt the teacher won many arguments, and thought twice about trying to prove that little girl wrong.

Vindication for some only comes on faith. Take for example John the Baptist. John said from the start that the Messiah would come. John said from the start to prepare for the kingdom of God. John was instigator and castigator, he was hero and he was villain; he was Baptizer and trouble maker. My best guess is for most of his life people thought he was wrong - after all when John leaves us he is beheaded by Herod, locked away in a jail cell. One can almost hear the guards and the scoffers at court: where is your kingdom now, John? Where's that Messiah? John's vindication comes long after his death; when the tomb is empty and when righteousness is merited by God's graciousness, when Jesus commands the church to Baptize, and when repentance, renewal, and regeneration become the calling cards of the church.

Vindication through fulfillment, divine resolution. This is Simeon's moment of justice. How many must have made fun of the old man? How many taunters and jesters? Only a fool - they must have said behind his back. Only a fool! And then the child. Simeon is vindicated. "Lord bid thy servant go in peace..." I can rest now, God has made good on promises, and I am at peace. This may be the sweetest vindication of all. If only we have the eyes to see - how many stop looking as love becomes unrequited? If only we have hearts to wait -- how many give up on hope as days run weeks, run months and years and decades? So tired of waiting, so tired. The sting of doubt erodes the shores of trust, and soon the ship-wrecked survivor stops looking to the horizon for signs of life.

If you have ever been called to trust like Simeon or John or anyone of those people who compose the great stories of vindication against all odds then you know of the difficulty of the task at hand. I doubt Simeon took it all on at once. I don't think he thought - how will I ever make it through the next decade? I think he thought, how do I get through today? "Mother Theresa," they once asked her, "how did you take on all that poverty and take on all those slums, there were so many. How did you help millions?" "I didn't start with a million," she said. "I started with one."

With one child God begins the great plan of justification and hopefullness for the entire world. Christmas is the start of the vindication for all our hopes. If only we'll see, yes if only. I am reminded of the final moments of that film Shakespeare in Love, where the entire project of Romeo and Juliet is falling apart. Juliet has gone missing, the theaters have been closed, and the cast is a shambles. The investor, the producer wants to know how his money is going to be saved, how will the show go on? "We don't know," they tell him, "it's a mystery." But the show goes on. Christmas comes and calls us to wait for the consummation of all things, the vindication of God's plan of grace for the world. In the vindication begun at Christmas, the tragedy of Eden begins its arduous reversal.

Do we want to count ourselves with those vindicated or do you pass the time with those who won't stand for anything long enough to be vindicated (or not)? Do we have faith enough or only doubt? The guides through Advent and Christmas are Simeon, Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Gabriel, Anna, and John. That's pretty good company. That a group of folks who would be vindicated. That they are the church's guides, well, that gives me, for one, great comfort. When they go marching in, let us be counted among their number. Amen.