Brief synopsis of the readings: Today we’re earlier in the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. He speaks of one who is to come. This person will have wisdom, insight, counsel, power, knowledge and fear of the Lord. Because of this person enemies will come together (the wolf will lie down with the lamb) and innocents will be safe in the presence of predators. In Matthew’s Gospel we read of John the Baptist. He called for repentance in all people and he baptized them. But when he saw a group of Pharisees he called them a brood of vipers. Finally he foretold of one to come who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Long time readers of my work know that I have little patience for hypocrisy. I also have to confess equally little patience for smugness. We all do this from time to time but I need to be more understanding of people who read something and decide they have it all figured out.

We’ll spend a good deal of our Advent journey with Isaiah and it’s easy for us to see how these passages foreshadow Jesus as the long awaited Messiah. We have the benefit of over 2,000 years of history to look back on.

But what of the listeners of Isaiah and Matthew? The concept of a Messiah developed over a long period of time and really mirrored the need of the Israelites. By the time of Jesus many were dreaming of and hoping for someone who would lead them in defeat of the Romans and other conquerors. If someone asked the Pharisees what the expected Messiah would look like they could have gone into great detail. Of a few things we can be sure: this Messiah would do what they want and preserve their place on top of the pecking order.

Whatever they were looking for, it certainly bore no resemblance to John the Baptist, or later Jesus. Needing to repent, change their lives and be baptized was not in their plan. That’s not bad as far as it goes. We all live with expectations of the future: our wedding, our perfect job, our Nobel Prize acceptance speech. That doesn’t make us a brood of vipers. But when we use these expectations to keep ourselves wealthy, or powerful, or they feed our perceptions that we are better than others, that turns us into vipers. It also makes us smug.

It makes us smug because it blinds us to what really happens when our expectations are realized. Years ago I worked at a church that had undergone a major interior renovation. Unfortunately the pastor was not prepared for the blowback: young women he didn’t recognize expressed deep anger because they had planned their wedding “since I was a little girl” in the old church. It never occurred to them that the reality might someday differ from their plans.

And Jesus’ fraught relationship with the Pharisees came directly from their image of who they thought the Messiah should be. They had no objection to someone who would cast off the yolk of the Romans but they insisted that this person would not only keep them in their positions of power but praise them for doing what they did. They expected to greet him with: “It’s good to see you. I knew you would be like this all along.”

So how does that translate into how we view Jesus? Well, I’d like to announce that the pharisees are now officially extinct. OK, I’d like to announce a number of things. But the thing is, I don’t think we need to look far to see the descendants of that same brood.

Because we believe that Jesus is the Messiah we don’t wait for his coming. But we do wait for his return. It’s not a widely held Catholic belief but many of our fellow Christians believe that at some point in the future God will call all the righteous to eternal life, leaving the wicked to a series of tribulations. It’s called the rapture and those who are raptured will not experience death. I grew up in the South and it wasn’t unusual to see a car bumper sticker that said: “At the Rapture This Car Will Be Unoccupied.” At least they showed enough compassion to warn the rest of us.

I think about that when I read about the Pharisees. Both groups insist that they are doing fine and the rest of us are on our own. Both groups expect to see Jesus and say: It’s exactly as I planned.

So who do we look to? I’m going to suggest that if we need guideposts for Advent, and indeed life, we should look to those who have the least. In my experience they are the ones most aware of their need for redemption. I’ve been blessed in my life to work with and stand with some exceptional people. I’ve been with the dying, the incarcerated and the poor. I’ve worked with teen mothers and those who just want to be able to read. For them the coming of the Messiah isn’t about a bigger paycheck or a corner office and it certainly isn’t about turning the tables and feeling superior to those who made them feel low.

Certainly there are exceptions but their hope for the future lies in having enough and living in a world where everyone has enough. When they think about the Messiah/Redeemer/Savior they describe an image not so much as a picture in the mind but a feeling in their heart. They think about Isaiah and his promise that the one to come will bring wisdom, insight, counsel, power, knowledge and fear of the Lord.

As I (we) continue our Advent journey I’m not saying we should put aside hopes, dreams and expectations. But I think we need to make room for surprises. For the action coming from a different direction. For the ability to say: “So that’s what Isaiah and John the Baptist were talking about.

We put such effort into surprising our loved ones with the perfect present. Can we allow the Savior of the World to do the same for us? I hope so.