It
was the day after Christmas. A church minister was looking at the nativity
scene outside of his church when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing
from the figures. He turned toward the church to call the police when he saw a
little boy with a red wagon, and in the wagon was the figure of the baby Jesus.
The minister walked up to the boy and said, “Where did you get the baby?” The
boy replied, “I got him from the church.”
“And
why did you take him?” the minster asked.
The
little boy said with a sheepish smile, “Well, about a week before Christmas I
prayed to little Lord Jesus. I told him if he would bring me a red wagon for
Christmas, I would give him a ride around the block in it.”
We
are well into the season of Advent, a time to remember both Christ’s birth in
the stable in Bethlehem on that first Christmas over 2,000 years ago and his
Second Coming. This time of remembrance includes a time of preparation. We have
to prepare our hearts and minds to receive him. This can be hard to do at this
time of the year because we are busy decorating our homes, buying gifts, attending
Christmas parties, concerts and pageants and the many other events that are
held at this time of year.
We
can prepare ourselves by studying God’s Word, especially the story of Christ’s
birth. A good place to start is with Mark’s Gospel, especially Mark 1:1-8,
which we heard earlier in this morning’s service. Mark gets right to the heart
of the matter. His Gospel does not include Jesus’ family tree like the Gospels
of Matthew and Luke do. Mark’s Gospel does not even include the stories of
Jesus’ birth, the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary, the visit of the
Three Wise Men or any of the other stories that are associated with Christmas.
Mark begins his Gospel by calling Jesus the Son of God. In fact, this is a
frequent theme in Mark’s Gospel. Mark declares both the deity of Jesus and God
as his heavenly Father.
In
Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ ministry is firmly rooted in the Old Testament. Mark
shows that Jesus’ appearance as the long-promised Messiah was long
expected in Israel’s history. The
reading we heard earlier this morning from Isaiah 40:1-11 prophesied about a
messenger who would prepare the way for the Messiah. That messenger was John
the Baptist.
John
the Baptist had a lot in common with Mark. John also got right to the heart of
the matter. There was no extra “fluff” or padding. He saw Jesus as superior to
and more worthy than him. John’s followers saw him as great, but John saw
himself as not being worthy enough to attend to Jesus’ feet-a task that was dirty
according to the culture of that time. John even claimed that Christ’s baptism
with the Holy Spirit was superior to John’s baptism with water. Many Old
Testament passages refer to the Holy Spirit being poured out like water. Jesus’
baptism supplies us with the power of the Holy Spirit.
John
the Baptist accepted his role as the forerunner to Jesus. He did not want the
glamour or the self-interest that came with the role as Number One. If this
story happened today, we would be shocked because it goes against society’s
desire for people to be in the spotlight. John shunned the spotlight by his
appearance and location. After all, who wears camel’s hair and a leather belt?
Who eats locusts and wild honey? Who preaches in the desert?
John’s
style was matched by the substance of his message. He preached social justice
and repentance. For example, in Matthew 3:7 John called the Pharisees who came
to criticize his preaching a “brood of vipers”. He urged tax collectors to be
honest and soldiers to be merciful.
Advent finds us in a different
place this year, whether others can tell it or not. Once again we hear the far off voice of John
the Baptist reaching out to us, becoming present to us. First, he calls us to repent: think things
over; do an inventory of our lives; make the necessary changes that we have
been putting off. Like what? Repent from our sins, of course! But also repent from letting God slide to the
periphery of our lives; for having made God a second-class citizen in our
personal world. Repent from having
treated our faith like a routine, an old habit – same old, same old. Repent from habits that hurt others and rob
us of full life. Repent from being
preoccupied with ourselves and having only a marginal interest in the
well-being of others. Repent from a form
of despair that says, “I’m too old to change.” “That’s just the way I am.”
As John set his life on a path of
making straight the way for others, we are called to do the same. Jesus
tells us time and time again, that the greatest of all commandments...of all
laws, is the law of love - the law of concern for those around us. We have
an obligation to all those around us to take the skills and resources we have
and make straight the path for others to reach the Kingdom, by pointing the way
to Jesus.
John
calls on us to repent today. He calls on us to submit to Christ’s authority just
like he (that is, John) submitted to Christ’s authority, even though he
baptized Christ. The main point of John’s ministry is the supremacy of Christ’s
ministry. Only Christ’s ministry, including the grace of God, can give us
spiritual life.
John
preached in the wilderness, and in some ways our modern society is a
wilderness. The wilderness was where the Israelites were tested by God and
where they rebelled against God. Our society and all of its temptations tests
our faith at times. Our society and its wicked ways has rebelled against God.
God saved the Israelites time and time again when they were in the wilderness,
and he saves us today when we are in this modern-day wilderness. Our wilderness
draws us together as people of faith just like the wilderness drew the
Israelites together as a nation.
Our
wilderness can be a place of hardship and pain, and nowhere has this been more
evident than in the discussion regarding the future of this building. I’m not
trying to reopen the debate or be on one side or the other because I’m like a
window-shopper today-I’m on the outside looking in. I would like share this
thought with you. I know that the final decision caused heartache and pain for
many people in this community. Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of
Christ, and that preparation involves preparing our hearts. Preparing our
hearts means reaching out to those who have been hurt, including those who have
been hurt accidentally or on purpose by our actions in life. By reaching out to
those who are hurting, we prepare ourselves to receive Christ’s love, and that
is one of the best Christmas gifts that we can receive.
Your
Christian brothers and sisters in the Anglican Parish of South Queens feel your
pain, because we went through a similar situation on two different occasions
since the year 2000. For various reasons we had to make the difficulty decision
to close the Anglican churches in Mill Village and Western Head. The decision
was painful for some parishioners, but it was necessary.
Reaching
out to those who are hurting sometimes means repentance and asking for forgiveness.
All of us need repentance and forgiveness, even if we have already accepted
Christ as our Saviour. John the Baptist preached and practiced a baptism of
repentance. He baptized people to prepare them for the day when God will reign
in judgment. John’s baptism was the first step toward a new life. Our own
baptism in repentance also prepares us for the day when God will judge us, and
the same baptism prepares us for a new life in Christ.
Repentance
is more than feeling guilty about sin. It means changing direction, or
abandoning our sinful ways and returning to God. It is a new way of thinking.
When we learn a new way of thinking, we naturally change our behaviour. If our
earlier actions have hurt other people, either accidentally or on purpose, we
will feel truly sorry for the way we acted and the harm we have caused. Guilt
is part of that repentance, but it is true repentance only when it causes us to
change our minds and directions.
An old
Hebrew legend tells of a disobedient angel atoning for his sin. God told him to go to earth and to bring back
the most precious thing he could find as a gift for God. The angel visited
earth and returned with a drop of blood from a soldier who had died for his
country. God said, "That is
precious, but it is not the most precious thing." The angel went again to
earth and returned with a drop of perspiration from a nurse who was caring for
a sick child. God said, "That is
precious, but it is not the most precious thing."
The angel
went again, and saw a rancher stalking a man who had stolen his cattle. The rancher followed the thief to his home,
and peered through the scope of his rifle to see him move from room to room. He was about to pull the trigger, when the
thief picked up a small child. The
rancher watched as the thief kissed the child and put him to bed.
Suddenly
the rancher was seized with remorse. He
realized that he had nearly killed the child's father. With a tear of repentance, he returned
home. The angel caught the tear of
repentance and brought it to heaven. God
said, "You did well. Nothing is
more precious than a tear of repentance."
The
good news of the Gospel brings hope to all of us, especially to those who find
themselves on the fringes of our world. It also belongs there. The good news of
God’s grace announces God’s presence on the fringe. God’s love goes beyond the
boundaries of where we thought God was supposed to be. God promises that there
is no place on earth where he will not go or be for us.
God
will lead us through the deserts and wilderness of life. He will reveal his
glory to us during the journey. His power will be felt where we are most
vulnerable. The desert and the wilderness are suitable places to hear God speak
to us, just like God spoke to Moses through the burning bush in the wilderness.
What God says to us won’t always be what we want to hear, but what he says will
be what we need to hear. In this season of Advent, we must continue on our
journey through the wilderness to the stable in Bethlehem, and we must listen
to what God says to us on the journey, because what he says to us will be good
for us.
Bibliography
1.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing, 2013)
2.
McKenna, D.L.
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 25: Mark (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982)
3.
Stanley,
C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life
Principles Bible, NKJV (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc., 2005)
6.
The Rev. Dr.
Russell Levenson Jr., “Making Straight the Way.” Retrieved from www.day1.org