Sermon for St Edward’s, 15 Dec 20204, Advent 3
Readings Luke 3:7-18, Philippians 4:4-7
This is the third Sunday of Advent, we’ve looked at the patriarchs and matriarchs, the prophets, and now we come to John the Baptist, although he did get a mention in last week. This Sunday is also known as Gaudete Sunday which comes from the Latin ‘rejoice’ which is from a Latin hymn that was traditionally sung on this Sunday.
Originally the season of Advent was 40 days long like Lent – as you may have learned in our Advent course, and this Sunday – just as Laetere Sunday – AKA Mothering Sunday gives a pause in the solemnity of the season of Lent, so Gaudete Sunday did the same in Advent. Although we don’t tend to focus quite so much on the solemnity of Advent anymore. But Pope Francis said in a Gaudete Sunday sermon a few years ago that this Sunday is known as the Sunday of joy and so instead of worrying about we have not yet done to prepare for Christmas, we should think of all the good things life has given us.
So our themes today are joy and John the Baptist, which I think is kind of strange really because we might think that JtB wasn’t exactly known for being joyful. He told people to repent – to change their ways; who we read that when he saw some pharisees and Sadducees coming to him he called them a brood of vipers! He told the King off for marrying his brother’s wife, the same wife who later famously had his head cut off.
I mean doesn’t really scream ‘joy’ at you does it?!
But then we might ask what is joy? If you try and find a Christian definition of joy you will get many different thoughts!
But in Philippians we heard Paul saying, always rejoice in God and he links this to peace – essentially saying: rejoice, know God, trust God is with you, give thanks and then you will be filled with peace. So I think Biblical joy is a sort of contentedness that comes from trusting wholly in God and who God is in our lives. And in order to do that we need to spend time with God don’t we?
There was something about JtB and the message he preached that drew people in. I wonder if it was a sense of God’s joy at work in him?
If we look at what he did we know he was a prophet and he himself was prophesied to come. His life was foretold just like Jesus’ was. The first few verses of Luke 3 refer to Isaiah saying:
…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…
And Malachi 3 says:
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts…
Both are thought to point to JtB, as Luke specifically suggests.
And not only that, like Jesus’ birth an angel told a parent he would come – in this case Gabriel appeared to Zechariah his father and told him that Elizabeth would have a son and that he would be special (Luke 1)
You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’
And in fact when Elizabeth was pregnant with John we know that the baby John in her womb leapt for joy when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, came to visit. He knew who Jesus was even in the womb – being in Christ’s presence brought him joy.But Zechariah didn’t immediately believe and was struck dumb by the angel until John was born. After his birth, when he was able to speak again he praised God and prophesied over his son saying:
Luke 1
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sin. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
And that is what John did, he prepared the way for Jesus, he told people to prepare themselves, to repent of their ways, he brought light to those in darkness and lead them in the ways of God. and then of course when Jesus came he baptised him.
And John had positioned himself to preach and baptise at a key point in the River Jordan where a trade route crossed the river so there was a lot of passing traffic. And in particular the position he chose on the east bank has been seen to be paralleling the point where the people of Israel crossed the river in the exodus. So those who came to John for the baptism of repentance were therefore, just as the Israelites did, symbolically turning away from their old life and transitioning to a future salvation, turning back to God.
But how did John grow into this great prophet? What was it about him that drew people in? We know that as a child – Luke 1:80 tells us:
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
There has been quite a lot of speculation about what this meant – why was he in the wilderness? Had his parents died? Did he stay at the Qumran community – made famous by the Dead Sea Scrolls? Thing is we don’t know. But I read something a while ago about wilderness that I think is a really helpful idea.
In the Bible wilderness is a place of encounter. Think Moses seeing God in the burning bush, Hagar escaping into the wilderness and meeting God, Jesus spent 40 days just being with God, fasting and praying, building himself up before he was tempted. The wilderness is a place people meet with God and it doesn’t necessarily mean a desert place where nothing grows, it is more likely referring to a real place where people went, that just wasn’t populated, perhaps where shepherds went to graze sheep. So there would have been plants and greenery and water.
In Isaiah 40 as mentioned earlier, he prophesies the coming of Jtb, saying: A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Victoria Loorz a theologian and writer talks about the place of wilderness and I think I have mentioned her before but she argues that when this passage is later referenced by Matthew and Luke, translators put in a comma and changed the meaning of it. To:
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, [comma]
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”’
This changes the meaning entirely. Isaiah says that the prophet will be a voice calling out – in the wilderness prepare for the Lord – ie – go to your place of prayer or encounter and prepare.
Not that the voice of John is coming from the wilderness. Make sense?
It may be that because there is this reference to John growing up in the wilderness the translators changed the meaning. But interestingly we know John’s father was a Priest, perhaps as a child he had taught John the value of wilderness time with the Lord. Instead of growing up in a desert place he grew up knowing God.
So we know what Isaiah says that Luke and Matthew point to,
A voice cries out: (ie John’s voice)
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
John is saying prepare yourselves by spending time with God – in the wilderness, in your place of prayer and contemplation.
Is John therefore calling us into the wilderness to meet with the Lord?
In the Bible there are many who went into the ‘wilderness’, and we often view this as some form of punishment but what if we saw it as a gift? An invitation from God? to grow in our relationship with God?
In this way, as the Bible says John grew up in the wilderness, does this mean he simply spent time growing in knowing who God is?
Because he knew God, he knew the scriptures – we see him in v 8 of the gospel reading, referencing Abraham, he didn’t grow up as some feral child in a desert, he was in a place of learning who God is and spending time with God.
And to those who came to listen, he taught them how to behave, how to live and they were expectant, they wanted to know more.
There was something about him, about the presence of God in him that drew people to him. People came out to see him, to be baptised. They thought he might be the Messiah. A man who had spent time in his own wilderness getting to know God.
At this week’s Advent course one of the things we talked about was having space for contemplation and how Celtic Christianity really encourages that. We found that in the space we had in our session to reflect, questions arose and then we talked about how those questions might draw us into Christ’s story more. Sometimes the questions can’t be answered but they help us to draw closer to God, and in turn we might find ourselves in a place of contentedness or biblical joy that John did?
I wonder if we are finding a wilderness place or a place of contemplation this Advent?
We are preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ. We are also preparing longer term for Christ’s return. But ow are we preparing? Are we spending time with God in our own place of wilderness? our own wilderness preparing the way of God? For ourselves and our own journey of faith? Understanding the joy of knowing the Lord.
Perhaps we might take some time this week just to find a place of encounter, to contemplate and reflect for a little while on our own relationship with God. If you need a prompt why not do as Pope Francis suggested – think of all the good things you have in your life? And be thankful as Paul says.
But also for others? It was in that place of being with God that John proclaimed the good news as we read in v18. And the people were expectant. You know there are so many people out there who don’t know the good news of Jesus. So many who need to know it for themselves!
You know a friend of mine who doesn’t have a faith said to me a while back, I wish I had what you have, they could see something in my faith that was attractive, that they wanted to know more about. We have these opportunities all around us to share the good news ourselves. And as I’ve said a few times – it’s so easy at this time of year. Invite people to church! carol services on Friday. You know when we did church in a Pub a few weeks ago there were people in the back of the pub just having dinner but joining in with the carols because they love singing them. Invite people! And they might hear something that strikes a chord with them…
And finally be expectant. The people who heard JtB speak were ‘filled with expectation’ v 15 says. We believe in a God of love and hope and compassion and peace, a God of miracles. Let’s expect God to be at work in us, through us, in the people around us. The more we look for God at work, Emmanuel, God with us, the more we will see God.
Amen
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