December 8th

A New Word for An Old World

Luke 3:1-6


So, what do you think about the lectionary scripture readings for this week? Certainly an improvement over last week, don’t you think?

After all, last week it was the foundations of the heavens shaking, seas churning, waves rising, and people fainting! It was very much like a “Left Behind” movie plot, minus Kirk Cameron playing the lead role. But hopefully, we all got a little more out of the message than, “”The world is coming to an end, and it is not going to be pretty. By the way, Merry Christmas.”

By comparison, today’s reading from Luke is rather tame. Ah, but looks! They CAN be deceiving, can’t they?

So, what can be so unnerving about today’s reading? Isn’t it just one of the nice, warm Advent readings with the good news about the birth of Jesus the Christ?

Well, there IS good news in the reading, to be sure; but it also gives us much to think about if we study it a little closer.

For example, there is actually scandal in the first two verses. I know at first it looks like an interesting—or not so interesting—bit of history. When this book of the Bible was written, rather than use dates like we do today, people often used the reigns of government and religious leaders in an attempt to pinpoint when events took place. So, this list from Luke can be seen as the author’s way of telling us when the ministry of John officially began.

But the scandal is actually in verse 2. …”the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” Think about it. From all the list of government AND religious leaders in high places, the word of God came to who? John! You remember John--John the guy whose mother dressed him funny in camel’s hair and leather. John—the guy who ate locusts and wild honey. Yeah, THAT John!

Notice, too, the word of God didn’t come to the most noticeable and powerful locations in either the political OR religious world, either. The word of God came to a person considered an outcast, who was located outside of the mainstream of political and religious power!

Then notice what John does. John does not sit on his blessed assurances in the wilderness. No, scripture tells us that John came out of the wilderness. John starts proclaiming a message of baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins—and John took his message all the way to the top of both the government AND religious power structures of his time.

Because John’s message was from God, it carried authority—it influenced opinions and commanded attention. John did not have power—at least not as the world defines power—he had something far better.

John’s message drew some very unfavorable attention from both the government and religious powers of his time. Why was that? Many of those in power did not like John’s message because it called them to task. It told them to change the way they were doing things.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating here. The Greek word for repentance used here is “metanoia.” This word means “change of heart.” Repentance signals a commitment to address wrongs, to make necessary changes, and to participate in relationships in new ways.

Does all this still sound a little distant to you? Let’s try something different, then. From the 2006 version of this passage:

In the sixth year of the presidency of George W. Bush, when Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cronyn were Senators from the State of Texas; when Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson was Moderator of UFMCC, and Henry Garrett was Mayor of Corpus Christi, the word of God came to US. The word of God came to US at the corner of Craig and 11th in a former Jewish synagogue in Corpus Christi, Texas—of all places! Then WE (that’s WE folks, not just ME) called and wrote our government officials. WE attended City Council meetings and met with local law enforcement agencies. WE wrote and met with religious leaders from other denominations as well as our own denomination.

And what did we do? We told them to REPENT! We told them something is terribly wrong and some changes need to be made!
 When our government can vote to spend BILLIONS dollars on war while the poverty level of our own country increases, and social service agencies like Loving Spoonful fight to maintain adequate funding to keep their doors open, SOMETHING IS WRONG!
 When adults fight like children over how we should or should not spend money to develop, or not develop, our Bay front property, while literally tons of trash float in the very waters of that Bay—the Bay that God gave us to care for, by the way, SOMETHING IS WRONG!
 When there are mammoth churches in this world furnished with precious metals and only the best of just about everything from furniture to sound equipment, while people are literally sleeping and begging for money from the very steps of these institutions, SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG!
 When Christian denominations of ALL types and their leaders become so focused on political issues that they seem to lose all sight of our primary task as Christians, which is to make disciples of all nations; when they forget we are to SERVE and NOT BE SERVED, SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY, TERRIBLY WRONG!

OK, so did I bring it a little closer to home for us? Maybe a little too close?

I know. There is a whole lot to change in this world, and let’s be honest, most of us don’t like change. Even changes for the better require each of us to step up and step out somehow to try to make a difference in this world, and that makes us uncomfortable.

Where does this change start? It starts here with each of us.

As I say each week at Communion, it is important we look inside our hearts. Look at our lives to see what may need to change. Look in our hearts to see what stuff may need to be cleaned out.

Why is this necessary? Because as we clean out the useless stuff in our lives, we make way for Jesus Christ to fill not only our hearts, but our entire lives. We make way for the comforting, empowering Holy Spirit to fill us with HUMBLE authority to address the Pilates, Herods, and religious authorities of this world.

It is through the power of Jesus the Christ in our lives that we, like John, can begin to prepare the way of the Lord. It is through the power of Jesus the Christ we can straighten the curves of this world that distract us, making straight the path.

It is through the power of Jesus the Christ in our lives that we can overcome the mountains and hills that threaten us, and it is this power that helps to smooth the rough areas that are part of all our lives from time to time. It is power of Jesus the Christ in our lives that leads us past all the other crooked gods of this world in a straight path to eternal life with Almighty God.

But this wonderful news of salvation and hope of life eternal does not end with us. Remember, if we call ourselves Christians, we are called to serve not only God, but also to serve God through serving others.

It is my prayer for each of us today, that not only in this season of Advent, but also in all seasons, that we continually prepare our hearts and our lives to receive Christ DAILY into our lives. As John prepared the way for Jesus, and as Jesus the Christ—who IS The Way—made a way for us to experience eternal life with God, let us too, prepare the way for those around us today who do not know Christ. Let us also prepare the way for those who will come after us, so that they, too, may know the Good News that IS Jesus the Christ.

Let us prepare the way the way for others so that all flesh may one day see the salvation of God.

God bless you and amen.