SUNDAY 6 DECEMBER, 2020

Reflection:     "Prepare the Way of the Lord"

Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2,8-13     
Mark 1:1-8   
2 Peter 3:8-15

I was just wondering……..​

Have you ever seen John the Baptist in any Christmas nativity scenes?
He would be the hairy, unkempt, wild-looking guy wearing a camel-hair coat.
There would be a piece of locust caught in his teeth and dried honey in his beard.
Louder than any Santa’s “Ho, ho, ho,” you’d hear his voice screaming, “Repent - the kingdom of heaven is near.” 

Has anyone noticed a figure like that in any of the nativity scenes that are traditional to our celebration of Christmas?      
No?       
It’s probably not surprising.

John the Baptist is totally inappropriate for the way we celebrate Christmas these days.

Christmas today is all about the birth of Jesus, as Matthew and Luke report on that holy night many years ago.
Mary, Joseph, angels, manger, shepherds, wise men and a child born unto us.    
Glory to God in the highest! 

That’s what Christmas is all about now for Christians.

So then we wonder, what does John the Baptist have do with Christmas?

For Mark he has everything to do with it.

Instead of Bethlehem and choirs of angels, Mark begins the story of the coming of the Messiah with a prophet calling out his message of repentance and baptising in the wilderness of Judea.
In so doing, he adds a new figure to the good news about the incarnation and coming of the Christ.

And that figure is John the Baptist. 

Two thousand years ago, in a place called Bethlehem, lying in a manger, God came to us in all the weakness of a baby boy.
God entered our world, put on our shoes (or sandals) and lived, breathed, and walked among us.
He taught the people, loved them, died on a cross, and then rose again – for them (and also us). 

But God didn’t come in a “once upon a time” manner, with the story ending “happily ever after.”
It’s not something the Lord did once - and will then only do again at the end of time.Instead,
God continually comes to us and it’s our job to look out for him in our world.Every moment of every day, whether we realise it or not, God comes to us.

The presence of God bombards our lives, sweeping over us like waves in the ocean.

The Scriptures give us image upon image of the Lord as the One who comes.“
Coming to humanity” is a reflection of the very nature of God.
His nature is love, and love comes.     
Love gives.      
Love can’t do anything else.     
God is constantly coming to us. 

John the Baptist is all about one coming, too.
He’s the forerunner, the one who comes before another to prepare the way.
So, when we celebrate - not just a birth long ago, with all the nice, beautiful things we associate with Christmas - but celebrating the coming of the Christ to be with us, then John becomes an appropriate figure for that time. 

Mark asks us, “Do you want to understand the good news?
Do you want to know what God’s doing?
Well, it starts right here with John the Baptist.”

Mark introduces John the Baptist and the coming of Jesus Christ with a statement about beginnings.
He tells us that this is “the beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” 

God is creating salvation, a restoration of everything that sin has stolen from us and broken in us, a re-making of who we are.  
He’s creating an opportunity for healing, forgiveness and freedom.

The Lord’s making a road for those far away to come to him.
He’s unleashing grace that can redeem everything sin destroyed, making all things new. 
This new creation is all wrapped up in the person of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the promised one.

Christ is the one about whom the prophets foretold and about whom they kept saying, “God’s up to something.”

This is the one through whom God changes everything.  
It even changes how we think about God.
This is God’s chosen one!
This is the very expression of God bringing his salvation to humanity.
Jesus is God’s mighty right hand stretched out to make all things new. 

John was the one designated to prepare the way for the coming of the Christ.
Not that he had to make a way for God, for God can take every mountain and make it low, seize every valley and raise it up. Wherever the road is rough - like many Sydney roads with all their potholes - God makes level ground, smooth and plain.

John the Baptist is a part of that way.
He’s a prophesied, designed-by-God, means of getting the way ready.

So here stands John the Baptist, a voice calling in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” 
John is calling out to all who will hear, “The Lord’s coming. Let’s get ready.
The Lord’s on his way.
He’s coming in the fullness of his salvation.
​He’s coming in the form of the promised Christ, the Son of God in whom all the promises of God are ‘Yes!’

Everything that would be life for us, healing for us, restoration for us, redemption and forgiveness for us, he’s creating.  
The Holy Spirit - that can literally change us from the inside out – is what he’s bringing.
He’s coming, so let’s get ready to receive the gift of his coming.”

In order to receive the coming of Christ, John invites us to get ready by coming out to the wilderness.
That’s the locale where John is baptising people.
That’s the arena in which he carries out his prophetic ministry.
So, he invites us to get ready by journeying into the wilderness. 

If there’s ever been a generation that needs to hear and respond to John the Baptist’s call in the wilderness, it’s ours.

We scurry here and there, conforming to pressures, lacking the purpose to rise above the rat race.
Media moguls have convinced us that abundant living can be measured by how many presents are under the tree, or how big the festive light display is, outside in our yard.

We compromise with culture and chase after every voice that offers us the promise of a better tomorrow.
If we have any doubts about the diagnosis, all we have to do is observe the way we celebrate Christmas these days, with so many distractions, misplaced priorities, meaningless pursuits - and very little Christ. 

So, if we’re going to receive Christ, we must be made ready by stepping away from distractions and stepping out of the pace of Christmas, as it’s celebrated by our culture - going out into the stripped-down simplicity of the desert, where we learn again that we live not on bread, but on the word of the Lord;      
not on stuff, but on his presence. 

John enters the Christmas story to get us ready for the coming Christ.     
But are we ready?  
Or do we need to answer the call of John the Baptist and join him in the wilderness to get ready?

Jesus is coming - of that there’s no doubt.     
But are you prepared?     
I pray that you are. 

Let us go to make straight the paths of justice, righteousness and joy.
Let us go as prophets in our day.
Let us speak with courage and act with kindness.

May the love of God be in all we say and do,
the way of Christ direct our path,
and the power of the Spirit make us strong.        Amen.

Pastor Rick