THE STRAIGHTFORWARD PULPIT

Text:  Luke 3:1-6

Theme:  "Is One Semester Enough?"

Second Sunday of Advent

December 9, 2012

First Presbyterian Church

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— ² during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³ He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
⁵ Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
⁶ And all people will see God’s salvation.’”^[a]

A week ago right now I was up in the clouds -- at 30,000 feet, to be exact. 
The British Airways 747 was headed south across North America toward Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.  It brought us back -- safely, thank God -- from a week-long trip to London.  There we ate fish and chips, watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, journeyed to Stonehenge, dined at the Hard Rock Cafe, crossed The Beatles' Abbey Road, and looked on in amazement as one brother-in-law actually held the guitar of Jimmy Page, lead guitarist for Led Zeppelin!  The Queen, as we discovered, was in residence at Buckingham, but she wasn't able to have us in for tea!

There are many "takeaways" from the trip, but one of them stands out.  It's a very British three word phrase that goes like this:  "Mind the gap."  The announcer on the London Underground train system would always tell us to "mind the gap" as we stepped off the train -- with the gap being that literal space between the train itself and the platform at the station.  If you don't "mind the gap", there might be an accident. 

"Mind the gap" is advice both simple and good for many reasons.  That "gap", in whatever form it may take, could take you down.  That gap could be your blind spot.  Perhaps it's a situation in your life that has the potential of getting out of control.  The gap -- whatever it is -- is dangerous; your well-being or even your life could be in danger if you don't mind it.

We "minded the gap" successfully as we got off the train at Westminster and then, later, took a double-decker bus to St. Paul's Cathedral.  It's in the area of old London where Jack the Ripper committed his grisly crimes.  It's also an area that was bombed heavily during Hitler's "blitzkrieg" of London in World War II.  Almost miraculously, the magnificent St. Paul's cathedral sustained little damage.  It became a symbol of British faith and resistance against insurmountable odds.  And, Christians have been worshipping at that site since 600 AD -- for over fourteen hundred years.  They worshipped there for over a thousand years before there was even a United States.  What a history lesson!

Speaking of history, Saint Luke -- the beloved physician and the author of our Gospel reading for today -- was tuned in to history.  This, of course, almost immediately, will turn off some people who find history to be dull and boring in an age obsessed with entertainment. We don't go home from church, during the NFL season, to watch The History Channel.  For that matter, history doesn't seem to be very "spiritual" either.  What difference does it make if it was the fourteenth or the sixteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar?  (Actually, it was the fifteenth!)  Who cares if Pilate was the governor of Judea, Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, and so forth?  What's a "tetrarch"anyway?  As we "mind the gap" of Christmas and fall head-long into the annual, frenetic preparations, what's the big deal that Annas and Caiaphas shared a high-priesthood?  We have far more important gaps to mind than spending time focusing on all this historical falderol!

But wait a minute:  Luke thought it was a big deal; Luke thought it made a difference; Luke cared about giving us the details for a very good reason:  our faith is not some spiritual fairy-tale.  Christmas is not all about creating moods and experiences with food, drink, family, friends, gift-giving, and some diva singing "Santa Baby" in the background.  Christmas is grounded in history.  It's on terra firma.  It happened!  God -- Creator of the rolling spheres and ineffably sublime -- stepped in.  To be more precise, His Word showed up on the scene.  We are told that the "word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness."   It didn't come to Caesar or Herod or Annas and Caiaphas.  Those were just the historical personages which pinpoint the history -- the historical timeframe, if you will. 

The word comes.  It isn't dropped down from heaven on golden tablets and accompanied by angels. It isn't delivered in an armored car.  It isn't carried by an intelligence officer in a discreet messenger bag.   In fact, it comes to one man who turns out to be just an ordinary Joe Six-pack kind of guy. 

There he stands -- in the wilderness of history.  There he stands -- forever the great Elijah!  There he stands -- the great preacher of Advent.  There he stands -- John the Baptist.  He speaks a word that didn't originate in the depths of his transformed heart.  He speaks a message that didn't spring from his own experience or fervent feelings.  It was a message that came to him.  It came from the outside and not the inside. 

The message took hold.  It gripped the people.  It drew a crowd. Other accounts tell us that the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem came out to listen to John.  Apparently, he had what they were missing.  And, as we shall see, they didn't come out just to be entertained.

But didn't they have enough?  What was missing?  Didn't they have Tiberius Caesar and Pilate and Herod to rule over them and take care of them and provide all the necessary governmental goods and services they required?  Didn't they have Annas and Caiaphas to guide them in their religious activities?  Didn't they have each other?   Wasn't that enough?

Apparently not.  In some way or another, John's message struck a chord. People lined up to hear John just as people and pundits gather out at Apple headquarters when the umpteenth version of the iPad or iPhone is unveiled.   What amazes me, to this day, is that the message unveiled wasn't really anything new.

John's message from God had first come from a prophet, Isaiah, who had long since been in his grave.  John quotes Isaiah chapter 40: 

A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
⁵ Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
⁶ And all people will see God’s salvation.

In my final year at seminary, I took an elective course called "Isaiah II."  There were actually two graduate level courses offered on just the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament.  As far as books in the Bible are concerned, Isaiah is huge.  It has sixty six big chapters.  No wonder they call Isaiah a "major prophet".  The first class, which I didn't take, treated chapters 1-39.  "Isaiah II" presented chapters 40-66. 

I was looking forward to the class. There's so much great material in this book.  Much of it inspired Georg Friedrich Handel as he took to writing The Messiah which includes many songs with selections from Isaiah as text. 

Now I thought we'd take a leisurely, academic stroll through the final twenty six chapters of Isaiah during the semester.  Then we'd write a paper on some theme of our own choosing.  And what do my wandering eyes did appear?  Well, it wasn't a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.  It appeared to me; it dawned on me that, when it was all said and done, we spent the entire semester on just one chapter of Isaiah.  It was chapter 40.  The material there is so rich, so full, so meaningful.  In fact, when you get right down to it, you could spend many semesters on just that one chapter and not sufficiently probe its depths. 

It was from this chapter that John the Baptist quoted.  Looking to the future as prophets are wont to do, God tells us, through Isaiah and John the Baptist, that there will be a level playing field. There will be no gaps that need minding -- because every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.  Crooked roads will be straightened out and rough places made smooth.  And all people -- not just a select few, but all people -- will see God's salvation.  That includes Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, new age practioners,  believers of every stripe, atheists (who don't believe in God), agnostics (who aren't sure), and apatheists (who don't care).  EVERYONE -- past, present, and future -- will see God's salvation!

Luke says that John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  To repent, stated simply, is to change your mind.  A person baptized by John was one who had changed his/her mind.  Baptized by John, you were, in effect, saying:  "Now, I'm going to go God's way.  I'm not going to depend on the government -- Caesar, and Pilate, and Herod, and all the rest.  And I'm not going to depend on religion with its rules and regulations and rituals and high priests telling us what do or not do.  I'm going to mind the gap that is all-important.  I'm going to prepare the way for the Lord.  I'm going to live in faith. I'm going to believe that while religion can't forgive my sins, God will.  And God's forgiveness is on the way. 

It was a rebellious, defiant, but yet upbeat and enlivening message that took hold out there in the wilderness during the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.

Is it taking hold with you? If so, then a semester is not enough to study it and apply it.   Martin Luther once wrote:  "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said 'repent', he willed that the entire life of the believer be one of repentance."  In other words, on each and every day -- and sometimes even moment by moment -- you change your mind and thereby prepare the way for the Lord.  Why is it important to do this?  Because the devil, the world, and your own sinful nature are constantly trying, like Hitler's bombs, to "blitzkrieg" you into changing your mind the other way. 

But the devil, the world, and our own sinful natures, despite all the damage they have wrought, were not able to stop something from happening.  You see, the devil, the world, and our own sinful natures are like the Grinch looking down on Whoville watching the Whos enter the town square and start singing.  He couldn't keep Christmas from coming!

And Christmas is not what Andy Williams called "The most wonderful time of the year."  Christmas is not what one dictionary defined as "a warm time for special foods."  Christmas is the feast of the nativity of our Lord.  He was given the name Jesus because He would save His people from their sins.  He -- in His advent, birth, life, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension -- minded the gap between us and our God. And that gap is no more, for we are all God's children and we get to feast with Him today.  Happy Advent and Christmas to you all!

 

Amen.