Happy New Year - Preparing the Way for the Lord - Advent 2
December 4th, 2005– 2nd Sunday in Advent “B” – Mark 1:1-8
Happy New Year!
Yes, I said happy New Year
We are now a full week into the New Year, the second Sunday in Advent and I was wondering how have you been doing with your resolutions?
That’s what we do with the fresh start to the New Year, so have you made any changes, have you committed to any plans this Advent, the beginning of the Christian New Year, are you going to do anything differently in you relationship to God?
Two weeks ago I stood before you and spoke about the majestic end of the Christian year, “the reign of Christ”. I am here this morning to speak to you about Advent and John the Baptist.
Now I have heard it said that ‘Advent is about John the Baptist and Christmas about Jesus.’
And it is true that all four of the Gospel narratives have the story of John the Baptist, and as Anglicans, adherents of the lectionary, the weekly scripture readings which span a three years cycle, John the Baptist comes up every year. Why?
Well, the Gospel of Mark, telling this year’s version, I think has it most clearly.
You see, Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, the most direct and I would argue that it is the gospel with the clearest intention.
Mark’s goal is simple, to prove to the reader that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, come to be our Saviour – to save us from our sins.
In Matthew and Luke you have to wait till the third chapter to hear about John’s role as “the voice in the wilderness”. And then when you do there is a great deal more elaboration. And although near the beginning of the Gospel of John, there is considerable more told of the Baptizer
But Mark is simple, short and clear
Let’s look at the text a little: Chapter 1 verse 1
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Now right away Mark has loaded the first sentence of his Gospel with a punch, this is a major statement.
First of all, this is the beginning,
now that may seem obvious, of course it is the beginning, so why did Mark include that – Well because what is to follow - the entire book of Mark is the gospel story – all of Mark’s writing is to be seen as a whole, a complete statement.
Next Mark says that this is “the good news” or also known as the Gospel.
Do you know what Mark was doing here – Gospel was a term that was used to tell of the activities of the Roman Emperor – the most powerful man in the world.
And who deserves this dramatic ‘Emperor Announcement type’ of news?
Jesus Christ
Christ, of course, is not a last name, but a term for the Messiah, the long awaited Jewish deliver.
The final part of this incredible first sentence states Jesus as the Son of God
Putting it all together in a Paraphrase we have:
The start and reason for my whole writing is to announce the most significant news ever. That Jesus, a man, is the Christ - Messiah, and is the child of the creator of the universe.
What an incredible message!
What a moment in evangelism!
Then Mark wastes no time at all and jumps right into the proof: first with Old Testament prophecy -
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
Mark presents John the Baptist, a popular personality, well known prophet in which the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem traveled out to the wilderness to hear, Mark presents John as the voice crying out in the wilderness.
Small aside: Consider for a moment, you are a publicity agent for Jesus – pretend that you are the one in charge of heralding the news of the arrival of the long awaited deliver for your people, a people living under the thumb of the Romans.
Would you plan to have people travel out of the comforts of the city to walk from all over the land into the wilderness to have ‘crazy John of wild’ to be your mouthpiece?
Only God can throw those kinds of curve balls!
Back to the text - So what was John’s message?
He proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Now you may be interested to know that baptism was not a common rite of initiation of the time, Josephus, a Jewish historian, tells us that it was only the Essenes sect did ritualistic cleansing of sins by baptism.
The Jewish initiation rite was circumcision and the Hebrew Scriptures already had a system for handling sin: the temple.
So John was the strange man of the wilderness who ate locusts and wild honey, who dressed and lived simply - and like Elijah and the prophets of long ago, spoke a message of Repentance.
And John Baptized people in that repentance, cleaning them with water – washing away their sins in this symbolic act which affirmed their commitment to turning towards God.
And Mark tells us that John prophesied
“The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John is affirming his role as the voice in the wilderness, that, He is not the Messiah but one sent in preparation.
John is telling us that despite the attention and fame he is getting. He is not even worthy to fill the role of slave to the one who is going to come.
He is also telling them, that the one coming will not be washing them symbolically, but will come with authority and will empower them with the hidden God, the Holy Spirit.
Mark is simple, straightforward, clear in purpose
Here is my great news of the Christ, as foretold by the prophets, witnessed by John the Baptist
– prepare yourself – He is coming!
John, is the voice in the wilderness, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy, calling us to attention, to repent and prepare a way for the Lord.
Now in Roman days, when royalty came to visit; you built a road to them.
When God inspired Mark to write his gospel, it wasn’t just for the people of that day, but for all time and all humanity.
Perhaps we need to rethink the name “John the Baptist” to “John the Messenger” with baptism being the confirmation of that message.
Perhaps we need to consider what message John has for us, Are we ready for repentance? Have we built a road for the coming Lord?
§ Have we flattened the mountains, the obstacles, the stumbling blocks that would be in the way
§ Have we filled in the valleys, the cracks, the areas of our life that don’t see the light of day
§ Have we made the path straight, removed the deviant curves in the road, the rationalizations that bend the route
§ Have you laid out the ‘red carpet in your heart’ for the Lord?
Now I like the sayings “Jesus is the reason for the season” and “keeping Christ in Christmas”, but what does that really mean, how do you live that out.
I appreciate the struggle that Christians have with the busiest season of the year, and the pull to be politically and socially correct.
But please know that just as Mark’s gospel starts with the ‘good news’ and baptism and preparation, it finishes with Christ instructing to those He prepared, the disciples and to us: to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved”
The word used for Gospel, both in the beginning and at the end, is not a noun, but a verb – it is a message of on-going activity, it is only good news if it’s announced
So what preparations or resolutions are you making this New Year, this Advent.
Yes, Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the incarnation of the Lord, and there is a mammoth amount of preparations made for this one special day
– But Advent comes first and it is our opportunity to consider other preparations.
– Amen!