The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN
December 10, 2023
Today, we have heard the beginning of the Gospel according to Mark. A gospel that we will spend a lot of time in the days ahead. Mark's account of the Good News of Jesus Christ didn't begin with a baby in a manger. It didn't start with angels and wise men and shepherds. It began with an ancient prophecy remembered. The prophet Isaiah speaks of a messenger, a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, "Make the rough places plain and the low places made high and the high places low. Make the crooked places straight and prepare the way of the Lord."
Mark introduces this messenger as John. The one who baptizes with water. The one who preaches repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus, he says. Mark sets it up right where Salvation begins. He sets it up to be good news to us in order for us to know who Jesus is and why he came so that we must repent and believe.
So, now I've used a bunch of churchy words. We may understand a few of them if we paid attention in Sunday school. I remember Mrs. Creekmore's 4th grade Sunday School class, but I don'temember one lesson. That doesn't mean that Mrs. Creekmore was a bad teacher; on the contrary, she was an outstanding teacher. She would teach us the churchy words, hoping we would someday understand. But the churchy words are still there. Words like prophecy… Baptize… repent… sin… and salvation… Advent is when we might reexamine what these words mean and why they are important to us in the context of these readings.
When I hear the passage from Isaiah, I cannot help but think of Handel's Messiah and the Tenor Aria in the first movement, "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people." This beautiful piece puts Isaiah's great prophecy to music, and these are the first words sung in Handel's great work. I think the main thing we must remember here is that God is making way for God's people. God always continues to make a way.
Isaiah uses his prophetic voice to speak to God's people who are in exile and let them know that they will be comforted after such hardship. Isaiah reminds Israel that even though they are in exile, God is still with them and making a way through all the rough places... God is leveling off the playing field. God is coming with great power and will establish equity through restoration.
Isaiah uses his prophetic voice to remind Israel not to give up hope that God continues to be the restorer of all things. This prophecy is fulfilled by John the Baptizer, whom Mark introduces us to in the Gospel reading... The one who cries in the wilderness, "Make the paths straight"
John is called "the Baptizer" because he takes folks down to the Jordan River and gives them a ritual bath, calling for them to repent. Repentance, or in the Greek, Metanoia (say it with me): You've heard me use this word before. Repentance isn't an "I'm sorry, I won't do it again." Repentance is literally, "I will go in a different direction. Metanoia is an "about-face," it means to go in a different way than the way that we are going; in our context, to repent would be to begin going in the right direction, following the ways of Jesus, living a life in response to him and honoring Jesus by the way we live our lives. In our repentance and turning from the ways of sin.
Oops, there's another one of those churchy words. One of those churchy words that folks like to use a lot. Sometimes, sin is thrown in our faces; I've actually heard someone referred to as a "filthy sinner." And I'm sure some folks intentionally sin. But I like to define sin as this... Sin is a shortcoming. It's missing the mark, sometimes deliberately and sometimes unintentionally. Sin is anything that destroys the relationship between God and God's people.
I'm sure you've heard of the "Seven Deadly Sins." Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. But these aren't the only sins. These are just classified as the worst. Sin could be as simple as a shortcoming. Like a sin of attitude or neglect, or it could be as bad as a sin of action or intent. ALL these sins are the things that John is asking folks to turn away from. They were to repent (turn away from) sins and be ritually cleansed. In order to restore their relationship with God, they acknowledge to God that they understand where they have gone astray.
In the same way, we are to examine our own lives to prepare the way for God. We need to repent of those things we have done that we ought not to have done. And also those things we didn't do that we should have done. With that reconciling act, we are restored to right-relationship with God (by doing what we should do) and right-relationship with each other.
Then, we have the idea of Salvation. Salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. More churchy words. Salvation means we are freed from the burdens of our sins and restored to God through Jesus. And we are redeemed by God and set free of our sins, evil, and death.
In the second letter of Peter, it talks about time and patience in waiting. Last week, we were told to keep watch, stay alert, and wait. This week, we are offered a word that puts our waiting in context. A word that draws all the churchy words we've been talking about - together.
The word is patience. Patience is hard for us. Waiting takes time. We want control. We want things to happen on our terms and in our own time; we want God to fit into our timeline; we want to say when things begin and end. Advent is our time to remember that we don't control everything; Advent calls us to question those things we think we are in control of. Advent is an opportunity to rethink our relationship with time. There is a distinct difference between God's time and our time. God's time is not our time, and our time is not God's time. God's time is eternal, and our time is chronological or linear. The promises of God do not happen on our timeline. So, we are called to be patient. Patiently wait for a time when all will be restored. Patient and stay on God's time. To be patient means someone else is in control. God is patient with us; we need to be patient with God.
The prophetic voices of Isaiah and John are ringing through us today, calling for us to repent of our sins and turn to God. Calling for us to be restored to right-relationship with God and each other. And for us to be patient as we wait for Jesus to come. We are to strive to be found at peace. And regard the patience of our Lord as our Salvation.
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