FIRST READING Isaiah 40:1–11
1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
PSALM Psalm 85:1–13
1 You have been gracious to your land, O LORD; you have restored the good fortune of Jacob. 2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people and blotted out all their sins.
3 You have withdrawn all your fury and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.
4 Restore us then, O God our Savior; let your anger depart from us. 5 Will you be displeased with us forever? Will you prolong your anger from age to age? 6 Will you not give us life again, that your people may rejoice in you? 7 Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. 8 I will listen to what the LORD God is saying; for you speak peace to your faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to you. 9 Truly, your salvation is very near to those who fear you, that your glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Faithfulness shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before the LORD and shall prepare for God a pathway.
SECOND READING 2 Peter 3:8–14
8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. 11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. 14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish.
GOSPEL Mark 1:1–8
1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'”
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “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. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
AN ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE WILDERNESS
After some last-minute Christmas shopping, a woman was rushing her grandchildren into the car. It was then that four-year-old Jason said, “Grandma, Susie has something in her pocket.” He then proceeded to reach into Susie’s pocket and pulled out a new red barrette. Although she was tired, this grandmother knew it was important for Susie to put the item back where she had found it. They did just that. Then they headed to the grocery store. Later at the grocery store checkout, the clerk asked, “Have you kids been good so Santa will come?” “I’ve been very good,” replied Jason, “but my sister just robbed a store.” My hope is that all of us are being good with Christmas coming. After all, Santa is watching.
All kidding aside, have you ever taken the time to notice how each of the Gospels tells about the coming of Christ in a different way. Matthew prepares us for this wondrous story by giving us a list of Jesus’ ancestors back through the reign of King David, all the way back to Adam. Then he tells us about Mary and Joseph and the announcement by an angel that Mary will conceive a child by the Holy Spirit. This, says the angel, is to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah (7:14), “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Then Matthew moves to Jesus’ birth and the story of the star in the heavens that leads the magi to the house where the young child lay. Luke, however, tells the story in a slightly different way.
Luke begins his narrative with an angel announcing to Zechariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s parents, that a son will be born to them in their advanced age. Then Luke tells about the angel’s announcement to Mary that she will bear a child. Luke then goes on to tell about a visit Mary makes to Elizabeth’s home where Mary delivers her beautiful hymn of praise which the church has calls the Magnificat. Then Luke tells about Christ’s birth with the angels praising God in the heavens and the shepherds hurrying to Bethlehem to worship the newborn babe. St. John’s gospel takes a completely different approach.
The Gospel of John, written much later than the other Gospels, dispenses with the genealogies and the birth narratives altogether. Instead John goes back, all the way to the beginning of time, to let us know that Christ was present at creation: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it . . .” John then moves almost immediately to Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Finally, there’s the Gospel of Mark.
It’s widely accepted among scholars that Mark was the first Gospel to be recorded. It’s also thought that Mark was afraid that those who were witnesses to the coming of Christ would die before anyone prepared a written testimony to Christ’s life. So Mark wrote in a hurry, giving us a bare-bones account of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. That may be the reason there are no shepherds in Mark’s account, no magi. Neither are there theological reflections as in John. However, like John, Mark begins with Jesus’ baptism. Mark’s Gospel begins like this: The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
And so John the Baptist appears in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem go out to him. Confessing their sins, they are baptized by him in the Jordan River. John was a strange looking spokesman for God. He wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
So, almost immediately, Mark moves to the gist of the Gospel, Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist with the Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove. And a voice coming from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” So our introduction to the coming of Christ in Mark’s Gospel isn’t angels singing in the heavens or a bright star moving toward Bethlehem. Instead, it’s John the Baptist out in the wilderness. John has an announcement to make.
I was reading the other day about something that happened in a church, one Sunday morning, over in Charlotte. It was time for the sermon and the pastor was just about to open his mouth and begin, when suddenly a man in the balcony, a stranger, a man nobody knew, stood up and said in a loud clear voice, “I have a word from the Lord.” Heads swiveled around. Whatever this word from the Lord was, no one ever got to hear it because “two bouncers disguised as ushers bounded like gazelles up the balcony stairway and muscled him out of the sanctuary and into the street.”
I’m not surprised the ushers hustled this man out. Our first thought is that he must have been a nut. But ask yourself this; what if he did have a word from God? It’s possible, isn’t it? What if his message was authentic? Unfortunately, we’ll never know, because the ushers were in a hurry to keep him from disrupting worship. And when you stop and think about it, it’s kind of scary. A person might have a genuine message from God and we might dismiss him as a nut, a radical, or a trouble maker. John the Baptist was someone with a genuine announcement from God.
I know that at times we can get tired of all the announcements and from time to time they can get kind of boring; that is unless they get mangled. One pastor chuckled over a typo that changed the meaning of an announcement that appeared in his church bulletin: “Choir rehearsal is this afternoon at 3:30. Everyone who wishes to sin in the choir must come to practice.”
Now I seriously doubt there’s more sinning in the choir than anywhere else. And I don’t think the majority of us need any additional practice. We do have to be careful about announcements though. At one small college in the Northeast, snow had been coming down steadily for hours when an announcement came over the intercom: “Will the students who are parked on College Drive please move their cars so that we may begin plowing?” Twenty minutes later there was another announcement: “Plowing has been completed. Will the six hundred and twenty-seven students who went to move 26 cars please return to class now.”
John the Baptist is out in the wilderness and is strangely dressed. He’s claiming that he has a word from God. He has an announcement that the world needs to hear; a declaration that’s important for us as well. The Christian faith isn’t a truth that someone just discovered or an idea that someone carefully thought out. The Christian faith, our faith, is an announcement, it’s a proclamation. It’s an act of revelation. As Dr. Paul S. Rees once put it, “The Gospel is neither a discussion nor a debate. It’s an announcement!” It’s an announcement of God’s wondrous love.
An angel makes an announcement to Elizabeth and Zechariah that Elizabeth will bear a child even at their advanced age. An angel makes an announcement to Mary and then confirms it to Joseph that she will bear a child whose name will be Immanuel. Later John the Baptist will make an announcement to the people of Israel. He proclaims that, “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” This is the heart of Advent and Christmas.
We love all the preparations for Christmas: the lights, music, parties, family coming in, manger scenes, and all the other wonderful elements of this season of the year. But none of it means anything without this announcement by John of the coming Messiah: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John was preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah. For you and I this may seem like old news, even a bit mundane.
And when you look at the surface of his message, John’s announcement doesn’t sound all that dramatic. Basically all he’s saying is that this Messiah is someone very special, someone much more worthy than John himself. It’s clear that even John couldn’t fully grasp the meaning of this news. It took Jesus coming, Him completing His mission here on earth, His death, resurrection and ascension, Gospel and Epistle writers along with renowned theologians to see that this Messiah was not just a messenger of God, but was God Himself in human form. He was the Word made flesh.
Isaiah prophesied this very thing hundreds of years before Christ’s birth. He wrote in our lesson for today, “You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’” (v.9). John’s announcement was greater than even he could realize. He was given the privilege of introducing the world to the incarnate God.
It’s like a story about a little boy named Gabriel Hurles. In January 2009 Gabriel turned six years old. Gabriel was so focused on eating his birthday cake, that he hardly noticed a giant package in the corner of the room. When another child pointed out the large gift, Gabriel ran over and began to tear off the wrapping. When the package was open, Gabriel discovered it wasn’t a bicycle or any of the other items a six-year-old would dream about for Christmas. Rather, it was Gabriel’s dad, Army Specialist Casey Hurles, home on leave from the war in Iraq. Gabriel and his father had been apart for seven months, so when Casey learned his leave would coincide with his son’s birthday, he hatched a plan to offer Gabriel an amazing surprise. He had himself wrapped up as the ultimate birthday gift for his child.
In somewhat the same way, that’s what God did for us that first Christmas. He offered Himself as an amazing surprise. He wrapped Himself up in the form of a tiny baby. Everything we know about God, we learn from his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the Word made flesh.
Origen, a third century theologian, offered a different kind of analogy. He told of a village with a huge statue. This statue was so immense you couldn’t see exactly what it was supposed to represent. Finally, someone miniaturized the statue so one could see the person it honored. Origen said, “That is what God did in his Son.”
In the 1st chapter of Colossians, Paul tells us that Christ is the self-miniaturization of God, the visible icon or image of the invisible God. In Christ we have God in a comprehensible way. In Christ we have God’s own personal and definitive visit to the planet. Without even realizing the full scope of his message, John announced that God Himself had come to this world. But there’s another facet to John’s announcement. John also announced that another baptism was coming, a baptism of the Holy Spirit.
“After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” You and I take great comfort in our baptism. To say that we are baptized into the Christian faith is one of the most important things that can ever happen to us. It’s a sign that we have joined God’s family. I love the way one little girl described it.
However, before I give you that description, it might be helpful to know that out on the cattle ranches of the old West, the unbranded calves that roamed at large are known as “mavericks.” Come annual round-up time, any of these maverick cattle not running with its mother could be claimed by the first man to get his brand on them. A little Western girl was baptized one Sunday by a local minister. Her schoolmates questioned her the next day as to the meaning of the ceremony. “Well,” she said, “I will just tell you. I was a little maverick out on the prairie and that man put the Jesus mark on my forehead so that when Jesus sees me He will know that I am one of His children.” She’s pretty much on point; baptism is a lot like that. It marks us as one of God’s children. But it’s more than that. It’s also a sign of new life in Christ Jesus.
In the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” three escaped convicts come across a group of people dressed in white. They’re singing as they pass mysteriously through the woods toward the river. The three ne’er-do-wells follow the singers. They come upon a service down by the river where people are lining up to be baptized. One of the convicts rushes into the water to be baptized. When he emerges from the water he exclaims that the minister told him that all his sins have been washed away. Even, he says, when he stole that pig for which he’d been convicted.
“But you said you were innocent of that,” says one of his comrades. “I lied,” he says, “and that’s been washed away too!!” And we do see a change in this former scoundrel. His friends steal an apple pie from a windowsill. But a hand reaches up and leaves money for the apple pie. It’s this newly baptized saint of God.
Baptism is more than a ceremony. It’s more than a symbol. Baptism is a means of Grace. Sins are forgiven and we are renewed. We die to the old Adam and are raised new in Christ. We’re given the gift of the Holy Spirit and welcomed into the church as a member of God’s family. We often say at this time of the year that we wish the Christmas spirit could stay with us all year long. This is the secret of maintaining the Christmas Spirit; remembering our Baptism daily. By doing so we are daily renewed in Christ, and that is the greatest gift that we can receive.
Some time ago a certain church was performing Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. At the end of the play, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is transformed by the meaning of Christmas. He wants to share his new found joy with someone, so he calls to a poor newsboy, “Come up here, boy. I’ve got something wonderful for you.” Out of the audience would come a scruffy newsboy to receive a few coins. But this particular night, another little boy in the audience was so entranced by the story that he spontaneously rose and walked up to the stage when Scrooge made his announcement. He thought the invitation was for him: “Come up here, boy. I’ve got something wonderful for you.”
It’s something wonderful and we’re all invited to receive it. God Himself has come into our world. He offers to all the gifts that come in the Sacraments, chiefly the forgiveness of sins, the renewal of our minds and the strengthening that comes to us in His Holy Supper. Through these gifts we receive His presence with us to comfort and empower us. It’s a message that John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people to receive and it’s the same message we’re to take out into the world.
Amen