Sermon Text, "Preparing the Way to Peace":

GOSPEL LESSON

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, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 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.

 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;

 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

Luke 3:1-6

SERMON 

“Preparing the Way to Peace”

John the Baptist is one of the most portrayed figures in film and television. Some pretty good portrayals too. Let’s play some John the Baptist trivia, see how many of these you know, and we’ll see how many film buffs we have in the room.

A nicely coifed John the Baptist…which film?  Godspell with David Haskell as John the Baptist!

Another handsome John the Baptist is Carlos de Carvalho from The Messiah.

This is brand new, just came out last month! Yahya Mahayni from Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.

Any guesses on this classic? Robert Ryan from King of Kings.

This gentleman made a career of portraying men from the Bible. Charlton Heston from The Greatest Story Ever Told!

Now, we get into a section of John the Baptist’s I like to call “the hair.” Abhin Galeya from Killing Jesus.

Next, still look at that hair. We have Eli Cohen from The Jesus Film.

This is a massively popular classic…Andre Gregory from The Last Temptation of Christ!

And for our last, a very popular and more recent portrayal. David Amito from The Chosen! 

Nicely done. Truly, what a motley crew! A real cornucopia of John the Baptists. 

What do we know about John the Baptist? Who is he? We know that he lived in the wilderness. He was vulnerable to the elements. His wilderness was quite different from teh beautiful forests of Georgia with our tree cover. The sun was brutal and unforgiving.

We know that he wore clothes made from camel’s hair. Look at that! Camel’s hair is no rabbit fur or chinchilla, or even lambswool, it was rough, coarse. This type of garment was known to cause incredible rubbing and chaffing. Some say it is also what the Bible refers to as a “sackcloth” which is a garment made for perpetual repentance and that he wore it with a leather belt around his waist to ensure the sackcloth remained in contact with his skin. Regardless of what you believe about that, we can all agree he was not concerned about his comfort. Comfort was not his priority.

We know that he ate locusts and honey. This is one of the facts we learn early on about John the Baptist, isn’t it? He was so wild he ate bugs! He didn’t even eat bread, Jesus ate bread, but John the Baptist did not. Jesus lived in cities and attended feasts and other social gatherings where bread was readily available. How could John the Baptist, he had no way to make bread in the wilderness. So he trusted God to provide for him in the wild.

We know that he was abrasive. He was not afraid to tell people what he thought of them from calling the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers” (more on that next week) to saying the marriage of Herod Antipas to Herodias was unlawful. He was very vocal about the sins he witnessed.

We know he had a message. He told the people to repent. He told them to prepare for the coming of the Messiah by turning away from evil. He baptized them to symbolize cleansing and repentance.

We know he sacrificed. He sacrificed so much in service of Jesus, of God – he sought to sanctify himself – he had no comforts, how could he have peace with no satisfaction in the food he ate, the clothes he wore, the ground he slept on? Was that how he prepared himself? Is that what he is teaching us? Sacrifice? Let’s put a pin in that

John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. How do YOU prepare? What do we prepare for? And why do we prepare? Some preparation is for necessity - to be able to simply do the task at hand. Preparing to go back to school we get school supplies, work out schedules so you can drop off and pick up your kids, meet the teachers, if you are going to school as an adult you have to arrange your life to ensure you have the time to study like I am trying to figure out now. When you are preparing to sing, this is personal for me. I map out my music, practice yomyur songs, then the day of I will do vocal warmups, drink lots of water so I am fully hydrated just to be able to sing. Preparing to welcome a child; life as you know it will never be the same. So you get to work, you get stuff – so much stuff, you setup their room, you stockpile food like casseroles, maybe you get the wipe warmer, the life-saving baby swing just to be human when you bring into the world. Preparing for death you get your assets in order, you make a will, you might start giving your things away to family, living more simply perhaps, trying to impart some last dregs of hard-earned wisdom to those you love, having some real talk with God. Some preparation feels less like it is for necessity than it is for comfort. Moving into a home, for instance. Have you ever moved somewhere before you had furniture? We’ve done that, sleeping on air mattresses, eating dinner on cheap patio furniture – it is not comfortable. To avoid that you might get your internet setup, furniture delivered before you move in, activate your utilities, insurance, clean the place from top to bottom. Going on a trip. Have you ever just chanced the hotel would have the things you need? Then the shampoo and conditioner make your hair frizz or the soap is so tiny you can wash your arms before it disappears, and there is no toothpaste, so you’re hoping mouthwash doesn’t let you down. If you’ve ever done that, you probably now know to get your travel-size shampoo & conditioner and toothpaste, pack sweaters for your cold weather trips and swimsuits for the beach, let co-workers know you’ll be gone so you don’t get bombarded by work requests while you are trying to decompress. Preparing for Christmas you put up your decorations, play Christmas music, make Christmas cookies, do your Christmas shopping, wrap the gifts, go to church.

Necessity or comfort…hmmm. Or is it necessity FOR comfort?

Our Advent Candle this week is the Peace candle. But did you know it’s actually the Peace and Preparation candle? And to achieve that peace, there is necessity. We must prepare for peace. Peace isn’t easy. Peace isn’t a lazy act. Have you ever tried to meditate? It is some of the hardest work you’ll ever do. That necessity or preparation can feel uncomfortable, hectic, stressful, overwhelming, sometimes like we are at war. At war with our available time or finances, at war with our minds, at war with the internet provider, at war with the insurance company, at war with the crib and the frustrating instructions to put it together, at war with the school’s financial aid office, at war with family members who think they know what is best for you even if that’s at odds with your wishes, at war with a boss that doesn’t understand boundaries, at war with your teenager, and on and on and on.

So often we say the opposite of peace is war, but maybe that’s the path to it.

Back to John. He sacrificed so much, he put himself in the middle of discomfort, strife, battles of belief. I don’t think his story was teaching us that sacrifice is what’s required to find peace in our salvation. No, I think his story is teaching us that life is not about sitting on the sidelines. We must lean in, we must try every day to be better and leave this big round planet better than we found it. Life requires hard work. Not to earn our salvation, of course not, but to prepare for it. Hard work that may feel uncomfortable, hectic, stressful, overwhelming, and sometimes like we’re at war. Because at the end of it all, peace is… Our reward…

The peace of Christmas Day.

The peace of living in a new home that fits your life perfectly .

The peace of enjoying your precious, new baby.

The peace of a worry-free vacation.

The peace of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

So as you prepare for Christmas this year, ask yourself – How am I preparing for Jesus? How am I preparing for my eternal peace?