Sermon preached at St. Alban’s, Spirit Lake, on December 10, 2006
(Year C, Second Sunday of Advent, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. MannTexts: Baruch 5:1-9
Psalm 126
Philippians 1:1-11
Luke 3:1-6It was the spring of ‘75 when life took an interesting turn. Barely seventeen years old, my parents were allowing me to take a trip into Chicago all by myself. It was hard to believe that they even agreed to the idea since I didn’t own a car. But surprisingly, Dad was letting me use the company pickup. I realized without being told that this was a huge responsibility.
I loved that truck! It was a ‘72 ¾ ton GMC with a 400 small block, and a four-barreled carburetor, and a twelve-bolt rear end with positraction. It didn’t look like much but that truck was fast! And with two gas tanks, if you kept your foot out of it, you could go forever without stopping.
Well, I washed that old truck inside and out. I even Armor All’d all of the vinyl, which was a considerable amount of the interior. The only real problem was the radio. Listening to WGN on an AM radio was just fine for a Cubs game but a road trip of this caliber required rock and roll, and the best electronics available. So one of my friends loaned me an eight-track tape deck, which we wired up and mounted inside the glove box.
After checking a map, I decided against Interstate 80 because I wasn’t in any hurry and wanted this trip to last as long as possible. I threw out Highway 30 because that’s the way my parents always went to Chicago, and discarded Highway 20 because it was too far to the north. So I chose Highway 64, which turned into North Avenue when you hit the suburbs of Chicago, and took me directly to where I was going. So I drove into Cedar Rapids and took Highway 151 northeast to Anamosa where Highway 64 began and from there headed east into the Windy City.
Now for the most part, Highway 64 was one of those very old, narrow highways with a slight curb on the edge that always made me feel like I was driving on a bobsled course. It was nerve racking! Every time I met a semi, I would ease over to the right side of the road only to feel like that little curb was going to launch me off into space or push me back into the approaching truck. Especially when there was a curve in the road. And let me tell you, there were many curves and hills on that road especially about thirty-five miles on either side of the Mississippi River. It was deceptively beautiful! It’s the kind of road that is now considered as a scenic, or an alternate route but quite frankly, it’s a dangerous stretch of concrete. Driving 50 mph on a dry, sunny day would be too fast for the conditions.
I remember being taken with the notion that when this road was built, it was designed to conform to the terrain. It was easier to move the road than the earth. The road followed the contour of the landscape, through river bottoms, around bluffs, only ascending in order to traverse through a natural pass between the hills, followed by a winding descent into the next valley. The road probably followed the same trail that was used by settlers moving westward. So it became a game in my mind’s eye to eliminate the telephone poles, the road signs, and other man-made obstructions and to imagine being a frontiersman seeing the landscape for the first time, never really knowing what existed on the other side of the bend but continually drawn forward. It was breath-taking but not very efficient for travel.
Now in biblical times, if a king were planning on traveling, a courier was sent ahead to proclaim his arrival. In order to prepare for his coming, work crews were sent out from the communities along the way to repair the roads. They would make sure that the road was as straight as possible; that the grade was as level as possible; and that the surface was as smooth as possible.
In contrast to the average courier of his day, John the Baptist must have sounded more like a modern DOT road engineer. “Listen to me people! Your King is coming. Here’s the blueprint. Go out and prepare the way for His arrival!” “But sir, there are a lot of obstacles in the way of where you want this road to be. There are numerous hills and valleys. You name it; we’ve got it.” “I don’t care if there’s a mountain in the way! Blast through it and use the rubble for a road bed! If there’s a hill in the way, bulldoze it down and use it to fill up the valley on the other side!” “But sir, wouldn’t it be easier to alter the road to fit the shape of the world rather than alter the world to fit the road?” “Nonsense! The shape of the world is the problem! Why do you think He’s coming? This is the Lord of all Creation! Why, the very earth would move itself if it could. You just make sure it’s smooth and straight. Your salvation actually hinges on this mission!” “But how are we to accomplish this impossible assignment?” “That’s the point! It is impossible for you and me but it isn’t impossible for the Lord. I’ll tell you what. I’ll be down at the Jordan River for a while. Come on down and drop in. I’ll clean you up and make you presentable, and the Lord Himself will show you the way.”
As the Gospel tells us, John is proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The Greek word for baptize means to wash and the word for baptism means to immerse. John’s baptism is unique in that up until this point, baptism was generally reserved for the Gentiles who were converting to Judaism. But John’s proclamation is that everyone, including God’s chosen people, is in need of this spiritual cleansing. But John’s baptism also required a mental action to coincide with the physical action: repentance! The Greek word for repentance means to change one’s mind or alter one’s thoughts after reflection. Or another way of saying it would be simply turning around and facing the opposite direction. The result of these actions is forgiveness. The Greek word for forgiveness means a release from bondage or imprisonment or a pardoning of sins as if those sins had never been committed.
So John’s method of road building doesn’t involve heavy equipment or the movement of earth. It involves the movement of our attitude, the transformation of our lives so as to remove any obstacle that lies between God and us. John is calling for a straight, level, and smooth way to be paved into our hearts in order to receive Jesus Christ into our lives. But there’s more to it than that. We can submit to the washing, and we can turn around and face the Lord but when we see the obstacles; the sins that are in our way, we need to recognize that we are incapable of removing them on our own. But this is the beauty of John’s proclamation! Because the Lord for whom we are preparing the way is the same Lord who has the power to remove the obstacles through forgiveness. And that forgiveness removes sins as if they never even existed. When God forgives us, He not only releases us from the bondage, which is holding us back from Him but clears the way before us. When God forgives, He doesn’t just tunnel through the hills and bridge over the valleys, He treats them as if they were never there, transforming them into a straight, level and smooth two-way street between His heart and ours.
Now John’s choice of imagery is calculated exactly for his audience. He is reminding them that just as their ancestors were led out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt, through the waters of the ed Sea, and into the Promised Land, they now have the opportunity to be released from the captivity of their sins through the waters of baptism, and led into God’s kingdom.
John’s audience is to be a model for the rest of the world. It is the same for us today. Isaiah’s last line in today’s Gospel, which John is quoting, states that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. This means that God has provided an opportunity for salvation, which is open to all mankind; no restrictions, no barriers, and no division to anyone, as long as each and everyone turns and faces Him, admits that they have sinned, and asks Him for forgiveness. This is a huge responsibility! But with God’s help, we can do it.
Don’t be taken in by the beauty of the scenic route. Don’t be tempted into believing that the way to God should conform to the landscape of the world. Take an interesting turn in your life and prepare the way in your heart for coming of the Lord.
Gloria Patri