Many years ago a pastor was invited to preach at a nearby country church he had never been to before. As he set out he was uncertain which road to take since most rural roads are not clearly marked and the directions he had been given left something to be desired. He stopped to ask directions along the way. The person he asked tried, but mistakenly steered him down the wrong road.
The morning was pleasant and although the road seemed a little longer than the pastor had expected, he cheerfully continued on his way. Finally he arrived at a little white church just as the Sunday School lesson was concluding. The pastor entered the church and greeted some of the people as he made his way to the pulpit. That morning he delivered a strong and inspiring sermon. People in the congregation weren't quite sure what to think, but they listened attentively. When the worship service concluded, the pastor descended from the pulpit, shook hands with the good people and headed toward home.
Meanwhile, there was another small church a few miles away. It was filled with people waiting and wondering what could possibly have happened to the pastor who was scheduled to preach for them. Our hero never suspected that he had preached at the wrong church that morning. (1)
There are times in our lives when we have to admit that things seem out of place. Somehow things just don't seem to fit. Advent is one of those times. Everywhere we go we see signs of the Christmas season - festive decorations, brightly colored lights, carols playing loudly at the mall, Christmas specials on television reminding us of the jolly nature of the holiday. Yet, when we arrive at church on this, the Second Sunday of Advent, we are greeted by an unlikely figure, John the Baptist. Something just doesn't seem right. It seems that we are in the wrong place. Or at the very least John the Baptist has picked the wrong Sunday to be our guest speaker.
His hair is wild and unkempt. His clothes smell of wild animals. His diet consists of honey-covered bugs. And his message reflects a fire burning in his soul, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Somehow John the Baptist doesn't fit the Christmas we've come to know and to love. And yet every year on the road to this special celebration we confront this strange messenger.
ADVENT IS ABOUT GOD BREAKING INTO OUR LIVES AT UNEXPECTED TIMES AND PLACES.
When no one suspected anything great would happen, John the Baptist showed up. While it is true that the people of old were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, they were taken by surprise by John. After all, there had not been a notable prophet in Israel in over three hundred years. As the years wore on their hope was beginning to wane - no word from God. Silence for centuries. Then at an unexpected time and in an unexpected place John the Baptist burst upon the scene quoting from the Hebrew Bible: "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: `Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"
There was great excitement among the people as the news spread about John the Baptist. They had to see and hear this man for themselves. They traveled out into the desert to find him. "And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him." John the Baptist was an overnight sensation. He was a hit. Something wonderful was about to happen and everyone wanted to be a part of it. Often, when we least expect anything to happen, God breaks through our ordinary lives.
Sue Monk Kidd, in one of her books, recalls her youth and how she would prepare for Christmas. In early December, she would sit by the wooden nativity set clustered under their Christmas tree and think over the last year of her life. She would think deeply about Christmas and the coming of Jesus.
She remembers, one time, visiting a monastery. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas. As she passed a monk walking outside, she greeted him with, "Merry Christmas." The monk's response caught her off guard a bit. "May Christ be born in you," he replied.
His words seemed strange and peculiar at the time. What did he mean, "May Christ be born in you?" At the time she was unsure of what he meant, but now all these years later, sitting beside the Christmas tree, she felt the impact of his words. For she discovered that Advent is a time of spiritual preparation. It is also a time of transformation. It's "discovering our soul and letting Christ be born from the waiting heart." (2)
At unlikely times and in unlikely places God breaks into our lives. John the Baptist was out in the desert proclaiming that the time had come for God to act. The long-awaited Messiah was coming. The time was at hand. But that was only part of John's message.
TO PREPARE FOR GOD'S GIFT OF SALVATION WE NEED TO TURN OUR LIVES AROUND.
That was the second theme of John's ministry. He came "proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." John's message was simple and to the point. Change your ways because the Messiah will soon be here. There was urgency in John's message. It was time to get ready.
John's message was so compelling that people who came to hear him did repent. Even more amazing, they agreed to be baptized. John was asking fellow Jews to submit themselves to something that was not required in their faith. Only Gentiles were baptized, not Jews. And yet the people not only repented, they agreed to be baptized.
Repent isn't a word we hear a lot these days. Repent means to turn your life around; it means to turn away from those things that take us away from God. The first step in preparing for the coming of Jesus this Advent is to examine our lives and make a new beginning.
Ian Maclaren once told a delightful story of Lackland Campbell and his daughter Dora. Dora left home and fell into the wrong kind of relationships. She began to misuse the gifts of life. Soon she did not respond to her father's letters because she found it difficult to relate to him.
Maggie, Dora's aunt, wrote her a letter that finally melted her heart. At the end of the letter Maggie writes: "Dora, your Daddy is a grievin' ye. Come home for your own sake. Come home for your dear Daddy's sake. But, Dora, come home most of all for the dear Lord's sake!" (3)
Christmas is a time of coming home. John the Baptist's message was simple, "Repent," turn your life around, change your mind, examine your motives, because the Messiah will be here soon. This brings us to the final theme of today's text.
JESUS IS THE REASON WE CELEBRATE ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS.
The people who streamed out into the desert to hear John wondered if John, himself, might be the long-awaited Messiah. Adamantly, John said no. John was very clear about his role. "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me," John proclaimed, "I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals."
John the Baptist was not the Messiah. Instead he was a forerunner who pointed the way to Jesus. There in the river John told the people that he baptized them with water, but one day soon, one would come who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit.
The story is told of a man who was searching for answers in his life. He found a very wise old man. He thought maybe this old man could give him the answers he was searching for. Thus he was surprised to hear the old man speak of a great
blunder he himself had been guilty of.
"What great blunder have you made?" the searcher asked the wise man. The wise old man thought for a moment and then replied, "They called me a Christian, but I did not become Christ."
That was an odd answer. The younger man was confused. "You did not become Christ?" he asked. "Is one supposed to become Christ?"
The wise old man answered, "I kept putting distance between myself and him. I kept deploring the distance," the old man told his new friend, "but I never realized that I was creating it."
"But," the seeker insisted, "is one supposed to become Christ?"
"No distance," the wise man replied. (4)
No distance, said the wise man. Advent is about overcoming the distance between God's heart and our own. Advent is a time of preparation for a very special celebration. At the heart of that celebration is the person of Jesus.
It was Christmas almost forty years ago when Rex Pickett was stationed in Korea as a young Marine lieutenant. His wife and baby daughter, whom he had never seen, were home in the United States. On Christmas morning the thermometer hovered around zero with several inches of snow covering the ground. Outdoor worship services were planned for that morning. Although no one was required to attend services Rex went out of respect and "to set a good example for the even younger Marines." Nearly two hundred marines turned out for the service. They sat on their helmets in the snow. They faced a small portable altar. The chaplains had no microphones, and the portable organ suffered from the extreme cold.
Something happened to Rex in that worship service. God broke through into his life. He thought of all that was precious to him: home, his wife, his unseen infant child. In that moment as they tried to sing Christmas carols in the cold air he realized that Christmas does not depend on church architecture or fine clothing, expansive meals or expensive gifts. Instead Rex claimed, "Christmas is best celebrated as a voluntary act in which we replenish our personal faith in the company of others." Far from home and loved ones, Rex realized "that Christmas Day, in itself, is not important, but the faith it represents is." (5)
Let us not forget in the coming weeks that Jesus is the reason why we celebrate Christmas. Advent reminds us that God often breaks into our lives in unexpected ways and at unexpected times. At those times we discover that we must change our ways and realign ourselves with Jesus Christ.
Amid all the confusion we need to hear clearly the voice of John the Baptist calling out to each one of us. "Prepare the way of the Lord..."
1. PRAIRY EARTH. William Least Heat-Moon. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991, p. 525.
2. WHEN THE HEART WAITS. Sue Monk Kidd. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1990, pp. 181-182.
3. THE CUP OF WONDER. Lloyd John Oglivie. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1976.
4. Op. cit. WHEN THE HEART WAITS. Kidd.
5. "Christmas in the Land of Morning Calm." Rex Pickett. CHRISTMAS REMEMBERED. Ron DelBene (ed). Nashville, Upper Room Books, 1991, pp. 42-43.