2. Sunday of Advent, 12/06/2009

Sermon on Luke 3:1-6, by Luke Bouman

NRS Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

5 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;

6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" (NRSV)

The Need for Change

In the fall of 2008 the citizens of the USA went to their polling places and they voted. The person who one the election for president was Barack Obama, but the candidate that many of us voted for was "change." Of course such a vote is always an exhilarating thing, because such an election brings with it the possibility of something new, different, better. But the roots of such an election drive us to the depth of existence, where we find at the very core, that something is wrong with the world.

That something is wrong is evidenced by the deep global economic recession; by the acts of terror that continue to happen in places we least expect, like Ft. Hood, Texas; by the lingering wars and strife around the world. We can look on a smaller scale at the broken relationships in our cities and towns, in our neighborhoods and churches, among our families and friends. Our world is not without its good points, but below the surface, even in the best of times, there is a lingering, nagging notion that the broken does not lie far away.

The illusion of a quick and easy fix is something that president Obama has warned us to avoid. In his inaugural address he stated clearly that our country's tribulation would not be transformed overnight. Though he pledged to get us out of military action around the world, we now see that this promise was easier made than kept. The reality is that a complete turnaround or change of course is difficult at best, when everyone agrees, and disparate political factions are not us at our best.

The same is true in our broken relationships and institutions. The change we crave is easier to imagine than it is to accomplish. People think that by changing spouses they can become happy, only to go from bad relationship to bad relationship. People think that if the church council or congregation could just lose a member or two things would be better, only to find that new people always take the place and the role of those who have gone.

In every case change seems beyond our ability to accomplish. How then, should we hear the worlds of John the Baptist, who calls for change in a world and culture that are much more like ours than not? Can we accomplish a "repentance" or a turnaround that will match the crises and needs of our day any better than in John's day, when ruthless Roman rulers in every place governed with an iron fist and crushed anyone who opposed the status quo? Are the television and radio pundits who are quick to judge and condemn every proposal for change from every quarter any kinder than their ancient intolerant counterparts? How do faithful people accomplish the preparation of Advent, knowing the need for drastic change, but unable even to hope for it to come?

Prepare The Way

Enter into our consciousness the quote of a quote from Luke's Gospel. Luke quotes Isaiah, speaking to the people of Israel in exile. The Old Testament prophet was telling the people that they would soon be going home, not in a round about way, but on a straight level highway that would be the Lord's own. This was welcome, if unexpected, news for the ancient people of Israel, so beaten down by their captivity in Babylon. They knew that a drastic change was needed, and that they would be delivered again. They would repeat the exile miracle of Moses time, but this time they would not need to wander, they could go straight home. The royal herald, in the voice of the prophet, announces that the Lord's way is to be cleared, that the King of the Universe would be leading the parade home.

The preparation for this journey is, after all, couched in language that could not possibly mean that the people themselves were expected to do the preparation. Like the first exile, these people had but to keep silent and watch the wonder of God at work on their behalf. They could not straighten the roads, level the hills and plains, only God can do those things. They would be witnesses; in fact, ALL FLESH would be witness to what God is up to.

It is interesting, then, that in our time, we interpret the message of today's text as one in which we must do the preparing. Even in the face of a world full of problems that we cannot possibly hope to solve, we still insist that the preparation is up to us. Even in the face of personal issues that confront us, we still insist that it is our repentance that paves the way for God's action in our lives.

That is why I like Advent as a season to slow down, sit still, and listen. Hard as this is to do as our culture tries to distract us with flashy lights, endless Christmas carols, and messages of shop until we drop, this is the necessary work of Advent. And what we listen for is precisely what we are least inclined to do, which is give up the illusion that we can prepare anything for God. Even common messages that we are to "get out of the way and let God..." somehow seem to require that we act first before God can act. If there is anything that the action of God, from the Exodus, to the Exile, to the Incarnation has taught us it is that God is active, sometimes for us, sometimes with us, sometimes ahead of us, sometimes in spite of us, but never because of what we do!

Repentance

The call for repentance that was a part of John's ministry and a part of at least the historic sense of Advent ("little Lent" is what it used to be called), somehow becomes deeper and more profound when we remember that it is God, giving mercy and grace, who is active. I recall that my father used to teach me that we don't repent in order to be forgiven. We are free to repent because we are forgiven. It is only by keeping in mind how God comes to the world, loving forgiving, even dying for us, that allows to understand and appreciate how real change will happen. God works in us and through us.

This is the God whose birth we will celebrate in a scant couple of weeks. This is the God who is so committed to us that he chose to set the world right by taking on our pain and despair, by living in and enduring all of the brokenness of the world without becoming enslaved to that brokenness as we are. This is the God who intends for ALL FLESH to know and experience that love. This is the God who, and this is the truly amazing part, uses the vulnerability and fragility of life and creation to strengthen and renew all of life and creation. This is the God who defeats death by dying. This is an amazing God.

To such a God, a simple matter of straightening crooked roads, of leveling mountainous terrain, of preparing a way for his love to be made manifest, seems almost trivial. It is, of course, out of our grasp and ability to comprehend, let alone accomplish. And yet, by calling us to repentance, John the Baptist suggests that we are not merely passive recipients. Grasped by God's love and forgiveness, we too are set free, at least in part, to rage against the power of death in and through our own lives of vulnerability and fragility.

And our repentance is not ours in isolation, as individuals. It is a call that comes to communities of faith, to congregations, denominations, to families, to neighborhoods, towns, cities, and nations, to a whole world. We turn from lives of self-interest to lives in which God's interest in the well being of all, in the "salvation" or healing of all, becomes our interest as well. God sets all of this in motion through Jesus Christ, and God makes it happen as, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to come. God gives us hope that in the final fulfillment of promise, Jesus will come to unite all things with God. It is here that true hope is grounded, and where real change will come. And those who are "audacious" enough to have their hope placed here find their lives already transformed and changed, beyond anything we can do or imagine. We know that God's change is underway in Christ.

Dr. Luke Bouman
Valparaiso, IN
E-Mail: luke.bouman@gmail.com

(top)