+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Preparations! In many ways, preparations of one sort or another always seem to occupy our thoughts. Maybe right now some of you are thinking about what you have to do to get ready for the noon meal, for the congregation’s Christmas party this evening, for school or work tomorrow, for company coming in a few weeks, or for the holy-days themselves closer to the end of the month. (If you were not already thinking about such preparations, you probably are now, since I mentioned them.) Last Sunday and this past Wednesday at our midweek service, we have talked about Advent as a season of preparing for our King—our King Who came, comes now, and is coming again. However, perhaps nowhere else than in today’s Gospel Reading for the Second Sunday of Advent do we hear so specifically exactly what is involved in such preparations. The divinely-inspired St. Mark begins his Gospel account by linking Old Testament prophecies of a divine messenger with John the Baptizer’s work proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We realize and are blessed by knowing that John’s hearers and we are “Prepared by Baptism”.
In this new church year that began last week, our appointed Gospel Readings come primarily from St. Mark’s account. We know that St. Mark, also called John Mark, was a cousin of Barnabas and the son of a woman named Mary, who owned a house in Jerusalem, where early Christian believers met. St. Mark may have been in the Garden of Gethsemane the night Jesus was betrayed, but we know that he later was a co-worker of both Saint Paul and Saint Peter. St. Peter, in his second letter, mentions making an effort so people would be able to remember things about Jesus after Peter was gone. And, we think Peter may have been referring to having St. Mark record the Gospel account that bears Mark’s name but in essence contains Peter’s preaching. Along that same line, as a sermon usually begins with and is based on a biblical text, so St. Mark’s Gospel account begins with the one time the evangelist independently quotes the Old Testament.
Did you notice anything “funny” about the Gospel Reading’s Old Testament quotation, especially as it compared to today’s Old Testament Reading? Only the second part of the Gospel Reading’s quotation is actually from the Old Testament Isaiah reading. The first part of the Gospel Reading’s quotation is actually from the book of the prophet Malachi, usually held to be the last of the Old Testament prophets. Long ago, the idea that St. Mark was attributing that Malachi quotation to Isaiah was a problem for some scribes who copied the Gospel account, and still today it is a problem for some commentators. However, St. Mark did not make an error. He knew what he was writing. He indicated Isaiah and thereby stressed the greater prophet, whose prophetic words themselves were obviously in view of Malachi’s prophecy, as both Isaiah’s and Malachi’s words uniquely refer to “preparing the way”. The combination of the two quotations uses three different Greek verbs and two different nouns as their objects (and there are some interesting points about the words used), but the intent seems to be to say one and the same thing. In short, St. Mark’s account makes clear that as Isaiah foretold of a voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” so that prophecy was fulfilled as John appeared, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We are “Prepared by Baptism.”
When we travel, most of the time we are blessed to have good roads, train tracks, or airports to make the travel relatively easy. For example, interstate highways are never really too steep or too curvy, despite all the ground they cover. (Believe me, I know! My family travelled by car across all forty-eight continental States.) Because travel is so easy for us, you and I may have a hard time understanding the ancient custom of sending people out in advance of a king’s visit to level the roads and so make them passable for the king. That custom, however, is what is behind the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” What gets in the way of Jesus our King’s coming to us? What gets in the way of Jesus our King’s coming to us? As things that hinder the “way” or work of the Lord, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, commenting on Malachi in 15-26, listed “human reason, self-love, one’s own wisdom, one’s own righteousness,” and the like. More than the Gospel accounts of Saints Matthew and Luke, St. Mark’s account of Isaiah’s prophecy and John’s proclamation twice mentions sin: John was proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and the people were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. More than anything, sin gets in the way of Jesus our King’s coming to us, for sin separates us from God. What sins of our own can you and I think of? On account of sin, as the Old Testament Reading put it, all flesh is grass that withers, and all flesh’s beauty is like the flowers of the field that fade. Preparing the way, then, is removing all that keeps Jesus our King from coming to us, all that keeps us from receiving Him and securing His blessings. In keeping with prophecy about him, including those by the angel Gabriel and his own father, John the Baptizer prepares the way of the Lord proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We are “Prepared by Baptism.”
There were maybe 500 years between the time Malachi made his prophecy and the time John appeared. People may have begun to wonder whether or not the Messiah was ever going to come, let alone His messenger. The same sort of wondering was taking place when St. Peter by divine inspiration wrote our Epistle Reading, and the same sort of wondering may be taking place among us today. Some may think that the Lord is never going to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. Yet, as St. Peter writes, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise but is patient toward all who are in the world, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. Through John, through Jesus, through all of Holy Scripture, God calls all people, including you and me, to repent. And, there is urgency; as St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, now is the favorable time; now is the day of salvation. Now is when we should turn in sorrow from our sin and trust God the Father to forgive our sin. When we so repent, God forgives our sin, whatever our sin might be. God the Father forgives our sin for Jesus’s sake.
As St. Mark tells it, with a reference to Genesis, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Good News for you and for me, as already clear in the Old Testament, is connected with turning from our sin and trusting in God’s forgiveness for Jesus’s sake. For example, the comfort Isaiah mentions is obviously not in the sorrow over sin but in the forgiveness that comes by grace through faith in Jesus. In Jesus, our warfare is ended, our iniquity is pardoned, and we receive from the Lord’s hand double the amount of benefits than the punishment we deserved. That punishment we deserved, eternal death and separation from God, Jesus suffered on the cross. There, on the cross, the Son of God died for you and for me. St. Mark’s Gospel account gives a greater portion of its content to describing that death than any other account, so central to him is Jesus’s death and His resurrection for us. For, by that death and resurrection Jesus brings us His Kingdom; that is why the Father sent Jesus, motivated by His great love for you and for me. In Malachi’s prophecy we hear the Father speak to the Son about also sending John, in order to prepare Jesus’s way.
Where I lived years ago in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, coal mining was the big business. Countless hours around the clock using enormous pieces of equipment literally moved mountains from one place to another. No one person does such work on his or her own. When we hear Isaiah call for valleys to be lifted up, mountains and hills to be made low, uneven ground to become level, and rough places to become plains, who is to do such things? No one person does such work on his or her own. And, when we realize those are figures of speech for reconciling us to God, how are we possibly able to prepare His way? We cannot; in one sense, only the Lord can prepare a way through the obstacles that keep Him from coming to us. Yet, in our gospel Reading, as elsewhere, we are told to be a part of the process. How are these things reconciled?
In most of our cases, we as infants were first “Prepared by Baptism”, which works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe. In some of your and my cases, probably like most of those being baptized by John in our Gospel Reading, God may have first created faith in us as adults through the Word alone, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Baptism then followed, as it should, unless something is wrong. But, undoubtedly some of those baptized by John were infants as young as those who were made part of God’s Kingdom by circumcision. Whether at the age of eight days, eight years, or eight decades, Baptism is God’s action working through water comprehended in God’s command and connected with God’s Word, combined with faith, which God creates in those who are baptized, to trust the Word of God in the water. In the cases where people are converted before being baptized, confession of sins may precede baptism. In the cases where people are converted in baptism, confession of sins follows. But, either way baptism is a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Since Jesus was greater than John, there is as John says in the Gospel Reading, some sense in which Jesus’s baptism is greater, but the baptisms are no different in their essential elements—water, Word, and Spirit—or in their benefits—such as the forgiveness of sins.)
We are first “Prepared by Baptism”, and, as we continue to sin, we continue to repent and believe, something we have a part in doing. We return to our Baptismal grace through individual confession and absolution, where we receive forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. We also receive forgiveness, life, and salvation through the Sacrament of the Altar, receiving Jesus’s body and blood, in, with, and under bread and wine. Through these means of grace God continues to prepare and keep open the way of salvation for us. God entrusts these means of grace to the Office of the Ministry, as He has entrusted them to me in this place. As Isaiah described in the Old Testament reading, I am a herald of good news who lifts up his voice and says, “Behold your God!” Through me, He will tend you, His flock, like a shepherd, gather the lambs in His arms, carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
So, we are first “Prepared by Baptism”, and then, once converted, we have a role in our ongoing salvation and sanctification. Our Hymn of the Day expressed these two things well: asking the Lord, “stretch forth Your hand our health restore,” and singing to one another “let us all our hearts prepare”. As our Introit put it, God restores us that we may be saved, but, as we prayed in the Collect, God stirs up our hearts to make ready Jesus’s way so that by His coming we may be enabled to serve Him with pure minds—minds that have been changed by way of sorrow over sin and faith in God to forgive that sin. The Epistle Reading calls for us to live lives of holiness and godliness, to be diligent to be found without spot or blemish and at peace. Our making paths straight (that is, upright, true, sincere) does include God and us together producing good works, bearing witness to the Gospel, and being ready for the Lord’s return. There is an emphasis on a productive performance with results. Yet, when and where we fail, as we will, there is always forgiveness. Good works are a kind of preparation, but they are not the way of the Lord. The way of the Lord is the righteousness of God, which the Lord alone accomplishes in us. May it ever be so in us.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +