Prepare the Way of the Lord!

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

B Advent 3 – 17 December 2017

Text: John 1: 6-8, 19-28

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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John the Baptizer appears in all four gospels in some way or another, usually pretty early in the gospel book. Because he shows up in so many of these ancient writings, we know that the earliest Christians considered him an important figure. In Matthew and Mark, John first shows up as an adult, calling others to repent, and baptizing them in the Jordan River. In Luke, the pregnancy narrative of John’s mother, Elizabeth, is linked quite significantly with the pregnancy narrative of Jesus’ mother, Mary.

In our lesson from the Gospel of John today, we learn that John the Baptizer was sent from God to witness to the light. This gospel writer makes it clear: John isn’t the light; he’s the one called to testify about the light.

During John’s life, there was confusion about who he was. We hear today that some religious leaders want to know more about his identity, so when they ask him, John says he’s not the Messiah, he’s not Elijah, he’s not the prophet. So they ask again, “Who are you?” And he gives them his answer using the ancient words of Isaiah: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”

In ancient times, when someone important was traveling the region, a road crew of sorts would go ahead, preparing the way. Travel was arduous, so rough roads would be made smooth, high places would be leveled to match lower places. These crews knew they had a job to do; they also knew they weren’t the focus. Their job was to prepare the way for the emperor, the governor, or the king who was to follow.

So John is the head of the road crew, preparing the way for Jesus.

Put another way: John himself isn’t the light; his job is to tell others about the true light, which enlightens everyone, and is coming into the world.

Years ago, Steve and I visited the Inner Space Cavern, down I-35 near Georgetown, in Central Texas. This cavern was discovered in 1963, and it runs deep enough and through enough solid rock that when you’re in the cavern, you are in the cavern. Important features are well-lit, as are the pathways that the tours follow. During part of the tour, the guide stopped us to explain part of the cavern.

Then, she asked us if we wanted to experience Total Darkness. The cavern has its own unique darkness, called Total Darkness, and the way she said it, I felt like it should be trademarked. At the very least, it’s capitalized: Total Darkness.

Of course, we all said yes – so she hit the lights. And sure enough, it was Total Darkness – she told us to hold up our hands in front of our faces, and I couldn’t see my own hand, even an inch in front of my nose. I couldn’t see anything. We stood completely still in that darkness, and finally the lights began to come back on.

In order for us to experience Total Darkness, we had to make sure every light-giving source was off or put away, for it only takes a bit of light to ruin Total Darkness. One cell phone screen, and the darkness would’ve been gone. One glow-in-the-dark watch face, and there would be no darkness.

Even a small light has this incredible way of banishing the darkness – and when we are in darkness, our eyes are drawn toward light sources. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it. We stumble in the darkness. Sometimes, we are frozen by the darkness, afraid to move. And so the good news of Jesus Christ is this: that God, out of great love for us, offers the greatest light to us in the person of Jesus.

Like John the Baptizer, we are called to be witnesses to the light that shines in the darkness. We need not blind others with the light of Jesus. I recently watched a tv show in which a character brought out an old camera with a flash bright enough to blind everyone in the room. Every picture he took with this camera was a picture of someone squinting in pain or hiding their eyes. What’s the good of blinding someone?

And yet, there are plenty in our world who live in Total Darkness every day of their lives – their lives darkened by illness or injury, grief, oppression, bigotry – the list goes on and on.

It only takes a little bit of light to ruin the darkness, and we are the ones called to witness to the light of Christ, the ones called to hold up that light for all to see. And so, in Advent, we light candles here and there, banishing the darkness a bit more each week, until we arrive at the bright night of Christmas Eve, to welcome the Light of the Christ Child that has come into the world.

And it is Advent that helps us remember that we await the coming of Christ in glory on the final day – the day on which he will shine his light into every dark place – the day on which the darkness of sin and death will be banished forever. We do not know the day or the hour, only that the light will shine into the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.

Prepare the way of the Lord, and shine his light in the world.

Amen.

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Good News!

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

B Advent 2 – 10 December 2017

Texts: Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Think for a moment about a time when you got some good news…

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Well, just like we get good news in our own lives, we also get good news from Scripture, and we have good news in our lesson from Isaiah 40 today. This part of Isaiah was written for people who were living in exile after being forcibly removed from their homeland. That’s a pretty difficult circumstance. And what does this prophet offer to them but these words of hope: “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

To those who are living in exile, the prophet says that while they are in need of comfort, God is aware of their need, and that comfort from God is on the way. God will lift up the low places and lower the high places, God will smooth the rough roadways, and we will see the glory of the LORD. These are the promises of God.

Our lesson from the gospel of Mark gives us good news, too – and it tells us, plainly, that this is “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” and that’s how Mark starts off his gospel. In Mark, there is no Christmas story – there are no angels singing in the hills or shepherds coming to worship a newborn king. Mark’s entry point into the good news of Jesus Christ is with John the Baptist – the one who is to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus.

The good news of John’s message is that God is dwelling with us in an astonishing way – in the person of Jesus, but also with the gift of the Holy Spirit. “I have baptized you with water,” says John, “but [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” The good news of Jesus Christ isn’t only contained to the stories of Scripture – it’s good news for us now, through the work of the Holy Spirit in and among us. So it is that the presence of God continues with us to this day, giving us strength, giving us faith, and giving us hope.

Someone we hear a lot about at this time of year is St. Nicholas. The historical person named St. Nicholas lived in the Third and Fourth Centuries after Christ. He was a bishop from Asia Minor – in modern day Turkey. Nicholas was one of the bishops who was present at the First Council of Nicaea and he signed off on the Nicene Creed (the same creed we use from time to time in our worship).

Like many of the ancient saints, there are many stories and traditions that have developed about St. Nicholas over the centuries. One version of one the most famous of these stories is a story of good news:

There was a poor man who had three daughters. Being poor, the father couldn’t afford proper dowries for his daughters, so they would likely remain unmarried. As young, poor, unmarried women, they would most likely become prostitutes, for lack of other employment.

St. Nicholas heard about this family and decided to help them, but didn’t want them to feel shame publicly by taking his charity. One night, he went to their house and threw three bags of gold coins down the chimney. One of the daughters had hung her stockings up by the chimney to dry, and the bag of coins fell into her stocking.

The good news for this family was, of course, that the man finally had dowries for his daughters, and so the family was saved from a life of poverty, and the girls were saved from a life of prostitution.

During Advent, the good news of God’s love for us is shown to us, slowly, again and again. This week, we hear in Isaiah that our hope is placed in a God who promises to care for us as a shepherd cares for his flock: feeding us, gathering us, carrying us, leading us. Each week of Advent, we hear more and more of this good news until, finally, on Christmas Eve, we fully hear and celebrate that Jesus Christ has come to us as God’s love, in the flesh.

There is plenty of bad news in the world, and there always has been. But the good news of God’s love remains with us, always, and in this love is our hope. And we are not called simply to sit back in our faith and put our feet up. We are called to proclaim like a herald the good news of God’s love for all.

Who in your life could use some good news? Maybe you can’t dump gold coins down their chimney – but consider instead offering them the good news of God’s love for them. Consider inviting them to worship with us here on Christmas Eve, or another time when you will be here.

Lift up your voice with strength, and herald the good tidings: God is with us today, and always.

Amen.

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Heaven Meeting Earth in the Most Powerful Way

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

A Advent 4 – 18 December 2016

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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A few weeks ago, we finished a year of focusing on the Gospel of Luke in our cycle of readings that we use on Sunday mornings. On the first Sunday of Advent, we began a year of focusing on the Gospel of Matthew. Gospel readings from Mark, Luke, and John will show up from time to time, but for the next year, the bulk of our Gospel readings on Sundays will be from the Gospel of Matthew.

The Gospel of Luke is where we get many of our ideas about the first Christmas and the events leading up to it. Luke is where we hear the stories about John the Baptist’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and the miraculous circumstances around Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Luke is where we hear about the angel, Gabriel, going to visit Mary to give her the Big News that will forever change her life. It is in Luke that we have what we now call the Song of Mary (or the Magnificat) and the Song of Zechariah (or the Benedictus).

Luke tells us the historical information about the registration of the people that caused Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem. And finally, Luke paints the picture of the shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night, suddenly serenaded by a chorus of angels, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven!”

It is in the Gospel of Matthew that we hear other parts of the story altogether, including today’s reading about Joseph, but also - the visit of the wise men (which we remember on Epiphany), the Holy Family’s escape to Egypt as they fear for Jesus’ life, the massacre of the Holy Innocents by King Herod, and, finally, the Holy Family’s return to Galilee, where Jesus would grow up. 

Today’s lesson from Matthew says that Joseph and Mary are “engaged” – which isn’t a proper translation because they were actually betrothed to one another. If we compare betrothal to our modern terms, it falls in between being engaged and being married. Betrothed couples were legally bound to one another. Remember that marriages then were almost always arranged by the families and they almost always were legal arrangements involving exchanges of property. To break off a betrothal required an actual divorce (unlike breaking off an engagement today).

So, Joseph finds out that this person to whom he is legally bound is now pregnant – and he knows that he is not the father of this child. If Mary has committed adultery (how else would she have gotten pregnant?), then Joseph has grounds to divorce her, and actually, he has grounds to have her killed, which was the punishment for adultery. But Matthew shares that Joseph is “unwilling to expose [Mary] to public disgrace.”

So Joseph decides to set Mary aside quietly, and for each of them to go on their separate ways. And the text says that just when he’s resolved on this plan of action, an angel appears to him in a dream to explain the situation that lies before him.

For this child is not any child. This child is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and his name is to be “Jesus” – which is a variant of “Yahweh saves.” This child will save humanity from our sinfulness. And then we hear that this child will be God with us – Emmanuel.

Can you imagine waking up from this dream?

And yet, after awakening from his sleep, Joseph does what the angel of the Lord has told him to do – he takes Mary as his wife.

Yet, the story of Jesus’ birth isn’t merely about how Joseph or Mary handled the interruption in their life’s plans, or about how we handle life’s interruptions, either. (Though, we can certainly find wisdom in studying the example of Joseph and Mary.) The story of Jesus’ birth is about the love of God coming to earth – born as a human, and growing up to show us the way of the Kingdom of God.

What is God’s kingdom like? The hymn, “Prepare the Royal Highway” describes it perfectly:

His is no earthly kingdom; it comes from heav’n above.

His rule is peace and freedom and justice, truth, and love.

The story of Jesus’ birth shows us that God’s ways are most certainly not our ways.

In Jesus, our hopes and our fears are met with God’s love and grace for us. It is Jesus who gives us our hope, and it is Jesus who draws us away from fear and into lives of love. Do we really think that God would send Jesus to be born simply so that we could have some nice carols to sing once a year? The birth of Jesus is heaven meeting earth in the most powerful way.

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, let us also prepare our hearts to welcome Christ, the newborn king.

Amen.

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The Word of God Comes to You

The word of God came to John in the wilderness.

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Advent 2, Year C – 6 December 2015

Text: Luke 3:1-6

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Pull up in your mind for a moment the busiest place you’ve ever been - the place with the most going on. Maybe it’s a place that has “everything” – all the stores you like, all the activities you want to do, all the people you want to see.

Hold that place in your mind and then add the most famous people you can think of to that picture – maybe they are movie or tv actors, or famous musicians or authors, or politicians. Think of the people who grab the headlines day in and day out – the ones who appear on the covers of magazines and newspapers or those whose names are trending online.

So now, I want you to get a different image in your head. Think of the most remote place you’ve ever been. Maybe it’s a place you visited and thought, “How on earth do people who live here survive?” In this remote place, maybe there are no stores, no restaurants, there are hardly any other people, and the cell phone service is non-existent.

Hold that place in your mind and then imagine yourself there again. You aren’t famous (at least, not that I know of!). You aren’t in headlines day in and day out. You are…you.

This type of contrast is how Luke begins chapter 3 of his gospel – first, by telling us about the famous people, starting with the highest-up person he can think of, the Roman Emperor Tiberius. This emperor lived near it all – the busy highways and by-ways of the Roman Empire were his to travel and his to command. His soldiers would travel ahead of him, preparing the way so that he could travel with relative ease. They would level out the roads and make the rough places smooth.

It would’ve seemed to most of the ancient people that Emperor Tiberius had it all: fame, power, and presumably the wealth that comes with fame and power.

So Luke goes through all these names of the powerful politicians of the day: Emperor Tiberius, the governor Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias and then the powerful Jewish religious leaders: Annas and Caiaphas. Luke builds up a grand and glorious vision, only to burst his own bubble in his next phrase: “the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”

The word of God came to John in the wilderness. Not to one of the rich and famous people. Not to one of the powerful people. And not to someone close to the action, like someone who lived in Rome. The word of God came to John. In the wilderness. About as far away from the power and glory of the day – that is the place where John received the word of God.

And as we look at this contrast that Luke sets up for us, I think the contrast tells us something quite remarkable about God: that God is less concerned about who is powerful by worldly standards and who is making the headlines. God is more concerned about revealing a message of love and redemption to the world through those who will get that message out there, whomever they will be. In that time, and at that place, John is the one who receives the word from God, and John is so moved by God’s word that he begins to proclaim it, powerfully, everywhere he goes: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!”

Just like those Roman soldiers used to do ahead of the emperor, John is moving people to action. John is preparing the way for the Lord and so he begins to preach about repentance, so that people will turn away from their sinful lives and make all those rough places in their lives smooth. John begins the work that Jesus will continue later on in his earthly ministry, of teaching people the ways of peace: the ways of loving God and loving neighbor.

For those are the rough places in our lives – the places where we do not love God, the places where we do not love neighbor. Those are the places that must get smoothed out with time and intention and, yes, lots of prayer. Those are the places in which we are ruled by anger, ruled by fear, ruled by all of that which threatens to steal our hearts away from the love of God.

But why should we even bother smoothing out those rough places?

It is not simply a matter of smoothing out my life so that I can present it to God, like a perfect polished stone.

It is a matter of calling. It is a matter of being called to smooth out the rough places so that I can better love God and better love my neighbor. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!” – so that the love of God in Jesus can reach more people. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!” – so that people who need hope can see my hope in God and maybe find some hope for themselves. We do not prepare the way of the Lord simply for our own sakes, but for the sake of the whole world.

If I were to write a gospel today, maybe I would begin a chapter with: In the year 2015, in the midst of a huge mess of political candidates for the Presidency of the United States, in the midst of violence upon violence around our nation and around the world, in the midst of a frenzied season of shopping and parties and emotion…

The word of God comes to you. The word of God that is redemption and love. But that gift of the word of God is not only for your sake – it is for the sake of the whole world.

Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Smooth out the rough places.

Amen.

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