Repent and Follow
So, who cares? Who cares about Tyberius, Pilate, Herod, Phillip and Lysanius, Annas and Caiaphis?
Ok, granted…we Christians, who know Jesus’ story, will care about Pilate and Herod a bit later. But right now, right in this gospel today, what’s the big deal with these guys?
The big deal is that these guys were a big deal. In their own time, in their own place, these were the movers and shakers of the world. From Emperor Tiberius, who ruled over everyone, on down through the local leaders we hear named, these are the famous ones. Then thrown in for good measure is Herod, the Jewish king, on through Caiaphas, the High Priest. We have here the religious ‘who’s who’ in front of us as well. Although the dates of their service are a bit jumbled, our gospel writer Luke has taken great care to list all these super important people.
However, the curtain rises on none of these powerful men as the introduction of the coming of Jesus unfolds. The word of God comes to a man named John, – son of Zechariah – in the wilderness of all places. The word of God comes into history, but it arrives along the margins. The good news of God usually arrives on the edge of things. God’s word comes to those on the fringes, the marginalized. That’s where the seeds of God’s kingdom are usually sown.
Listening Around the Edges
Come to think of it, in all five-plus decades that I have been alive, the word of God has come to me through the people whom history would not remember. How about you? If you are like me, it’s been the grandmas and grandpas, friends and family, co-workers and sometimes “wild people. People like John. Wilderness voices.” (“The Word Came to Who?”, Peter Woods, The Listening Hermit, posted Dec 4, 2012) They are the ones who have passed along to me God’s word. It’s those voices that have stirred my faith and yours. So that’s why our gospel calls us to listen around the edges.
Of course, that’s awfully hard to do right now, because our culture demands we listen to so much more. Our culture tells us that preparing, right now, involves holding Christmas parties, putting up the Christmas lights, planning wonderful family reunions and great meals, watching classic Christmas movies, and listening to Christmas carols. All those things are beautiful and to be enjoyed.
But as Christians, we are called to pause in this time BEFORE Christmas, called Advent. For centuries, Christian believers have tried to act COUNTER-CULTURALLY during this pre-Christmas time. Our Advent gospels call us to reflect on the state of ourselves – and our world. It’s only when we pause, that we can hear and experience God’s Word arriving not in the center of all things, but all around us on the edges.
The Call to Repent
People went out in droves to meet John the Baptist in the wilderness. They chose to be baptized by him as they repented to receive forgiveness of their sins. The ones who made that journey into the wilderness for John’s baptism, were those who stepped out of the busy-ness of their own lives to look in a whole different direction. The easy way to prepare for Christmas is to careen toward the one day of Jesus’ big birthday party. The HARDER/MORE DIFFICULT way to prepare for Christmas – is to hear John’s call for us to repent.
Repentance begins with a profound change in the way we see reality. Repentance doesn’t mean beating ourselves up nor is it simply feeling sorry. Repentance is INSIGHT. John invites us “to ask ourselves tough – but life-giving questions: How’s the depth of my faith? What about the actions of my life? Am I expectant, alert, growing, serving? Or is my faith journey small, tired, tepid, dull, and unresponsive?” (Advent/Christmas Series: Living “In Between”, Robert Dannals, p169-170)
To guide our repentance, our gospel uses the words of the prophet Isaiah, challenging us that every valley shall be filled and every mountain brought low. Those valleys in our lives, like worry or doubt, can instead be filled with an awareness of the very presence of the living Christ. The mountains we deal with in our hearts, including pride, prejudice, fear, and selfishness, when those are brought low, we can see clearly out to the edges; we can see the way of the Lord. God’s word also calls for us to make the crooked places straight. We are challenged to confront those temptations in our lives that will lure us away from God’s ways. And we are told to make the rough ways smooth. In our lives, this may mean for us to forgive those who have hurt us or we may need to try continue to let go of the bitterness we’ve developed because unfair circumstances dominate our lives.
Not an Easy Road
Repentance is like Isaiah’s image of road building. Leveling mountains. Lifting valleys. That road building is NOT easy. I came across an illustration that said that the most expensive highway project in our national history was known as the Big Dig. It is in Boston. It involved building a buried highway through the heart of the city. It is about 3.5 miles in length and, by the time it was finished, it cost a staggering twenty-two billion dollars. Barney Frank, a congressman from the area, said it would have been cheaper to raise the city – instead of lowering the road. (Uncluttering, Luke 3:1-6, Advent 2 – Year C, December 06, 2009, The Rev. Dr. Wiley Stephens)
Although repentance and self-reflection may sound like this incredible Big Dig, when we pause and look inward at the sinful, rough places within – then God can do that work with us, inside of us, forgiving us, — so that our hearts become cleared up to be opened to the way of the Lord. Those who went to the wilderness to be baptized by John were released of their sin by forgiveness, and it opened space to make way for the new life that Jesus Christ would bring. And there is the other truly gospel good news for this day – making space for God’s new life to come into our lives.
Tony’s Story
A nice number of us had the opportunity earlier this week to come to church here at Madison Campus to meet in person and hear the story of musician Tony Memmel. Tony is a young man of faith who was born without a left forearm and hand. What an inspirational person! Tony is a person of great patience and self-awareness. Since childhood, Tony wanted to play the guitar. By the time he bought an instrument, it took him 8 years to learn to play the guitar and to find just the right method to create this cast on his arm that holds his guitar pick. Each time he plays, Tony makes a homemade cast out of Gorilla Tape (a form of duct tape) that secures a guitar pick to his arm which allows him to pluck and strum the strings. When he was a teenager, his high school’s music teacher heard Tony singing goofy songs to his friends in the hallway one day. She stopped and didn’t roll her eyes at his silliness. Instead she told Tony that he had a good voice and if he really wanted to sing, she’d love to have him sing in the school choir. Tony made the space in his heart and mind to hear and respond to those words – those words from the edges and margins that were a part of a larger call from God. Tony joined the High School Choir where he learned to read music for the first time.
Now Tony is a composer and singer who lives in Nashville, travels all over the country and world offering inspiration and hope, especially to children with disabilities but also to all people. Tony has made space in his life to become Ambassador with the non-profit organization “Lucky Fin Project” a support group for children with hand and limb-differences. And in cooperation with the U.S. State Department, he is part of the American Music Abroad Program Alumni, touring around the world visiting schools, orphanages, hospitals to build cultural bridges through music.
As a Christian, Tony gently proclaimed to us his faith to us the other night, saying that in all that he does, he believes in his heart he’s giving glory to Jesus Christ, our Lord through his life. Tony would say he’s no one spectacular, he simply listened and used patience hear God’s call and to trust God’s work within him. If you didn’t hear Tony Memmel here at church, you can watch his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B8kAGWu578. While I might sound like a commercial for Tony, I lift his story before us today because he’s a fantastic example of someone who’s taking time throughout his life to pause, reflect, and listen for God’s word at the edges of his life.
Imagine what God can do with each of us and with all of us together as this congregation if we’d pause a bit more regularly to give our brokenness over to God. And then with that space that is opened within us, we’d listen for the Holy Spirit’s whispers to us. When you create space to look into yourself, you, in a sense, hand your life over to God and God’s word comes flying at you from around the edges. That word calls you and me into new directions that are full of Christ’s grace and truth. God longs to straighten the paths into your heart, so that Christ may keep entering in. May every heart prepare him room. Thanks be to God.
AMEN.
