Prepare the Way! - Matthew 3:1-12

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Lectionary Readings for December 8, 2019
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72
Romans 15:4-13
Matthew 3:1-12

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.           God loves me.            God has plans for me.

Advent has traditionally been a season of preparation. And indeed, we as a modern American society spend a great deal of time and energy preparing for and engaging with this season.

  • We have Black Friday followed by Cyber Monday.

  • We cover our houses in blinking lights and Santa with his reindeer.

  • And Christmas parties… clean the house, cook the food, email invitations.

  • Update our social media accounts. Update our music playlists.

  • We review our budgets to see if we have unused funds available to spend.

  • If you’re a business owner, you might make capital purchases to offset your profits and thus minimize your year-end taxes.

Yes indeed, Americans spend a great deal of time and energy preparing during this season of Advent.

In today’s Scripture reading, we see that John was equally busy – although singularly focused on preparing people for Jesus to step into His ministry. In his own brash way, John was preparing people for an unimaginable and unpredictable transition.

As a student of the Hebrew Bible – and the son of a notable Jewish priest (recall Zachariah from two weeks ago) – John knew the playbook and the players inside and out. THAT is why he was so irritated by the Pharisees and Sadducees’ visit – he knew it was a power play – a political visit, NOT a spiritual visit.

John shared their bloodline but not their love for prestige or comfort. John cared nothing about budgets or buildings or maintaining the status quo. Quite frankly, if John were a member of nearly any congregation today, we may very well feel like he was a pain in our sides, an annoyance. Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, John woke up every morning asking himself, “How can I help people reconnect with God?”

John no doubt remembered 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NRSV)
“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Unlike us today, John understood God’s love as conditional: forgiveness follows confession. And John knew that God was up to something, a big change was coming, even though he wasn’t exactly sure what that might look like. Nevertheless, he stuck to the playbook with great zeal. Verse 6: “when they confessed their sins, he immersed them in the Jordan River.

John baptized them into a new, a renewed life with God. In his own dramatic, blustering style, John invited people to reconnect with their Creator who deeply loves them and wants their future to be better than their present.

But that confessing their sin bit…Jump back to verse 2: Repent! “Turn away from your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming soon.”

Repentance…That’s an unfamiliar word to many people today.

  • Does it mean I should feel guilty for “bad things” I’ve said or done?

  • Does it mean I should apologize to people I’ve wronged?

  • Can I ever right all of my wrongs?

  • Is it worth the time and effort?

  • Can I ever repent enough for God to love me?

The answers are Maybe, Probably, No, Definitely, and It Doesn’t Matter.

John’s word repent means to turn one’s life around – a complete U-turn. STOP doing whatever is putting distance between you and God. START doing whatever draws you closer to God.

Our lives are no better off if we say we want a different future for ourselves but we don’t make the necessary changes. If we are going down the wrong road, we can pray and study all we like but we have to turn the steering wheel if we want change to happen. We must take action.

To be clear, this has nothing to do with being perfect. This has everything to do with recognizing a need and making an effort.

Advent is a time for reflecting… for reprioritizing… for repenting, redirecting… all of which prepares us for greater intimacy with God and an increased capacity to receive the new and unexpected gifts God has prepared for us.

You see, Advent matters because WE matter – each one of us.
Our lives and our relationships with God and each other matters.
And from these relationships, we can anxiously anticipate God birthing something wonderfully new into our lives.

Amen? Amen!