Advent 2

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Advent 2
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: December 10, 2000


TEXT: Luke 3:1-6 – John the Baptist, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

“He went into all the region around the Jordon proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins . . . “

ISSUE: - John is the last of the Hebrew Prophets. He is calling for God’s people to change and be open to renewal. John is Isaiah’s ‘voice in the wilderness’ call all people to a ready for the coming of God to bring salvation to a world destined to destroy itself by its alienation from God.
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The important figure of the Advent season is John the Baptist. He is the forerunner who calls for a readiness for receiving the Christ into our hearts.
Luke records in the passage for this morning some specific historical data. Tiberious is emperor of Rome. Pontius Pilate is governor in Judea. Herod rules Galilee along with other rulers governing other surrounding states. Caiaphas and Annas are the high priests. Luke is reassuring his reader that into human history, God is about to make his mark, or stake his claim once again.
John the Baptist is the son of Zechariah the priest. John’s ministry, however is not a ministry in the temple with the finest of vestments and privileges. John is in the wilderness around the Jordon River. This is a place of spirits, divine presence, and a place where visions and hopes are born. The Jordon River itself has significant meaning as it was once the River the People of God crossed upon entering the new Promised Land.
John is calling now in this historical age, an age of great political and religious corruption, where the Temple Priests and leaders are in collusion with the Romans, at the great expense and derision of the poor and their needs. John longs for the coming of a saviour, a messianic figure of deliverance. He preaches a sermon for repentance, for change, for human renewal with broadened horizons to accept the way of God once again. He urges repentance and change among all who come out to hear him.
As a symbol of repentance and renewal on the part of those who listen to John, they are baptized. At this time, persons who were born Jewish were not baptized. Their lineage in the Jewish community was sufficient. Only those persons who converted to Judaism were baptized. It was a symbolic cleansing ritual, that was intended to wash their past uncleanness by virtue of their being pagan, heathen, Gentiles. Thus, John’s baptism is significant in that he feels that his world and Judaism of his ancestors has become so corrupted that all people have become alienated from God. They have turned away from what is Godly, and need to turn back, or repent. They need to broaden their understanding and appreciation of God’s calling to a just world.
John in the wilderness for the people of that time, and for those first reading Luke’s Gospel, John is an Elijah like figure. He is a dynamic character in the wilderness untouched by the extravagances of the world revealing the need for a renewed presence of God in the lives of the people.
In still another sense, John is almost Moses like. He stands to confront the powers of the time. Like Moses confronted the Egyptian Pharaoh, John takes his stand condemning the powers of his time: Tiberius, Herod, Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas. As Moses led his people to the Red Sea and into the wilderness and eventually the Promised Land, John is leading his followers through the wilderness to the Jordon River to be changed, renewed, and prepared for the saving grace of God and for entrance into the Kingdom of God.
John is likened to the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill 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’s message is one of hope in a bad time. His belief is that God will not leave his people bereft. The world powers have abandoned the people of God, and God will not allow that to continue. Thus, John calls for preparation, readiness, change of hearts, and broadened horizons in religious thinking to begin looking for and anticipating the coming of the Lord to his people. He is calling for preparedness for a new presence of God with his people. Eventually, John proclaims that Jesus is one who is to come, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin and alienation of the world. But like so many of the ancient prophets, John was murdered by Herod. But, his work was accomplished.
The importance of John’s ministry is that he calls for making ready for the Christ and for appropriate change and new thinking. Jesus’ teachings we will remember require new thinking as he often offers the Great Reversals in the face of worldly thinking and trends. John work also clear points at the Jesus Christ as God’s Christ in the world, and the world’s hope. Even beyond this role that John has, John is somehow symbolic personification of the work of the church in the world today.
The work of the church throughout the ages has been a work similar to what John the Baptist did. The work of the church has been to baptize all nations into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind that this does not merely mean sprinkling water on people. It means rather to immerse the world into the love and grace of God. All through the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures we have stories in our faith about how God seeks to deliver his people and keep them in His Kingdom. Moses deliverance of the Hebrews through the dying of Jesus on the cross is all tenants of our faith in which God is redeeming love.
The role of the church throughout history has also been a prophetic role. It is called upon to stand against the injustices of the world. This role is hard. It is not always easy to know what is right, and there have been times when the church has been wrong in her judgments. But we must be humble and careful as the people of God to have are prophetic arguments well worked out and carefully thought out. It was appropriate that the church stood firm and walked with Martin Luther King in the face of grave injustices. We must continue to stand firm against racism and exclusiveness in our world. It is appropriate that the church make a clear statement in its accessibility for handicapped and physically challenged people. The Church today will need to struggle with the issues of the Middle East. Dare we to stand back and do nothing, or must we be informed about what is fair and reasonable for both the nation Israel and the Palestinians who have no homeland. It is sad to see the hostilities developing there between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We can be so quick to demonize our enemies without first seeking new ways for peace and finding common ground for peace.
The church today may be needing to be more prophetic in its stand against the extreme consumerism, the American raping of the environment. We may have to take a stand for simpler less extravagant lifestyles in a world where resources are limited.
Sometimes we have to take bold stands on issues like gun control, when we see so many innocent children and bystanders harmed by epidemic of gun and drug related crimes.
We have to think and pray, and be concerned about the whole issue of gay and lesbian rights. What is appropriate; what is not. What’s more we need to think about the standards of what is appropriate behavior for the heterosexual community in the present day world.
In a world of that is becoming increasingly more vulgar, we may need to be concerned. Look carefully at what our children are seeing on television – what we are seeing on television! There is marked decline in what is good humor and appropriate viewing for a world that is civilized. There has been a significant decline in sitcom television. While these trends may seem harmless enough, they do diminish human dignity and standards.
It is no easy task being prophetic. You never know what words you may have to eat. We as the people of the church are not perfect. For that very reason this the season for cleaning up our own spiritual lives as the church of God. We have to take time for setting aside the distractions and reclaiming who we are and what we stand for. We must ourselves look for the coming of Christ again to direct and rule, to shape our lives. There is always the repeated need to allow Jesus Christ to come to us again to be the standard and guide of what is right coupled with compassion and mercy. Lest we become rigid and fixed, domineering, manipulating, and overbearing. . . . Lest we become to easy, trite, saccharin, sentimental, and meaningless . . . We need Christ to come to be with us. We need the presence of God in our lives that we can be his prophets and priest in a world that needs the love and the saving grace of God. John went proclaiming the need for change and repentance. He did his work well. The church in its role to proclaim the good news of God in Christ must know and look forward to his coming presence with us always.
We are called to faithfulness, study, prayerfulness, generosity. We are called to prayerfulness in our need for direction. We are called to embrace God and His Christ in everyway that we can to be faithful to our own baptism into the body of Christ, and into the role of the church.