First Lutheran Church
December 5, 2021 + The Second Sunday in Advent C
Luke 3:1-6In 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.’ ”
Sermon
One of the things I like to do when preparing a sermon is to just “live with the text” for a few days. I simply read the text each day and pay attention to the things that jump out at me. In particular, I pay attention to the “words” that stand out, the “words” that strike me as significant, the “words” that capture my imagination.
As I was preparing for this week’s sermon, reading over the appointed gospel from Luke, the words that continually jumped out at me were all the names and titles that appear in the first two verses. However, at first these names and titles did not strike me as significant- just annoying. I remember thinking to myself, “That’s a lot of names and places that are hard to pronounce, it’s a mouthful, I feel sorry for the person who is assigned to be the lector this week.” In fact, when I was preparing the bulletin for this week, I decide to leave out some of the names and places, just skip over them, give the lector a break. If you have a bulletin, you might have noticed that I inserted “dot, dot, dot” after the more familiar names (Tiberius, Pilate, and Herod), skipping over “Philip the ruler of Ituraea and Trachonitis,” and “Lysanias the ruler of Abilene.” To be honest, I didn’t think the names and titles listed in the first two verse of this week’s gospel were important. But as I sat down to begin to write the sermon, it suddenly dawned on me, I came to the realization that all those names and titles were important, - actually very important. And I almost totally missed it because I was annoyed with the inconvenience and troublesome nature of pronouncing their names. We are reminded that sometimes that just how the Gospel works!
So, why are they important? They are the most powerful people of their time and place, they are the A-list people when it comes to power. Tiberius was the emperor; Pilate was the governor; Herod, Philip, and Lysanias were tetrarchs (a type of prince); and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests in the temple. These folks are the rulers of the known world. They are at the center of the religious, political, and economical power of Jerusalem. Collectively they hold all the authority, the wealth, the prestige and the military might of the day.
And this is significant because when the word of God came into this world, it did not come to them, it did not come to the powerful and elite of Jerusalem, it landed out in the wilderness, miles from Jerusalem, beyond the region, and it was heard by a strange man, dressed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, eating locust and wild honey, - John the son of Zechariah, the baptizer.
In the first two verses of today’s reading, Luke sets up an interesting juxtaposition; the word spoken by God, is not heard by emperors, governors, princes, and high priests but by an outsider who lives in the undomesticated desert wilderness. The powers of this world appear to be deaf and blind to the present spoken word of God. And the ones on the margins, the ones who have turned their backs on the institutions of Jerusalem and Rome, the ones who have sojourned beyond and into the desert, the ones who have no one, or no-thing, to trust but God, - hear, see, and believe. So it is that when Jesus awakens to his call, he journeys “not to Jerusalem ”to be confirmed, to be anointed, to be justified, to begin his ministry; but rather he travels out into the wilderness to be baptized by John in the Jordan river. And in this unlikely place, in this isolated and barren place, the heavens open up wide and God declares, “You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
In today’s Gospel, Luke begins by reminding us “to whom” the word is spoken, “who” is able to hear the word. And then he reminds us “where” it is heard and comes to life.
I find it very interesting and perhaps counter intuitive that Luke sends us out into the desert to “prepare the way of the Lord.” Human nature would perhaps suggest a mountain top. That would be my first inclination, if you are looking for God climb up that holy mountain!
But that’s not where Luke goes, he does not go up the mountain, he goes entirely in another direction. And then, just to be clear, he proclaims in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “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 wants to get rid of the mountains because they get in the way!I don’t know about you, but I have never stood on the top of a mountain, gazed out at the world before me and below me, and thought, “We need to tear this mountain down and make everything level.”
Yet God has come into the world to do just that, to make everything level, in order that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” God has come into the world to level “the palace” and “the temple” in Jerusalem in order that all might have access to the abundant life made possible in the reign of God. In order that everyday folks like you and me, “might see the salvation of God.”
And out in the desert wilderness we are able to see what stands in the way, the rough spots that must be made smooth, what must be brought up, straightened out, what must be changed, in order that the Kingdom of God might come in all its fullness. Living on top of the mountain and looking down is comfortable, but it does not give us the proper perspective on things below. Living below on the desert floor can be dangerous and leaves us vulnerable. Yet it is there, and under those conditions, from that perspective, that we are opened-up to presence and word of God.
So “where” are we located as this Advent season begins? Are we sitting comfortably in Jerusalem, with access to all the social, religious, political, and economic benefits that go with being near the center of power? Are we sitting comfortably on top of the mountain, on top of the world, looking out at the amazing view? Or have we made the trek into the wilderness? Maybe we have been driven into the wilderness? Maybe we live in our own unique wilderness? Where are you?
And what do you “hear” as this Advent season begins? What do you long to hear? Can you hear the word of God, or is it lost in the noise of everything that surrounds you? Have we become deaf to its tone, its nature, its purpose, its mission? Do we need to hear a word of grace, a word of love? Are we desperate for a word in the isolation of our silence? What do you hear, what do you long to hear, what do you need to hear?
In the season of Advent, as we prepare for the coming of Christ, we are invited to step away from our comfortable places into that wilderness place where God’s word is being spoken. We are invited to turn away from all the noise and hear that “still small voice.” We are invited to become active in ministries that are leveling the ground, filling in the gaps, and smoothing the rough places, in order that all might see and experience the salvation of God, the reign of Christ.
And as we are able to accept and lean into this Advent invitation, we will discover that word for which our souls long, - a word of hope, peace, joy, and love. For those of us yearning to disengage from the way things are, yearning to be renewed by a word of purpose, yearning for something more out of life, we will hear that word of calling, (Our marching orders) “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 for those of us, who feel alone, cut off from life, for those who have been pushed to the margins of life, pushed beyond the edges, for those who are filled with despair, and for those who desperately need a reminder, there is this word, a word of grace, a spoken word from God that opens up the very heavens, a word spoken in those wilderness places, those places we often find ourselves wandering through, “You are my child, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
These words of Advent, the Word of God, await seach and every one of us. Let us heed the call of the Baptist, let us go out into the wilderness, let us be open to the repentance that is change, let us join in the great leveling of life, let us join the adventure, let us find that place where we might clearly hear “the word” being spoken, - that word of hope, peace, joy, and love. Amen.