In episode 5 of the first series of Bob the Builder, the crew
is dispatched to fix a wall that has collapsed in the Littletown railway tunnel. Some bricks need replacing. Wendy the secretary
reminds Bob that he will need to hire a generator. They would need to turn the electricity off and set up temporary lights.
They set off singing “Bob the Builder – Can we fix it! Bob the Builder – Yes we can!”
Muck the Truck has the job of carrying the bricks into the tunnel.
As he reaches the tunnel entrance he pauses. “What’s up?” asks Bob. Muck the truck is afraid of the
dark. “Well… urm… it’s all dark and horrible in there”. Bob laughs. “Oh, once we get this
generator working, we’ll have the lights on.” The generator splutters and coughs. “Oh,” says Bob.
“It should be all right.” “What do you mean it should be?” asks Muck the truck looking worried.
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Around about the Year 450 B.C. the people of Israel had been back in Jerusalem for over 100 years. The return from Exile in Babylon had begun around 538 B.C. When the return began
they were a people with high hopes. But that was then, this was now. History had unfolded in quite a different way than the
community envisioned it. The people were discouraged.
In fact they were barely
surviving. Very few had actually returned from Babylon. Most had simply stayed there. Since most of them had been born there, for all practical purposes
they were Babylonians. Life had been good in Babylon. Many had prospered.
But now back in Israel what was going on? They had tried to rebuild, but the whole land had been ravaged. Simply laying
stone upon fallen stone did not recapture the fallen glory of King Solomon’s magnificent temple. The city walls had
been leveled. They were constantly at risk from marauding bandits and rival tribes.
Their return hadn’t exactly been welcomed by the remnant that had remained in Israel. After all, to them the
returners were intruders. Since the olive trees had been cut down and the vineyards destroyed, food was in short supply.
This wasn’t the way that the former prophets had predicted things
would be. Where was the glory? Where was the prosperity? Many simply concluded that the promises of the prophets were false
and that God was not really much of a god after all. This allowed apathy to set in, the idea that God is powerless and does
not care what people do. People became cynical.
Over the years there had
been a few lone voices, people like Ezra and Nehemiah who encouraged them to lay stone upon stone and rebuild the walls. “It
should be all right,” they encouraged. “What do you mean it should be?” the people responded.
It was the third Sunday in
Advent at Beckley Presbyterian Church. The choir sang sweetly “Come now O God, make us one body, Come O Lord Jesus reconcile
Your people’ as candles for hope, peace and joy were lit around the Advent wreath.
Sitting amongst the congregation
were those who had many questions. A new government, but we seem to be facing the same old problems. We talk of peace, but
war continues to rage. We pray and we pray, but it’s not like it used to be. None of us are getting any younger. We’ve
lost some dear friends.
Hope feels like an ever-shrinking
commodity. Some are not even sure what to hope for any more. Just hanging in there trying to get through seems to be the order
of the day. And as for joy. Well, isn’t that just for the children? All this Christmas thing…it’s humbug.
How can we taste real joy when there is so much to worry about?
The preacher’s trying
hard… “Trust in God,” he proclaims, “If God is with us, everything should be all right!” And
amongst the congregation are those wondering exactly what does he mean by “Should be”?
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Wendy is back in Bob the
Builders office. “At last,” she sighs, leaning back in her chair “I can get some peace and quiet.”
Suddenly from the next room comes a loud noise. Pilchard the cat has sat on the remote control and turned the television on.
She strolls through, turns it off and says, “You can’t stay in here watching telly all day. Now come on.”
“Merrow,” replies Pilchard the cat leaping from the chair and heading outside to play.
Out at Littletown railway
tunnel Scoop the truck is taunting Muck. “Muck is a scardy truck, Muck is a scardy truck” “I am not!”
declares Muck. Muck swallows his pride and in fear and trembling heads into the railway tunnel as the generated lights blink
and flicker. Muck is trembling and repeating to himself, “It’s not really dark, It’s not really dark.”
As he unloads his bricks
and is about to head out of the tunnel, suddenly the generator coughs, wheezes, fizzles and splutters and then … dies.
Scoop says “Uh Oh!” “Oh dear, I think we’ve got a problem,” agrees Bob the Builder. “Don’t
do this to me,” yells Mack the truck, now rooted to the spot in the middle of the darkness of the railway tunnel. “Turn
the lights on, turn the lights on! No fun, no fun!”
Bob goes into the tunnel
to rescue him. “Look,” he says, “I’ve got a flashlight – just follow me.” “I can’t…
I can’t move,” stammers Muck. “It’s too dark…” Muck is stuck. Even Lofty the Loader who
goes into the tunnel to tell Muck about how he had managed to get by his fear of heights can’t budge him. All Muck will
say is, “I can’t. It’s too dark.
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Into the midst of the darkness
of the post-exilic community of Jerusalem there strides an unknown prophet, known as the Servant, carrying a message of hope. “The
spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the
LORD's favor.”
It had been a while since
anybody had been bold enough to claim to be bringing an anointed message from God. The Hebrew word for anointed (mashach) is the one from which we get the term "messiah." It applied to somebody appointed to a special task
by God. To these downtrodden ones, to this community that had lost hope, a servant
comes and proclaims, “It is now the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The time for mourning had
passed. The time for constant worry and empty searching was over. God had noticed that they had grown weak in their spirit.
God had seen the ashes and heard their sorrow. And God makes a promise to ‘give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit’.
This will all be the Lord’s
doing. ‘They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former
devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.’ Things were going to change.
‘They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display His glory’.
These were mighty fine words.
Indeed centuries later, Jesus would use them as his first sermon in a synagogue on the Sabbath day in His hometown of Nazareth and identify His mission as being
that of the servant Messiah, telling the people: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:21).
Predictably there were those
in Nazareth, just as there were back in Jerusalem around 450 B.C., who looked around at their situation and were too afraid
to move forward because they said ‘It’s too dark’.
The congregation at Beckley
Presbyterian Church on Sunday 14th
December 2008 had just finished singing the words of a hymn written by Christina
Rosseti in 1872 to a tune by Gustav Theodore Holst composed in 1906.
“In the bleak midwinter, Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow
on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, Nor earth sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign: In the bleak midwinter a stable-place sufficed, The Lord God incarnate, Jesus Christ.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; But His mother only in
her maiden bliss, Worshiped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man, I would do my part; Yet, what I can I give Him: Give
my heart.”
The hymn having been sung,
one whispered to a neighbor, “I didn’t know that tune.”
For another the significance
of the words went in one ear and out the other. Yet another hadn’t even bothered to pick up the hymnbook. Jesus said
“If you have ears to hear then hear, If you have eyes then see,” A member commented later that they couldn’t
understand why the pastor read out a whole hymn as part of the sermon.
Jesus stands in the darkness
shining His light upon our lives. Through words, music, friends, neighbors, sights, sermons, saints and sinners He comes to
us in the midst of our paralyzing fears and says ‘Follow Me’. Too
often (probably more often than we are willing to admit) our response is, “It’s too dark.”
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Wendy inquired of Rolly the
Steamroller, “You don’t know where Pilchard the cat went do you?” Pilchard the cat had made his way over
to Littletown Railway tunnel. He overheard Bob and the others talking about Muck
the Truck being stuck. Deciding to investigate he wanders into the tunnel and says, “Meoww.” Being a tunnel it
didn’t sound like a little ‘Meow’ but a big “MEOWW” that echoed and bounced off the tunnel walls.
Now if there is one thing that Muck the stuck truck was afraid of more than the dark it was ghosts.
And that meow sounded more like a ghost than a cat called Pilchard. ‘Ghosts. ARARR’ he screamed and headed as
fast as his wheels could carry him to the light at the end of the tunnel. Later in the day he was telling his adventures to
Rolly the Steamroller. “You must have been afraid,” said Rolly. “Nah,” replied Muck the Truck. “But
I got out of their fast!”
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The prophet addresses the Jerusalem community once more. God was doing something new – bringing in a new covenant. God promises
to His people, “I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” With rich imagery the prophet
rejoices in what God is going to do in the midst of His people.
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself
with her jewels.”
In Beckley Presbyterian Church the sermon comes to a close. It is Advent.
The season of looking to the birth of Jesus Christ, who came that we may have life and that abundantly. At the end of the
service the candles of hope, peace and joy are extinguished. But through the action of the Holy Spirit the light carries on
burning in the hearts of those who allow God’s promises to rebuild their trust, ignite their imaginations and empower
them for service.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never, and will never
extinguish the light of Jesus’ love. To God be the glory. Amen.
