Sermon, Advent 2

We have some GREAT material in the scriptures today. It’s exciting – it’s energizing – it’s Advent 2, which means:  John the Baptist Sunday!!

Okay, maybe I’m a wee bit more excited about this than most. The truth is, I love John the Baptist Sunday.  I always have. I’ve always been moved by the story of him being the frontrunner, as it were, for the Good News.

And today we get to hear the start of that. That’s actually how Mark starts us off: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” What a great intro, right? As far as first lines go, that’s gripping. GOOD NEWS. It starts now.

And here’s an interesting point about this line. This is the beginning. Bible quiz: where does it say “This is the end of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Nowhere. Because the good news does not end. It’s ongoing. It’s still with us. The good news, once started, can not be ended.

Good news indeed! I could stop there, but John’s coming up, and I’ve just mentioned I’m keen. So! Continuing in our short gospel passage, we then get taken back into history, to the prophet Isaiah.

See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,' Hmm. Now what would that sound like today. Maybe… “I’m going to send out my expert consulting theologian for you folks. He may preach a little different than what you’re used to, but he’ll help direct your work to make sure it’s God’s ministry that you’re doing. Right? Sounds good, yes? Thanks Isaiah. Helpful.  

Except: wait, what? MY work? OUR work? Isaiah is saying that this great messenger is only a messenger, that the real task is up to US? Whoa. I thought that was supposed to be done already, by somebody else? We’ve just got the easy part of following, right?

Wrong. Isaiah tells us that the voice from the wilderness will tell US to prepare the way of the Lord, and make God’s paths straight. Not the messenger, not the chosen one, us. The messenger is just there to remind us of this task, to get us ready for what’s coming.

Suddenly, not so easy. Because it challenges us: what is MY ministry? What is MY task? What can I do to help make the coming of the Lord easier? How can I remove any stumbling blocks or barricades in God’s path? How do I do this for myself? For my family? For my church? For my community?

Eesh. Lots of work. When we hear it this way, “Prepare the way of the Lord” just became an awful lot more difficult – though also more rewarding, of course – than “Prepare the way of the perfect family get-together on 25^th December.”

 Again – this could be a point where I could stop talking, where we could enter into a time of silent reflection: How can I prepare the way for God’s arrival? But – again – we still haven’t gotten to John.

So let’s do that now. John. John the baptizer. John, the cousin of Jesus. John, with a long family history that we have all heard: dad’s Zechariah, mom’s Elizabeth. John who leapt for joy in his mothers’ womb when her cousin Mary showed up and announced that she was pregnant. John’s got a good thing going: good family, good home, good finances.

And yet: he leaves all of that. Leaves his wardrobe, leaves his bedroom, leaves his servants, leaves his regular meals. And what does he do? Wanders, in the wilderness. In his context, this means the dessert. Snaggling anything he can to eat, so bug protein and honey carbohydrates. Wearing smelly clothes, unshaven, bee-stung, dreadlocks, malnourished, horrible feet, a nasty sunburn, perpetually thirsty. Not really pretty. And he stands in rivers on a regular basis. Not just any river: The Jordan. The great river, which was known in that day to be a great garbage dump. Some of that refuse was probably stuck into the tangled camel hair.

Attractive? No. Priviledged? No. The kind of person you would want at that perfect family get-together? Unlikely.

And yet. THIS is the man who is God’s messenger. THIS is the man who is going to make Isaiah’s prophesy come true. THIS is the man who is going to shake the world into spiritual awakeness, to the end that they can be ready when God himself shows up in front of them.

THIS is the man – the smelly, nasty-looking man – who is delivering a message SO BLESSEDLY POWERFUL that it draws people to him. It makes people forget what he looks like – what he smells like – what he sounds like – what his hands feel like. They don’t care about all of that, because of what he has to say. People are coming to him from all over the whole countryside just to hear him speak.

And he’s not even saying “It is I! IAM that great I AM of scripture!” No – he starts off simple. Calm. Faithful. “I’ll baptize you with water” he says – much as anyone can baptize you with water; and it’s all about changing your heart and trusting in forgiveness of sins. “But one is coming after me: an amazing one, who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. I’m not even good enough to be the lowest of the lowly slaves to him. But he’s coming, so get ready.“

Imagine hearing that message, from that messenger. What power, what conviction, what faith John must have exuded. And inspired! He knew his role, he knew his ministry; and he was faithful to that. He also knew that part of that ministry was sacrifice: look at all he was willing to give up. He went against the flow, walking away from culture and family and comfort, delivering a message that the people had all heard before, a message that the authorities didn’t want him to be repeating. And yet he did – he did all of this, for the love of God. And he did all of this to tell other people, whom he’d never even met before, to get ready.

This was John’s ministry, to be that bringer of news – like a quick phone call saying company’s on it’s way. He wasn’t telling people how to do the work, even, just that they had to figure out what their ministry was, what God was calling them to do, and to do it – so that they and their families and communities, would be ready for the coming of God. John’s not the one doing the work, he was telling other people to do it: like a consultant, a divine consultant.

And we know that many people heard his words, and took them seriously. We know that many of these people were baptized, and took that baptism seriously. We know that many of them went on to share the good news themselves, just as John had done, even if meant taking them outside of their comfort zone. We know many of them welcomed Jesus, and did all they could to assist him in his journey and ministry. And we know that many people to this day have done their part to continue in that tradition.

We know that to this day, John’s message is a powerful, poignant one, one that inspires and encourages and empowers. It humbles, it builds up, it helps people to focus on preparing for God’s coming again.

So knowing that, I think our challenge today is to be careful listeners; we are invited to hear this message today with new ears, and to make it our own. We are invited to have these words from Isaiah and from John directed into our hearts as a personal message from God. The messenger has come to prepare our way: our work is now to prepare the way of the Lord. So how will we do that? What are we willing to give up, to sacrifice? What tasks are we willing to undertake? How are we going to go against the flow, against culture, against the norm, in our willingness to serve God?

I don’t have the answers – because that’s between you and God. But I encourage you to spend some time thinking and praying on it. What is God calling you to do? How is God inviting you to prepare the way, as we prepare for the birth of the Christ child? How far will you leave your own comfort zone to enter the ministry zone?

I don’t know. I’m not even sure myself – I know I wouldn’t go as far as John did, but I also know that God isn’t asking me to go that far. I do know, though, that however and wherever God is calling me – us – you – we do not go down that path alone. Because that path has been prepared for us – by God, and by those who have gone before us. And when we do go down it, we go with God – by God’s grace, with the Holy Spirit, in the comfort of Christ. We go down that road just as John went into the wilderness; in hope, in trust, in faith.

I pray we might all be as faithful in our own callings as John was. It’s how "the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," will continue.