Prepare the Way! My Cousin is Coming!

Malachi 3:1-4. Luke 3:1-6

By now, most of us have decorated for Christmas, with the stores having gotten a very early start, yes, even two months ahead of us. Green trees, wreaths, red ribbons, and white and colored lights brighten our homes and our churches.   In our neighborhoods we see outdoor lights decorating houses and penetrating the darkness of shortened days.

Often, we spend so much time and money on these preparations, we forget their underlying meaning.  Too soon, it seems, Christmas is over.  We’re tired, even exhausted, and then relieved.  What was beautiful, now seems like clutter.  We may be asking ourselves, “What is the point?”

We, in the church, are preparing not just for a holiday, but for a holy day.  The coming of Christ, the Word made flesh is entering our homes and our hearts if we open them to the Christ Child.  And it’s time to remember that Jesus did not just come for you and me, but for the whole world

Luke’s Gospel speaks of redemption.  Deliverance, salvation, and liberation.  Especially for the marginalized and those whose physical, spiritual, relational, or societal status renders them less – dis-eased, dis-abled disenfranchised.

Our lectionary scripture introduces John the Baptist in six short verses.  Not as the cousin born to Elisabeth, but as the voice in the wilderness, prophesied by the prophets Malachi and Isaiah. John is telling anyone who will listen, “Take a good hard look at yourself.”  Repent and prepare

Initially, it is John who gave Jesus credibility.  The story of his birth is almost as miraculous as Jesus.  The angel Gabriel foretold John’s birth to the elderly Zacheriah, his father.  Though a priest, he could not believe, and was struck dumb until John’s birth

John, like the prophets of old, brings forward God’s message.  His baptisms and Jesus’ to follow represents a conversion from the old to the new.   Every prophet exhorts people to change. To turn to God. The followers of Jesus then, like us today, likely asked. “What do we now that our dreams of the Messiah are coming true?

We may struggle to believe it. We may cling tightly in fear that the moment is transitory and will slip away. We may look for reasons to protect ourselves through suspicion, distrust, and denial. Or, perhaps, we search for the signs that what is being revealed is true, real, and trustworthy.  Even in the darkest of times.  The gospel is good news but it is not a fairy tale.

We are celebrating Advent in comfortable and privileged communities of faith.  Yet just outside our doors, poverty, disease, wars, and lies seem to rule.   John spoke truth to power and was killed by Herod.  Jesus was killed because his message threatened the status quo of those in power like the prophets Elijah and Isaiah before him.

Speaking truth to power does not win popularity contests or favor among the powerful. It comes with risk.   There will be those who recognize truth.  Let us choose to be part of this following.  Let us be the anointed of Christ as spoken by Isaiah and later Jesus in Luke 4.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me
 to bring good news to the poor.   He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

I pray that we are able to believe this and do this with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.   Amen