Preparing the Way for the Lord
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, year B
Bible reading: Mark 1:1-8
Dear Friends of Jesus:
It is patently obvious that John the Baptist’s job was to prepare the way for God’s Messiah – the One long promised to Israel to be its eternal Redeemer and King.
For centuries God had used His prophets to promise deliverance to His people in their most desperate times. God had chosen Israel as the people from whom the Messiah would be born, His own dear Son, Jesus, the Christ! Then God again and again delivered His people from their political bondage – from Egypt, from the Assyrians, from the Persians and others. He did this so they might see the picture of the larger bondage from which He would deliver them through the promised Messiah. Their bondage to sin and Satan was a much more serious bondage than any physical bondage they had suffered. For this bondage was spiritual and would result in eternal suffering in hell if they were not delivered from it.
And then, when the time was right (according to Galatians 4:4), God caused Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, really too old to have a child, to conceive and bear a child, one who would become a voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord!
And this is exactly what John did. He drew people from Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside to himself out in the wilderness. And he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This was not a baptism like ours today. The people did not receive the forgiveness of sins through it, but through their repentance brought about by John’s preaching of the Word of God, God’s law and gospel. Simply put, they were being prepared by John to meet their Saviour; the long promised Messiah of God!
Why would God send John, the last of the Old Testament prophets, to perform this task of preaching repentance?
Because without repentance and renewed faith in God’s Messianic promises, they could not recognize Jesus as their Saviour nor would they be able to embrace Him as their spiritual deliverer. You see, without a deep, heart-rending knowledge of personal sin and estrangement from God, people see no need for a Saviour.
Do you remember how the spiritual leaders of the people, the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees … even the High Priest of Israel … all rejected Jesus of Nazareth as their Saviour? Why? Because they did not believe in their heart of hearts that they needed a Saviour. They felt that they were better than all the rest in Israel at keeping God’s laws and that in fact, they kept them perfectly and had merited God’s acceptance, forgiveness and His gift of eternal life in heaven!
John changed all that! He preached an unpopular message. He called people to repent of their sins when they refused to even acknowledge their sins. But although the leaders would refuse to repent, many thousands of ordinary Jewish people did not refuse.
In true repentance, they recognized their sin and unworthiness before God. They believed, as John preached, that they were poor miserable sinners desperately in need of a Saviour in order to be acceptable to God for all eternity! And then, having repented of their sins and reaffirmed their faith in the true God and His Messianic promises, they were baptized in the Jordan River, having confessed their sins. Now they were ready!
Now, when Jesus would suddenly appear in their city or town or village or on a country road and preach the truth that He was the Messiah, the Son of God, who had come into the world to redeem them – that is, to buy them back from the icy grip of Satan – they were open to His message. Why? Because they recognized their need for this spiritual deliverance and their minds were thus unclouded in their recognition of Jesus as their Saviour!
Now notice, that in John’s preaching he never once talks about himself. He is the forerunner of Jesus and he preaches only Christ.
Max Lucado, in his book It's Not About Me, points out something true about the moon that was true of John the Baptist and that should be true of all believers – it reflects the light of something greater.
He says:
What does the moon do? She generates no light. Contrary to the lyrics of the song, this harvest moon cannot shine on. Apart from the sun, the moon is nothing more than a pitch-black, pockmarked rock. But properly positioned, the moon beams. Let her do what she was made to do, and a clod of dirt becomes a source of inspiration, yea, verily, romance. The moon reflects the greater light.
Such a shift comes so stubbornly, however. We've been demanding our way and stamping our feet since infancy. Aren't we all born with a default drive set on selfishness? “I want a spouse who makes me happy and co-workers who always ask my opinion. I want weather that suits me and traffic that helps me and a government that serves me. It is all about me.” But just as John the Baptist lived to testify to Christ (the light), so to should we.”
His message is that One is coming after him who is so far above him that he’s not even worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals. And then he illustrates how far above him Jesus is when he says: I have baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!
This selfless service and proclamation is a good example for us today.
Today many people, even within the Church, are willing to serve but they want recognition for their service. In other words, just proclaiming and serving Jesus isn’t enough for them. They want to put themselves forward like a politician trying to get elected. But this is not what the example of John the Baptist teaches us at all, is it? Let me illustrate:
Every young student knows of Isaac Newton's famed encounter with a falling apple. Newton discovered and introduced the laws of gravity in the 1600s, laws which revolutionized astronomical studies. But few know that if it weren't for Edmund Halley, the world might never have learned from Newton.
It was Halley who challenged Newton to think through his original notions. Halley corrected Newton's mathematical errors and prepared geometrical figures to support his discoveries. Halley coaxed the hesitant Newton to write his great work, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Halley edited and supervised the publication, and actually financed its printing even though Newton was wealthier and easily could have afforded the printing costs.
Historians call it one of the most selfless examples in the annals of science. Newton began almost immediately to reap the rewards of prominence; Halley received little credit. He did use the principles to predict the orbit and return of the comet that would later bear his name, but only after his death did he receive any acclaim. And because the comet only returns every seventy-six years, the notice is rather infrequent. Halley remained a devoted scientist who didn't care who received the credit as long as the cause was being advanced.
Others have played Halley's role. John the Baptist said of Jesus, He must become greater; I must become less.
Barnabus was content to introduce others to greatness. Many pray to uphold the work of one Christian leader. Such selflessness advances the kingdom. (C.S. Kirkendall, Jr.)
How are we today to “advance the kingdom”? In additional to prayer on behalf of the church and its leaders and servants, I believe that John the Baptist becomes our example to follow.
First of all, we never put ourselves or our opinions forward, but only Christ and His Word.
Secondly we, as God’s people, sent out to make disciples of the whole world, must along with the Gospel, call people to repentance, so that they might be able to see their need for a Saviour. This is very important because today most of our friends and neighbours and co-workers think they are quite all right, thank you very much. Calling them to repentance will not be easy because they, not the religious leaders of Christianity today, are the Pharisees and Scribes of the 21st Century! And even though our efforts will be met with stiff opposition and even outright anger, we must never cease.
For John the Baptist, if we jump ahead in his story, it meant his death by beheading when he dared to call even the King and Queen to repentance!
This does not mean that we do not preach the Gospel! Of course not, but in order for people in our society to see the need for Christ and His acts of justification – suffering, death and resurrection – they need to know their need for a Saviour! Might we suffer death at the hands of the godless or those who reject Jesus out of hand like the Islamic Extremists in Pakistan or the Hindu Extremists in India? Yes, it is possible for in fact that is happening right now in India where Christians are being persecuted, framed for crimes they have not committed, and murdered at the hands of Hindu Extremists!
But like John the Baptist we have been called by the Holy Spirit and fed by the Word of God and the Sacraments and thus we too are today empowered for this prophetic ministry right here in Adelaide – right now! We are, by faith, God’s chosen people and if we refuse His marching orders to proclaim Christ, then His Word of salvation will not go forth into the world and we will be found unfaithful servants sporting a faith that is not proven true by our actions.
We are not the recipients of John’s baptism, but of Jesus’ baptism. We have repented of our sins, to be sure, but God has through our baptism and the power of His Holy Spirit, implanted His Holy Spirit and saving faith in our hearts. And it is out of that faith that will flow the obedience of faith: the good works, the sharing with others, the serving of others and the spiritual and physical feeding of those who are starving for Christ or just plain starving for food in this world.
To sum up, God has made us His redeemed people in two ways: first, by sending Jesus as our Saviour, born as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem long ago and secondly, by accepting His personal sacrifice, no less than His death on the cross, as payment in full for our sins. Yes, God has accepted that sacrifice and said through the writer to the Hebrews: There is therefore now no more sacrifice for sin
, (Hebrews 10:18) for that has been completely accomplished for us by Jesus on the cross of Calvary.
Now, may God empower us to say individually and as a Lutheran congregation with St. Paul:
“But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and wisdom of God. For I[have] decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
—1 Corinthians 1:23 & 2:2
May God grant this to be our commitment as long as we have life and breath in our bodies … for Jesus’ sake. Amen.