December 9, 2007

Alright, you got off easy last week, a mild meditation on anticipation as we began our Christian new year, first Sunday of Advent. But all of Advent is not nice. Before we get to Jesus sweet, we have to meet John the Baptist. Yes, it is John who prepares ye the way. So before another seven shopping days before Xmas expire, let us take our Advent knocks, for without the Baptist we cannot get to Bethlehem.

Ol' John. He has not changed much since I last preached him. He is still the same crazy confrontational character. No fun to visit, really, but he is good for us. Doing John is like stepping on a rusty nail. It forces you to keep your tetanus shots up to date.

It is said those who hang Vincent Van Gogh paintings in their living room would not want Van Gogh himself in their house. Which is to say, Van Gogh was, well, weird...we liked his paintings, but not his personality.

For instance, long before it was commonplace, artists pierced their ears. Not Van Gogh. He sliced his ear clean off his head. Vincent Van Gogh, an example of extreme.

The same could be said of John the Baptist. John was, well, weird...living in the wilderness, dressed in animal skins and eating grasshoppers. John the Baptist, an example of extreme.

You would not want John sitting in your living room, grasshopper breath and all.

But when we start to tell the birth story of Jesus, first thing, we bump into the Baptist. It doesn't matter which gospel account we read, all the writers agree. John is the one chosen by God to "prepare ye the way of the Lord."

Luke, of the four gospels, gives us some additional details. In Luke, John not only prepares the way for Jesus, but the birth story of John precedes the birth story of Jesus.

This is how Luke begins his book. With the birth of John. Chapter one. Chapter two is the birth of Jesus. The two stories are told as parallel stories, ie, they are similar. This is a literary technique frequently used by Luke, called parallelism. It is used to reinforce a point.

For example, the Angel Gabriel proclaims the pregnancy in both cases. Both mothers are unlikely candidates for their pregnancy, though for different reasons. Elizabeth is barren and too old to bear child. Mary is a virgin and unwed. But in either case, a special revelation.

There are other differences as well. Elizabeth is a prominent woman from a priestly family; Mary a peasant girl and poor.

So, different in some ways, but enough alike in other ways to lead us to suspect what is happening here is part of a plan. What is happening is bigger than both the moms. They sense this, which they talk about when pregnant Mary visits pregnant Elizabeth in one of the loveliest dialogues in all of scripture.

In this scene we learn the two women are cousins. Both are wondering, what does this mean? This miraculous pregnancy. Pondering this in their hearts.

Luke tells us, "John leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb when Mary approached," as if the pre-born John was already about his vocation of preparing the way of the Lord. We might expect it.

This morning we pick up the story in the third chapter of Luke. A lot has changed. It is thirty years later. John and Jesus are grown men now, and God's plan is clear. John is the voice of Advent crying in the wilderness, "prepare ye the way of the Lord." Jesus is the Way.

The third chapter begins with a recitation of the powerful people of the day. The shakers and movers, beginning at the top, Caesar Tiberius, emperor of the Roman Empire. Luke loves to do this.

For instance, he does this in the second chapter as well. Luke announces who is in charge. "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus." In the second chapter, at Jesus' birth time, Caesar Augustus is in charge.

The third chapter begins, "In the fifteenth year of Caesar Tiberius..." Thirty years later Tiberius is in charge.

Luke is telling us who is on center stage, in the footlights, when God acts in history. This is setting us up. This will be a story of irony and surprises. Great surprises!

Tiberius was Caesar Augustus' step-son. He takes over the empire in 14 A.D. This is the "fifteenth year of the reign of Caesar Tiberius," which means it is about 29 A.D.

"Pontius Pilate is governor of Judea," we are told. More name dropping. In addition, "Herod is ?tetrach' of Galilee." Puppet king, really. By the way, this is not Herod the Great of Jesus' birth fame (or infamy). This is one of Herod the Great's four sons, known as Herod Antipas, who has inherited one-fourth of his dad's kingdom, including Galilee, where Jesus is from. There is a strong family resemblance, however. He rules in the same sorry way.

"Annas and Caiaphas" are also mentioned. They are the high priests in Jerusalem. Annas is retired, but still pulling the strings. Caiaphas is the incumbent. These two head the Jewish authority in Jerusalem. So their names are added to our illustrious list.

Luke names them all. Everyone who is important. Everyone who is in power. Then Luke says, "But the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert..."

Get it? With this all star cast, from Rome to Jerusalem, Caesars, kings, governors, and high priests, God chooses a weird wanderer in the wilderness to set the stage for the greatest story ever told.

I wish it had been otherwise. Imagine if God had chosen Caesar Tiberius to announce the Messiah. What a parade that would have been, chariots, banners, and legions of decorated soldiers trumpeting the truth.

Or Herod. What a grand party that would have been. Oh, my! Champagne fountains and dancing damsels celebrating the savior. Or the high priests, they would have done it right. It would have been a kosher coronation, begun with an anointing and followed by an eight day Hebrew festival of song and dance.

So why does the word of God come to this locust munching manic in the outback?

Luke is trying to tell us something. This is just like God to do this. This is what God does. God confounds the mighty. God acts off stage, away from the flood lights and lead actors, and chooses bit actors, backstage, where nobody notices.

God finds someone we would not choose, and works in a way we would never guess. Who would ever think the Messiah would have an advance man you would not allow into your living room?

So how are we to prepare for the coming of the Lord? What are we supposed to do? Luke tells us, we are supposed to listen to John. The Baptist is supposed to grab our attention, shock us out of our every day slumber, stun us out of our common assumptions.

You see, John the Baptist is a prophet right out of Hebrew history. He has one foot in the Old Testament and one foot in the New. He dresses like a prophet, he talks like a prophet, his message is the same as the prophets.

It can be summarized in one sentence: our deeds have consequences. What I do affects you. What you do affects me. So if you and I do good deeds, we will prosper. If we do bad deeds, or no deeds at all, we will suffer.

This is the prophetic message. It is simple. And it applies to the little people just as much as to the big people. It is the foundation of our Judeo-Christian ethic.

The prophet calls us to good deeds or righteous living. Remember who you are: made in the image of God. Do what you know is right: "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God," as the prophet Micah summarizes it (6:8).

John the prophet shouts, "Shape up. Get your life together. Be ready, for the Kingdom is at hand." "Repent!" is really his repetitive one word sermon, which means turn it around and "prepare ye the way."

Herod Antipas doesn't believe this. Herod is the king. Kings do as they please. So he murders his brother and marries his brother's wife. Her name is Herodias.

Lovely as this looks on the wedding linens, "Herod & Herodias," kind of cute, it shocks the nation. The Jews are offended. This is yet another low for the Herods. When will these leaders ever learn?

John calls the king on his behavior. Which is his job. He's a prophet. Here is how Luke tells it, "John reproved Herod for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things Herod had done..."

In other words, John said to Herod, "You are a disgrace!" And Herod said to John, "You are down in the dungeon, buddy." But it didn't stop the Baptist. He continued to bellow from below, "Repent!"

You can imagine the scene. Herod upstairs in the banquet hall, conducting affairs of state, throwing opulent dinners for the powerful people. Pontius Pilate is there. Probably the priests, Annas and Caiaphas. They are there.

All the while John's bark bouncing up from the basement "Repent!" Day after day, it would tend to sour the scene.

One night at a big birthday bash (Matthew 14) Herod is pleased with the dancing of his step-daughter, Salome, who is also his niece, this murder and marriage stuff gets complicated, so he offers Salome a gift, any gift she wants.

Salome consults her mother, Herodias, "Hmmm...what do you think, Mom?" Herodias suggests she request Herod to give her John the Baptist's head on a platter. Herodias had long tired of John trumpeting her transgressions. Salome satisfies her mother's wish, so Herod serves her John's head on a dish.

But you cannot silence the prophetic voice of God, no matter who you are. So it is every Advent we can still hear John's echo in reply, "Repent!"It is the first word of Advent. "Repent."

Unless it is "watch," which we looked at last week. Yes the first words of Advent, "watch," be on the look out, anticipate, and "repent."

This is the prophetic insight we are supposed to remember as we enter a new year in preparation for the coming of our Lord. We are to take a look around and see how we are doing. And where needed, repent, or turn it around.

This is what John tells his congregation, "Bear fruits that befit repentance." Which in plain English means, "Do those things that will show you have turned away from your sins."

The people implore, "What then shall we do?"They are clueless. John answers, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."

Ah, and now "it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

We prepare for the coming of the Lord through giving, don't we? Certainly we remember our loved ones, that's nice, with gifts beneath the tree, but more significantly we share a coat or a blanket or a teddy bear with someone who has none.

This is the season for taking care of the least. So we fill a St. Vincent de Paul food bag, or ring Salvation Army bells for a couple of hours on a Saturday, or pick a tag from the tree and become an angel, for ?tis the season and the way in which God's love enters our world, through you. And lo and behold, the Lord is here.

The word came to John in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. John did so by being who John was, a prophet. He called the people to be who God intended them to be, human beings made in God's image taking responsibility for their world.

John reminds us there are consequences to everything we do in this life. The good and the bad. So do good things for the world. Do good for goodness sake.

And if you're not sure what that is, then help somebody else. And if you're not sure who to help, then help those who have the least. Start there. I'll tell you, our narthex certainly looks like Christmas, doesn't it? And I love it!

Paul Brand, a physician, worked for the American Leprosy Mission. He was asked why? Why work with lepers? Why not leave them to the welfare agencies and government programs. Why the church serving lepers, and this physician in particular?

"Because," he replied, "more than anyone else, a leper needs someone to reach out and to touch him. When we do this, we communicate the love of Christ and we are the church. We are saying to this person who has been forgotten by the world, whom the world won't touch, you are accepted and loved by Christ."

And he continued, "When I work with a leprosy patient and restore a paralyzed hand, or build up a deformed foot, the thing the patient appreciates most is when he first comes in here and we reach out and take his hands in our hands...Oh, I have seen men break down into tears because they have finally found somebody who would touch them."

We are in Advent. Our season of touch in preparation for Christmas. May ours be "good touch."

God bless you.

AMEN