It's Amazing

Based on Luke 1:36-45

This is a hard time of year for preachers. It’s Christmas time. And, just like Easter, the Bible stories we hear has been told so many times in so many ways that it is extremely difficult to say anything really new about it. What new twist can be found? What new kernel of wisdom or insight? We have heard the story of Elizabeth and Mary so many times. We almost have the telling of Jesus’ birth memorized. These stories are so familiar to us. What can anyone say about these stories that we haven’t already heard before? It seems all we have left to ponder is the story itself and maybe that’s enough. Maybe that’s all we need, to hear these familiar stories and marvel once again at how God came into our world as one of us, taking on human flesh, in this way, with these women, in that time in history. It is a marvelous story.

Consider how marvelous this story is. Some may even say it is absurd. Mary has just had a conversation with the archangel Gabriel, telling her that she would get pregnant by the Holy Spirit, and will have a boy who is the Son of God. That is some big news for a teenage girl who, according to tradition, had spent all her life within the Temple of Jerusalem, having been offered by her parents Joachim and Anna in service to God, just like what Hannah did with her son Samuel. Of course, when you get news like this, that you are expecting a baby, you don’t just sit on that news. You get up and tell somebody. And the first person you tell is likely the most important person in your life. Notice that apparently it wasn’t Joseph. Maybe that was for obvious reasons. She would have some explaining to do! Instead, Mary gets up and hurries to a small, unnamed village in the hill country of Judea, to a relative who must be the most important person in her life, Elizabeth. Tradition tells us that Elizabeth was Mary’s aunt, which would make John and Jesus cousins. Isn’t that amazing? What a family! Elizabeth was someone who was dear to Mary, who Mary was comfortable sharing such amazing news. In those days, Mary had to slip away from the watchful eyes of the priests in the Temple and run to the village where Elizabeth lived to tell the good news. In these days, Mary could have just called Elizabeth. I doubt if she would have posted it on Facebook though. “I’m pregnant and God is the father.” Would you click the “like”, “love”, or “ha ha” emoji? Would you respond with “congrats”? That would be an odd Facebook post.

With a story like this, that you are expecting, and the pregnancy is the work of the Holy Spirit, this is a story you would only tell the closest people that you can trust; someone who would believe you and not think you are crazy. Elizabeth fits the bill. After all, Elizabeth’s pregnancy was unusual as well. She was barren and an old woman. She was just like Sarah, Abraham’s wife, who although well advanced in years conceived and gave birth to a son and named him Isaac. These ancient stories are coming to life with these women, aren’t they? The word was out that Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband, had seen an angel that told him that Elizabeth, barren and well past childbearing age, would give birth to a son who is to be named John. Mary surely reasoned that if anyone in the world could understand the message she had received from the angel it would be Elizabeth. In fact, there would be no one else in the world who would understand what Mary was experiencing than Elizabeth. So, Mary had to go to Elizabeth to share her news.

But what happens next is even more amazing. As Mary approaches Elizabeth, John kicks her. Now there is nothing amazing about a baby kicking their mother’s uterus. What is amazing is what Elizabeth says. She doesn’t say, “Oohhh, I felt that one.” Instead, she said, “The child inside me leaped for joy as soon as I heard you say hello!” And, the scriptures say, the Holy Spirit fell on Elizabeth. Now this is something impressive. In those days the Holy Spirit rarely fell on anyone. Only prophets received the Spirit for the purpose of speaking God’s message. And 99% of those prophets were men: Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, etc. But here is elderly Elizabeth, the priest’s wife, who has been granted the blessing of carrying a special child who will prepare the way for Jesus. John is already preparing the way in utero by leaping in his mother’s womb. That’s how Elizabeth interpreted that kick. The one who carries the greatest prophet in her womb becomes a prophet herself.

Elizabeth is a prophet because as soon as she saw Mary and felt John leap in her womb, she knew that Mary was pregnant. Mary had not yet told anyone she was pregnant. She just found out herself! But Elizabeth already knows. The Spirit had revealed it to her. And right away Elizabeth sings a song of blessing over Mary and the baby in her womb. Mary follows up by singing a song of her own which, by the way, seems like an improvisation of the song Hannah sang after she gave birth to Samuel. Go back and look at 1 Sam. 2:2-10 and you will see the similar theme of how God turns things upside down, lifting up the poor and hungry and lowering the arrogant and greedy rich.

And there you have it, two women carrying two miracle babies in their wombs. Here, in an unnamed village in the hill country of Judea, you have an old woman and a young woman embracing each other with joy and singing songs of blessing. One has inside her womb the greatest of all prophets. In the other, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior. Amazing.

Why did it happen this way? This is why some think this whole story is absurd. Here is the account of how the greatest prophet of all time and the savior of the world came into being. It isn’t among the powerful. It isn’t in Jerusalem, Athens, Alexandria or Rome. It isn’t among the elites. And men are only ambiguously involved. Zechariah is only involved by divine intervention and is not allowed to speak because he didn’t immediately believe what the angel said to him. Joseph had nothing to do with it at all! This amazing event, an event that turns the tide, that ushers in the salvation of the whole world, is first experienced and shared by an old woman and a young girl in a small village in the hills of Judea. This is how God decided to break into our world. And we are left to puzzle why, of all the ways God could have come into our world, that God chose this particular time, in this particular place, with these particular women.

As hard as you may try, the question of why this way and not another can’t be answered except to conclude that this is how God does things. God tends to act in ways that we don’t always expect or notice. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s ways are not our ways. God has a bigger view of things than we will ever perceive. It’s almost as if God intentionally chooses to act in unexpected ways among unknown and marginalized people to further demonstrate just how amazing God is. We are all left to marvel at how it happened, that two women on the margins of society are the first to realize how it is that God will come to save the world. Not only do they know how it will happen, they are instrumental in its unfolding. It’s just amazing. I don’t know what else to say about it.

If there is one message we can take from this, it is that God can work through anyone who has a heart open to God. It’s not just the wise people, or the people of great talents, notoriety, and wealth. It is anyone who is open to the possibility that God could use them for ministry. And it’s not the size of the ministry that counts. It is true that large ministries can have large impact. People who have successfully grown ministries from just a few people to the participation of thousands can be inspiring and may have some things to teach us about God and about the practicalities of growing a ministry. Leaders of these large ministries have people coming up to them all the time asking for guidance or encouragement. They have tons of Facebook friends and thousands of Twitter followers. They command a lot of influence for good. God definitely uses people like that and the large ministries they shepherd. But if the Bible shows us anything, it is that God tends to work through people who are not well known or well connected. Elizabeth and Mary were ordinary people, at least on the outside. But on the inside, they were open to the possibility of being used by God to accomplish amazing things. We can follow their example by allowing ourselves to be open to what God may want to accomplish through us. Whether God’s intention is for you or me to one day birth a massive ministry that reaches thousands or even millions or it is to bless just one person today, that is up to God. Who God is looking for is people who are open to God’s leading, who are willing to say “yes” to God, no matter how challenging or even ludicrous that invitation may be. Elizabeth and Mary said “yes” to a couple of mind blowing and life altering invitations. They are ordinary people, like you and me.

Elizabeth carried a prophet in her womb. Maybe you have a prophetic word inside of you that needs to be expressed. Mary carried in her womb our Savior Jesus. We believe that by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior that he dwells in our hearts. As Mary carried Jesus in her womb so we carry Jesus with us in our hearts. Every day we have opportunities to share Jesus with others, by what we say but mostly by what we do. We can announce the good news that no matter what, God is with us. Perhaps this is something we can take with us as we rush toward Christmas: that when it comes to being available to be the means through which God blesses the world, all of us are included. When God is looking for faithful servants, God is looking at you and me. Just like Elizabeth and Mary, you and I can be in on what God is up to, something that most people miss entirely because we aren’t famous. Being famous isn’t required to be selected by God to do something that can literally change the world, at least the world of one person, maybe even your world.

What Should We Do?

Based on Luke 3:7-18

You have been traveling for days. Others have joined you on your journey through the wilderness. People from all over are making their way out to the desert to hear from a prophet named John. A large crowd has gathered to hear a word from the prophet and to receive from him a baptism for repentance. The crowd quiets down as John steps up, eager to hear what he has to say. He opens his mouth and shouts, “You offspring of snakes! Who warned you to escape the coming wrath?” That’s a provocative opening statement.

Maybe there’s a reason why John lived his whole life in the wilderness. No social skills! Can you imagine going all that way into the desert only to be called names and humiliated by the person you came out to see? Some who were more sophisticated about the crude nature of prophets may not have been surprised and even expected John to lead off with salty language. Prophets are known for using provocative language that gets a rise out of people. It’s the smooth talking prophets that tickle the ears of their listeners that you have to be concerned about. But I imagine there were a good number of people who were put off by John’s opening words, and maybe a bit defensive. Who is he to call me the child of a snake? Does John wish I would have stayed away so that God’s wrath could get me? How rude.

John may not have been everyone’s cup of tea. But he stands in a tradition that is a gift for the rest of us. Like drill sergeants and no nonsense supervisors, we need people who will speak hard truths, who are direct and to the point. We sometimes need someone who will give it to us straight, no chaser. Sometimes we don’t need the teaspoon of sugar to help the medicine go down. We need prophets who tell us the plain truth of the matter in a way that gets our attention and communicates that this is serious business.

When John saw this crowd, he wanted to make sure they knew that what John was up to was serious business. He didn’t want them to get the impression that they could get off easy just by going out into the wilderness and getting wet in the Jordan river. It wasn’t enough to say “I’m sorry” when it came to all they had done that had offended God. They couldn’t rely on being descendants of Abraham to escape the wrath of God and being cut off from the people. John wanted the crowd to know that just showing up wasn’t enough. If the people wanted to escape God’s wrath, they had to live differently. They had to do life differently. They could not continue to behave the way they were and expect to avoid judgment.

So, John let them have it. If they want to come out here to receive the word of the prophet, good. If they want to repent of the way they have been living and want to make a change, good. If they want to mark that repentance by receiving a baptism of purification in the Jordan, good. But it’s not enough if they want to avoid the wrath of God. They cannot leave this place in the desert and go back to business as usual. They had to live differently, or this was all a big waste of effort. All God cares about is what people do. That’s what people will be held accountable for, the kind of life they live.

Here’s the bottom line of John’s message to the crowd. Time’s almost up. The wrath of God is coming. The ax is lying at the root of the trees and getting ready to be swung. If you aren’t bearing good fruit, if you aren’t living right, then God is going to cut you down and throw you in the fire.

That message was enough to get the attention of the crowds. They were properly provoked and alarmed. John had given them a dose of truth and they were engaged and determined to not get struck down by that divine ax. So, the crowd cried out to John, “What should we do?” They want to be trees that produce good fruit. But how?

I can almost see John rolling his eyes. “You all don’t know what to do? Are you really that clueless?” John gives the crowd simple, practical examples of what producing good fruit looks like. If you have two tunics, give one to somebody who doesn’t have a tunic. If you have extra food, give it to somebody who doesn’t have any food. In other words, share. Tax collectors asked what they should do. John told them to be fair. Soldiers asked what they should do. John told them to not take money from people and be satisfied with their wages. Don’t be greedy. Don’t abuse your power.

This isn’t complicated. Do you want to avoid God’s wrath and produce good fruit? Put your love into action. Do good. Share. Be fair. Practice the golden rule. Express love with deeds. That’s it. You don’t have to believe the right things. You don’t have to know all the answers. You don’t have to say the right words. The fruit God is looking for is simple acts of kindness and generosity. You know, like what we learned in Kindergarten? If you can do that, then you will be ok.

I thought of John’s message when I caught a clip of an interview given by Bob Dole. I don’t know if it was the last interview he gave but he was clearly well advanced in years when he gave it. He said that every day he would try to make a difference in one person’s life. He said he didn’t always meet that goal, but he committed to always work at it. That is an admirable goal to set. Make someone’s day each day of your life. Bearing good fruit.

The homily at Bob Dole’s funeral was given by the Senate chaplain Barry Black. He did not serve the Senate when Dole was there, but he did help him in the process of building the World War II memorial. About Dole, Black said that he didn’t wear his religion on his sleeves. It was his deeds that demonstrated his faith. Black said that Dole lived his life in the words of someone who said, “I want to see your sermon instead of hear it.” Or, in the words attributed to St. Francis, “Preach the gospel at all times, using words only when necessary.” Bearing good fruit.

One of my favorite times of the week is around 6:50 on Friday evening. CBS evening news ends their broadcast with a segment of Steve Hartman “On the Road.” Do yourself a favor and go to YouTube and type in the search box “Steve Hartman on the road.” You will be inspired by one story after another of people doing something simple, an act of kindness, that has an impact that will warm your heart.

There is a story about a high school that was plagued with fights. Over a period of days over twenty young people were arrested. It was out of control. In response, a group of men took it upon themselves to hang out at the school. They greeted the students in the morning. They wandered around the halls during the day. They said goodbye to the students at the end of the day. They joked and teased the kids. They occasionally gave “the look.” The presence of this group of men changed the atmosphere of the school overnight. Hartman said to the group of men, “None of you are social workers. You do not have masters degrees in social work. You are not trained in law enforcement. No education degrees. What are your qualifications?” One of the men said, “We are dads.” They talked about how for many of these kids they do not have any male role models in their life. They said that these students are all their kids. They act like dads for these students. And it has made all the difference. Bearing good fruit.

There is the story of a general store in a small town in Vermont that was on the verge of closing. Why? Because there were literally no employees. The last worker had quit. It left the owner alone to run the store. But for the community, this general store was the heart of the town. So, people took it upon themselves to do the work that needed done, whether it be stocking shelves or running the cash register. Retirees, professionals, people who just had spare time, they would come in and work at the store, volunteering their time. All these people did it because they didn’t want to lose that store. Bearing good fruit.

Closer to home. Debra, the director of the Free Store, was sharing with me a story about the recent Holiday Express Breakfast. She said that as a family was going along to get their breakfast of pancakes and sausage, one of the kids, with a big grin on her face, said, “This is like Bob Evans!” Bearing good fruit. A neighbor in Westgate put out on Facebook that her husband was coming home from the hospital after having back surgery and asked if anyone had a wheelchair they could borrow. At Parkview, we have a couple that are never used. So, I met her at the church and loaned out the wheelchair. She brought it back when they were done with it and expressed gratitude about how helpful that chair was so that her husband could get around the house. Bearing good fruit.

“What should we do?” That was the question that the crowd asked John the prophet. Maybe John rolled his eyes. Maybe not. But actually, that’s not a bad question. I invite you to carry that question with you. Have that question on hand when you are confronted with a situation. When you learn about someone in need, or a problem in our community, ask yourself the question, “What should I do?” And then, listen for a response. It doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. It can be as simple as sharing what you have. Do you have spare clothes, spare food, spare time? Share what you have. Bear good fruit.

What is Your Assignment?

Based on Luke 3:1-6

When our kids were younger, we would read them a bedtime story. One of the books they wanted us to read every night was the classic “Good Night, Moon.” Kim and I almost had that story memorized by the time the boys were ready to hear a different story. Night after night, we would read that story, kiss them good night and turn off the light. “Good Night, Moon” was part of the bedtime ritual. We couldn’t change the story.

This time of year, we hear the same stories, again and again. Soon, on Christmas Eve, we will hear again the story read from the gospel of Luke of the birth of Jesus and the shepherds keeping their flocks by night when all of a sudden a host of angels appears in the sky. It would make no sense but read the birth story of Jesus on Christmas Eve.

There is another story that we hear every year during Advent, and that is the story about John the Baptist, the one who was out in the wilderness, wearing a cloak made of camel’s hair, who eats locusts and wild honey. John and Jesus were cousins. And while Jesus was trained by his father Joseph to be a carpenter, we are told that John grew up in the wilderness. It was out in the wilderness where John received a word from the Lord. And he proclaimed that message to prepare the way for the Lord.

Just as it makes sense to tell the birth story of Jesus on Christmas Eve, it makes sense to tell the story of John the Baptist in the weeks leading up to Christmas because John’s message was one of preparation. Advent, these four weeks before Christmas are a time of preparation for us. But what are we preparing for, exactly? It has to be more than just the preparations involved with decorating the house, buying and wrapping presents, and preparing the Christmas Eve service. Advent should be a time when we are doing some inner work, some preparation in our hearts. We want to create some space so that we can ponder and marvel over what Christmas is all about, that God became human, being born as a baby. God became one of us. God can relate to what it means to be human because God became human. We need to take this time to pause, to consider the mystery of the birth of Jesus, and prepare ourselves so that when Christmas Eve comes, and we hear that birth story again we are ready to receive this mystery and delight in it.

How do we prepare our hearts? That’s where John’s story comes in. He tells us to make the paths straight. We are to fill in the valleys and lower the mountains, straighten out the crooked paths and smooth over the rough places. It’s like he is telling us to create a smooth, flat surface. It’s a lot easier to go from one place to another when the surface you are walking on is flat and the road is straight.

The first church I served was in Alva, Oklahoma, home of Northwestern Oklahoma State University. It is located just to the east of where the Oklahoma panhandle is located. Sometimes, I would have to drive from Alva to Guymon, which is located in the middle of the panhandle. I would point my car west and drive along. I could go for miles without passing another car. The road was as straight as an arrow. So, as I flew down the road, I would maybe prop a book up on the steering wheel and read a little bit. When Kim was driving out there, she would also be balancing the checkbook. When the land is flat, there are no cars, no towns, and the road is straight, that’s an easy trip.

What does this have to do with John’s message? John is saying that the Lord is coming, so we need to prepare the way of the Lord. We prepare by making the passage as smooth and easy as possible. We want the Lord to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. We don’t want the path to be weaving back and forth. We don’t want anyone to stumble over a stone. We don’t want to deal with walking down and back out of a valley or have to walk up and back down a mountain. We want it to be straight and smooth for the Lord. We don’t want any obstacles blocking the way of the Lord.

But I want to draw our attention to what is unique about how Luke tells the story of John the Baptist. In his telling, he doesn’t tell about how John wore camel skins and ate locusts and wild honey. Instead, he expands on the quote from Isaiah that the other gospel writers include. And he lists the names of all these institutional leaders: the names of the emperor, the governor, all these tetrarchs, and who were the high priests at the time. All these people, with the exception of Phillip and Lysanias, have roles to play in the story to follow. So, Luke is introducing some characters in the story if you will. But what else may be going on here?

Partly, Luke is locating this event in history. When the word of the Lord came to John in the wilderness, this took place in a specific moment in history. By naming these leaders, Luke is stressing the point that this is not a legend he is describing but is something that happened in real time. We do this today, when we talk about historic events, by naming periods of time based on who was president: the Bush era, the Obama years, the Biden presidency. Naming presidents, those in power, is a handy way to note the time frame we are talking about. So, this is what Luke is doing.

But also, Luke is setting up a tension around power, about who is really in charge. After naming all these officials, the emperor, the governor, the tetrarchs, the high priests, Luke says the word of God came to John in the wilderness. These powerful leaders live in cities. Everyone knows their names. They are “somebodies.” John is a “nobody” who lives in the middle of “nowhere.” Yet, John receives a word from God. Not the emperor, not Pilate, or Herod, or even Annas or Caiaphas. It’s John. How is it that someone who has no institutional power gets a word from God? Who has more power and authority? 

Tiberius, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas, they all have titles: emperor, governor, tetrarch, high priest. Their titles give them power and authority. And it is significant. No one was more powerful than the emperor. He had the command of an army to back up his power. He had control of the economy. All these other titled people derived their power from the will of the emperor. And it didn’t matter what you or anyone else thought about it. This is the way it was. Love him or hate him, Tiberius was the emperor and if you didn’t fall in line, you would suffer the consequences. Just look at the people who were crucified as a consequence of rebelling against the emperor to see what would happen to you. Clearly the emperor had a lot of power.

Except God has more power. And the word of God has more authority than any word that the emperor or any of these entitled leaders would proclaim. John, a nobody who lived in the middle of nowhere was given a message that had more power and authority than that spoken by the emperor. That’s just bonkers. But here’s the really amazing thing about how God’s power is on display through the words spoken by John. People could ignore John, could pay no attention to the word of God spoken by John, and absolutely nothing would happen to them. I would not be surprised that Tiberius didn’t even know who John was, much less hear what he had to say. And that didn’t impact Tiberius one bit.

Here’s the amazing thing. For the word of God to be effective, to have the impact that God intended, people had to hear the message and believe it. No one held a sword at your throat and demanded you listen to and accept this message from God spoken by John. You had the freedom to decide for yourself if you would listen to, believe, and act on this message. You had to give consent.

Not only do you have to give consent to accept this message, you had to go out of your way to hear it. If the emperor wanted to get out a message, he could send messengers all over the place, to every city, town and hamlet, to declare his message. Not John. Someone had to tell you about John, and then you had to leave your town and go out to the middle of nowhere to find John and hear his message. It took some effort. There was no straight path to where John was. To make that kind of journey you had to at least be open to what John was saying. No one would go into the wilderness to hear John if they didn’t care what he had to say. You couldn’t miss the emperor’s message, whether you cared to hear it or not. But to hear a word from God through John, you had to care. You had to work to get there so you could hear it. You had to contribute to the process of receiving that word. It wasn’t going to be handed to you or delivered by a town crier.

So, let’s say you have decided to make that journey into the wilderness so you could hear a message from God delivered by John. You hear the message. Now what? Do you shrug your shoulders and say to yourself, “Wow, that was a waste of my time.”? I would think that after going all that way, probably on a road that curved, where there was some rough places, and maybe even a valley or mountain to deal with, and having received that message, you would want to respond in some way. John told you what to do. You are to prepare the way of the Lord by making that path straight and easy. You are to repent, change your way of living, and mark that decision by getting baptized. Now, let me quickly say, John’s baptism is different from the baptism that we receive when we come to belief in Jesus. The baptism John offered was like a ritual act of purification that you could do, with anticipation that your sins will be forgiven. But the main thing I’m trying to say is to believe the message of God spoken by John, you have to respond. You have to do something. Or not. Like I said before, no one was going to be able to threaten you if you chose not to do anything or believe what John was saying. John had no army to back up his authority. You are free to take it or leave it. But if you decide to accept the message, then there is a needed response.

Now, wouldn’t it be a lot easier to hear the message, believe it, and then go back home and continue on with your life? The problem is that the message John speaks is not something that you can just believe and then go on like nothing happened. The message includes an assignment. We have to prepare the way of the Lord. We have to fill in the valleys and level the mountains. We have to straighten out the curves and smooth out the rough places. We have work to do. We have to be about the work of removing obstacles out of the way so that the Lord can come through.

Just think about that. What are the obstacles that obstruct the way of the Lord? What gets in the way of the Lord passing through?  Maybe one of the biggest obstacles are the mental blocks. People think they have to go on this long spiritual journey. They have to do certain things, say the right prayers, read the right books, listen to the right preachers, go to the right churches. Some people even get the idea that to find God they have to go to some theological school or be ordained as a minister. Finding God is the business of the professional.

The reality is that the way of the Lord doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t have to go down valleys and up mountains to find God. As a matter of fact, to find God, all you have to do is look inside your own heart. I think I heard someone say once that the path to God is the distance from your head to your heart. It’s that journey from knowing about God in your head to knowing God in your heart.

What is your assignment? How do you need to prepare the way of the Lord? Maybe your work is to do your own straightening out, to reconnect that path between your head and your heart so that the God you know about can be the God you come to know in your heart. Or maybe your assignment is to work on moving those obstacles for others, to help them see by your own example that the path to God is not complicated. I invite you to consider your assignment. The voice of the one crying in the wilderness says, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, fill the valleys, level the mountains, straighten the crooked places, smooth over the rough places.” What is your assignment? How will you accomplish this task?