This
morning, we embark on the four Sunday season of Advent. Despite the dates on
Advent Calendars, Advent starts 4 Sundays before Christmas, not on December 1.
Over the next 21 days, we will prepare to welcome Jesus into our hearts and
into our world once again. As we prepare, we return to the stories of Jesus’
first years on earth. John the Baptist was designated by God to prepare the
people of the first century for the arrival of the Messiah. This morning, we turn
to the opening words of the Gospel of Mark. Mark doesn’t talk about Jesus’
miraculous birth or childhood, and starts his book with John the Baptist
preparing the way for the Lord. Read along with me in Mark, chapter 1, verses
one through eight:
Scripture Mark 1:1-8
The
beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,
as it is
written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will
send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
And so
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The
whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.
Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
John
wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his
waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
And this
was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of
whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
I
baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit.”
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people
of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth
and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
Our Rock and Our Redeemer. Amen.
Sermon Messengers
of Hope
John appeared
in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of
sins.
It is not easy for us to imagine life in the
first century, life in an occupied territory. The Jewish believers, and their
homeland, had been conquered by foreign armies again and again – Babylonians and
Assyrians and Greeks and Romans – each occupying power and army leaving little
traces of their rule on the people and their land.
When John the Baptist ‘appeared”
in the wilderness, the Romans had more or less been in power for 90 years. They
were brutal and expected the people of Israel to follow orders. Over the course
of their rule, there were many insurgencies –- often these were led by charismatic
leaders who were very devout to their Jewish faith. The Romans and their appointed
overseers would have been suspicious that John was going to be a rabble-rouser
or a zealot who would eventually lead a rebellion against the Romans. Therefore, the Romans overlords were keeping
eyes on John the Baptist.
But, John did not come to
overthrow the Romans. John didn’t come to build an army or an insurgency.
Instead, he stepped forward to call people to prepare for the coming of the messiah.
He called them to prepare the way for the lord. John called people to commit to
God, to commit to our shared faith, to repent for their sins and wrongdoings
and to become baptized – to symbolically wash away their sins, to wash away
their imperfect pasts, and to prepare to welcome God into their hearts.
John stepped forward in ministry
during a period that was particularly grim. The people were oppressed. They had
limited freedoms and autonomy. And, John told them to get ready, the Messiah
was coming….it was time for them to get their “faith” houses in order, so they
would be prepared for the arrival of God incarnate on earth.
At a time when people’s hope was
dim, John came forward to tell them to get ready. Hope was coming. The messiah was
on the way.
We also live in a time when
things can seem grim. The cease-fire in Israel was halted. The war in Ukraine
drags on and on. People in our communities struggle with poverty and crime and
corruption. In our own families, we have members who struggle with addiction
and mental illness and physical illness. It would be easy for us to fall into
hopelessness.
But, we know Jesus. We know the
Jesus who was born as a little baby to a young mother and a struggling step-father.
We know the Jesus John the Baptist was preaching about, who came to teach us
that the ultimate point of life is to love God and love each other. And, we
know the Jesus who is coming again, to free us from the hardships we face and
help us to establish God’s kingdom here on earth. We know the Jesus who we can
talk to when we pray, who soothes us when we are brokenhearted, and who answers
us when we cry out.
John came to tend to people who
lived without hope, to tell them Jesus was coming. WE are also called to become
messengers of hope, to tend to people who are struggling around us. It is our work
to help people who are contending with their own broken hearts, with their own
anxiety, with their own depression. It is our work to tell them they are not
alone, we are with them and God is with them. It is our work to tell them that
their mistakes do not define them. It is our work to tell them it will get
better…things do get better.
Advent is a season of waiting.
But, we don’t wait as people who have no hope. We wait in hope as people who
know that something wonderful happened on the first Christmas Eve, when a
special baby was born in a stable and placed in a manger. And, something happens
every day when people accept Jesus as their savior and open their hearts to
him. We hope for Jesus’ return to our earth, but we also hope for more and more
people to turn their lives towards God and open their hearts to have a
relationship with Jesus.
Thanks be to God for the hope of
the season of Advent.
Amen.
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