Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Second Sunday of Advent - 12/07/14 Sermon - “A messenger will prepare the way” (“Signs "He" is coming” series: Part 2 of 5)

Sunday 12/07/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “A Messenger will prepare the way”

(“Signs He is coming” series: Part 2 of 5)          

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: 2 Peter 3:8-15a

Gospel Lesson: Mark 1:1-8                     

          Brothers and sisters, friends, welcome on this the Second Sunday in this our Advent season, and as it turns out, this Pearl Harbor Sunday. Today we celebrate moving one week closer to the birth of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and on this Sunday, we also remember the attack on our Naval Base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On the day of this attack over 2,000 people were killed.

          I realize that this may seem like an odd combination today, to have the Second Sunday of Advent, and to have Pearl Harbor Sunday, but much like the Pearl Harbor attack itself, it came unexpected, and it came during the Advent Season of 1941.

          In continuing on with my sermon series called “He” is coming,” today we will look at the idea of “a messenger,” which “will prepare the way.” I have seen programs and have read some articles that speculate that some people think that the United States had a warning or a message ahead of time regarding the Pearl Harbor attack. In regards to today’s gospel reading from Mark, we certainly had a messenger that prepared the way for Jesus Christ. This messenger was Jesus’ family member, John the Baptist. Remember when Jesus’ mother Mary was pregnant with Jesus, and when Mary went to stay with her family members Elizabeth and Zechariah? Elizabeth and Zechariah could have been Mary’s aunt and uncle, but we really just don’t know for sure. When Mary approached Elizabeth though, who was carrying her baby, who would become John the Baptist, the gospel of Luke 1:41 says, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus’ relative, John the Baptist leapt in his mother’s womb, when Mary who carrying Jesus Christ approached. John the Baptist, who would become the messenger to prepare the way for Christ, might have some similarities to the potential message that someone might or might not of had regarding the impending Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941.     

Part of what I would invite us into this morning then, as we consider the one who prepared the way for Jesus Christ, is to consider the messengers that we have had in our lives. Those persons who have warned us, guided us, led us, and what we did with those messages from those messengers.

How many of us have had mentors our lives, or maybe still do have mentors that help us to grow and to develop? How many of you have ever been told something like, “be careful driving, the road is rough about a mile up ahead?” How many of you have been told something like, “If you want to get a job here, then they will expect you to _______________________?”

All the time then, we have messengers, big or small, communicating truths, or depending on the person, there version of truths to us.

Perhaps we feel God speaking to us in a dream while we sleep, perhaps someone in this church has a kind word or a hug for us today, and perhaps there is a message within it. Are we awake to such messages and messengers?

Remember that Jesus taught us last Sunday to, “Watch Out!,” and to “Stay Alert!” So if a messenger is preparing the way for us, then certainly we want to “Watch Out!,” and “Stay Alert!” for such things.

How many of us have ever been given messages by someone though, and we just weren’t getting it? In fact, maybe a friend or a family member said, “Do you really not see what is going here!”

When my parents say, “make sure you drive safe,” when I leave there house, they are trying to prepare me for my journey ahead. How many of us have simply just missed messages in our lives? How many of us have just simply missed opportunities?

The season of Advent and Christmas then eclipses us all, as we are all invited as it says this morning in Mark’s gospel, to change our “hearts and lives.”

This morning, Jesus’ family member of some sort, John the Baptist is calling people to repentance of their sins, and then is baptizing them with water as a symbol of their repentance. The people that John the Baptist is ministering to, look at him and say, “are you the chosen one, the Messiah?” John says, I am nothing, but the one who is coming after me will baptize you not with water, but with the Holy Spirit. The one who is coming will change the world.

In our reading this morning from Psalm 85, the Psalmist writes of God in the second verse, “You’ve forgiven your people’s wrongdoing; you’ve covered all their sins. [Selah].” The Psalmist then says in 85:9-10, “God’s salvation is very close to those who honor him so that his glory can live in our land. Faithful love and truth have met; righteousness and peace have kissed.” In the last verse of this reading from Psalm 85 for this morning, the Psalmist says, “Righteousness walks before God, making a road for his steps.”

This morning, John the Baptist walks righteously before God, preparing the way for the one who is to save us all, Jesus the Christ. Who has prepared the way for us? Who has given us a message?

The Apostle Peter in the reading from his second Epistle or Letter from this morning, tells the church that the Lord wishes that we all change our “hearts and lives.”

Peter then tells the church, “You must live holy and godly lives, waiting for and hastening the coming day of God.” Peter tells us that the Lord is coming, whether this is the remembrance of his birth on Christmas, or his return to earth, he is coming. This is why I am doing a sermon series called, “He” is coming.”

In looking at the reading from the gospel of Mark from this morning, we hear about Jesus’s somewhat odd relative John. John begins baptizing people, as thus becomes known as “John the Baptist.”

The Gospel reading for this morning begins right at the beginning of Mark’s gospel, which omits Jesus’ birth, and gets right into the “Good News.” Like many evangelists, this gospel writer here is straight to the point, and proceeds to begin with Jesus’s ministry, and as a result leaves the birth narrative of Jesus out altogether.

In Mark 1:2 it quotes the prophets Malachi and Isaiah in reference to John the Baptist. In fact, Malachi 3:1 says, “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” Mark then says quoting Isaiah 40:3 A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The gospel writer here is careful then to make sure that what the prophets of old said and predicted was coming true. The gospel writer wanted the reader then, to realize the fulfillment of these prophesies.

 So, as I said, Jesus’ relative John the Baptist, was somewhat odd. Well, what do I mean by that? Well, do you think that you have odd family members in your family? John the Baptist lived in the wilderness of Judea, near the Jordan River. He lived by himself, he wore clothes made of “camel’s hair,” wore a “leather belt around his waist,” and “ate locusts and honey.” Kind of odd really.

Yet this was the person that God chose to prepare the way for Jesus, as God choses us and others to be guides to each other. As John the Baptist was in the wilderness, he was calling all who would listen to be baptized. He called all to repent of their sins, and to change their “hearts and lives.”

The gospel says that, “Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins.” As this was happening people speculated over who John the Baptist was though, and John the Baptist said, “One stronger than I am is coming after me. I’m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals. I baptize with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

          In John’s gospel it then talks about the day that Jesus finally arrives to meet John the Baptist, and when he was baptized by John the Baptist. When John the Baptist saw Jesus walk a distance from the crowd he said in John 1:29, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

          Today my brothers and sisters, “a messenger” named John the Baptist “will prepare the way” of the Lord, prepare the way for Jesus. As we think of those people who have prepared the way for us, are ready to prepare for the way for others in this season of Advent.

 I would like to share a poem with you about preparing the way others, called “It’s Up to You,” and I don’t know who the author of this poem is. Here is how the poem goes, “One song can spark a moment, one flower can wake the dream. One tree can start a forest, one bird can herald spring. One smile begins a friendship, one handclasp lifts a soul. One star can guide a ship at sea, one word can frame the goal. One vote can change a nation, one sunbeam lights a room, one candle wipes out darkness, one laugh will conquer gloom. One step must start each journey, one word must start each prayer. One hope will raise our spirits, one touch can show you care. One voice can speak with wisdom, one heart can know what’s true, ne life can make the difference, you see, IT’S UP TO YOU!

            You see my brothers and sisters, friends, as we prepare for the birth and the return of Christ, let us as we remember all those who have prepared the way for us, as we work to prepare the way for others. This day, this week, and continually, let us feed the hungry, clothe the naked, speak hope to the hopeless, speak truth to power, and work to create a work of peace, grace, harmony, and justice, as we prepare the way of the Lord. Amen.