Sermon 12/10/06
The Promise: Preparing - Luke 3:1-6
(view lectionary notes for this text)
John the Baptist is one of those figures in the Bible that I find particularly interesting and compelling. He’s always there, close to the story, close to the center of attention, close to Jesus, without ever being the real story, being the center of attention, being the Messiah. Think about it – John is the older of the two cousins, born just months before Jesus. John’s parents, like Jesus’, are visited by the angel Gabriel. John’s mother, like Jesus’ was an unlikely candidate to parent such a unique child. John is present at Jesus’ baptism – he, in fact, baptizes Jesus himself, even though he says he feels it should be the other way around. John already has disciples following him before Jesus starts his public teaching ministry. John lives a life abstaining from drink and certain foods while Jesus is known for his drinking and eating and indulgence. Many mistake John the Baptist for the Messiah, and think Jesus is perhaps John come back from the dead. And it is John who is imprisoned first for standing up for his beliefs, and John who is first murdered because of them, executed for his stand against King Herod’s immorality. And yet, this story is never John’s story. It is always Jesus’ story. I’m reminded a little bit of the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian, which is about a man named Brian who is everywhere Jesus is, only always a bit late, a bit out of step, a bit less than what Jesus was. I wonder – did John ever feel second rate? Did he ever feel hidden in the shadow of Jesus’ persona and popularity?
But the scriptures give no impression that John ever felt second best. John had a task, a role that he was called to do by God. He wasn’t called to be the Messiah, but he was called to bear witness to the Messiah, and to help people prepare for the coming of this Messiah. In our lesson today, we read that at just the right time, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, where he was in the wilderness, and John went out and began preaching in all the region, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In John, the words of the prophet Isaiah were brought to life: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
John wanted people to ready themselves for the coming of the Messiah. John wasn’t even sure himself who exactly the Messiah would be until he laid eyes on him, until he confirmed for himself that Jesus was the one. He even sends his disciples to Jesus while he is already in prison to make sure that Jesus is the one. But John believed the Messiah was coming, and believed that he needed to prepare for the arrival, and believed that others would need to prepare as well. John believed that preparation meant repentance – he called on people to repent and be forgiven for their sinfulness. I’ve explained before probably so that you are sick of hearing it that repentance means literally a changing of the direction of the mind – a turning around of your life so that you are leaving the path you are on and taking a new course, a new direction, that goes in the direction that God is going with you.
Repentance means we need to identify how we’re off course – identify our sinfulness – ask God for forgiveness from our sins – and get on the right path, no longer engaging in those actions or inactions that have led us on a different course than God. In the resource we’re using in our Saturday Evening Service this Advent, theologian J. Ellsworth Kalas defines sin in a simple and clear yet compelling way – he talks about sin as being disobedient to God. When we disobey God, we’re sinning. That’s pretty simple, and perhaps we’re thinking that we know at least that much already. But I’m not sure we’re letting the magnitude of such a definition sink in.
If sinning is simply disobeying God, then that means that I sin every time I don’t do something God wants me to do. That makes sinfulness a lot more complicated then just breaking a standard list of thou-shall-nots. It means that if God is challenging us, calling us to go where we’re not ready to go, and we say no, or not right now, or I’ve got a different plan, we’re being sinful. And it means that sin for you and sin for me might not always look exactly the same. It means that the very same actions or inactions may not always have the same consequences for us. What is most sinful for me to do might be something very different than what is most sinful for you to do. That goes a little bit against our impulses as Americans who pride ourselves on our love of equality. It sounds awfully unfair to us at first, to think that God has different expectations for each one of us. But actually, I think it is a gift to us. God, who in love for us created each one of us as unique and precious individuals, this God takes the care to have specific hopes and dreams for each one of us. God knows us enough to want something special and specific for and from each one of us. So, what God wants from you and from me will never be exactly the same, just as what God gives to you and to me will never be exactly the same. What is the same is that God gives the same unconditional love to all of us, and hopes for the same complete commitment from all of us.
So John was calling for repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and Luke tells us that John called for repentance as a sign of preparation, as a way of getting ready for something that was about to happen – the coming of the Lord, the time when all people would see and experience God’s salvation. Advent is a time of preparation, and so it is a time for repentance. It is the perfect time for us to examine our lives, see where we have been sinful, disobedient, and commit to turning in God’s direction.
Last week I went to see a movie called Stranger Than Fiction – you may have seen it too or seen previews. If you've seen the previews, you've seen the basic premise: Will Farrell plays a straight-laced IRS agent who finds that his life is being narrated by some voice, and the voice says his death is just around the corner. He tries to find the author and persuade her not to write his death. In the process, he begins to live differently - in a way that the voice doesn't predict. The narration of his life makes him realize how mundane and unsatisfying his life has been so far, and he tries to outsmart the narration by living how he’s never lived before, living to the full.
The film has a basic message of 'carpe diem - seize the day.' Stop putting things off and start living the life you’ve been meaning to live now. It isn't necessarily a profound message or a new one, but I guess like all such life lessons, we need to keep hearing it until we're living it. I can't remember where I read it recently - I think maybe in an article in Relevant magazine, a magazine for twenty/thirtysomething Christians that I really enjoy – an article that asked, "what are you waiting for until you really start you life?" What excuse do you keep putting out to yourself or to others that goes like this: "I'll get around to [the thing I'm really called to be doing/meant to be doing/passionate about/convicted about doing] as soon as [this other life thing happens/falls into place/gets settled.]" I'm very guilty of this. I'm very guilty of saying to myself that I'll start doing things the way I think I really should be after I'm ordained (an excuse I no longer have), or once I have more money, or when things in my life feel more settled, or even just after the new year. The point is - what are you waiting for? This is it already - this is your life. It has already started, is already well underway, and if you keep waiting for the perfect time to act, your life will be well over before you get anywhere.
Advent is a time of preparation. The time to prepare is now because the coming of the Christ-Child is so very close – the kingdom of God is already near, already here! What other time are you planning to use to prepare? What are you waiting for to repent? How long will you travel down a road you know is not the road God’s calling you to before you will turn around? Or how long will you simply live at a stand-still, doing the same things in the same way, waiting for some day that’s never coming to get started doing what you’re really meant to be doing? Whatever you’re waiting for, the message from John, the message from Isaiah, the message of Advent is that the time is here already. Prepare now for God’s coming, because this is it.
In the sixth year of the presidency of George W. Bush, when Pataki was governor of New York, and Clinton was Senator, and when Leo Matzke was mayor of Oneida, during the time when Beth was pastor, the word of God came to the people of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. And they went out into all the regions, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Prepare the way of the Lord.
Amen.