Surprised by Hope
The Witness of John the Baptist, by Master of San Torpè, Italian, c. 1310-1320, Tempera on panel, St. Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase, click image to link.
Second Sunday in Advent, Gospel of Matthew 3:1-12
This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” –Matthew 3:3
Pastor: On this second Sunday in the season of Advent, our gospel reading tells us …
Prophet: a voice at back of sanctuary or in the choir loft says, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”
Pastor: What’s this? Who are you?
Prophet: The figure, probably in a robe of some kind, stands, saying, “I am a voice crying in the wilderness. I am one who must grow lesser as another one grows greater. I am John the Baptist.”
Pastor: Well, hello John. I’m John the Presbyterian. It’s good to meet you. Where did you say you’re from?
Prophet: “From the wilderness. We wear simple clothes out there, clothing made of camel hair, and leather belts. I’ve learned to survive by eating locusts and wild honey.”
Pastor: Mmmm. Sounds tasty. And crunchy. Now, John, what exactly are you doing?
Prophet: “Well, John, my job involves reminding God’s people of biblical prophecy. I call them to repent of wrongdoing, and embrace righteousness. At all times of the year, and especially during Advent, I point to Jesus, and call people to prepare for his coming. Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”
Pastor: Well, John the Baptist, welcome to First Presbyterian Church. We accept all who believe in Jesus Christ, and call him Lord. Would it be all right with you if I continue the sermon?
Prophet: “Yes, I would like that. I was at the coffee shop, and heard some people talking about your sermon. I’d like to find out if what they said is true.”
Pastor: Mmmm. All right. Why don’t you take a seat, and we’ll move on. John the Baptist takes his seat. [1]
Our special visitor is a reminder of the attention-grabbing power of a surprise entrance. A surprise entrance may generate various responses: confusion, fear, anger, excitement, or laughter. But regardless of response, a surprise entrance calls us to attention: our minds work to assess whether the surprise is friendly or dangerous.
John the Baptist plays exactly this sort of role in the gospel record of Jesus Christ. When Jesus reaches the time in life when he will begin his ministry, his cousin John appears on the scene. Thousands of people make their way fifteen miles down the road from Jerusalem to the Jordan River to hear John speak, and to be baptized by him. As he baptizes, he talks about “repentance,” a word that means “changing course.” John is asking them to get ready for something new – the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he says.
John’s entrance generates different reactions. The Pharisees and Sadducees respond to his stinging words with fear and anger. The common people, who don’t have much to lose anyway, feel excitement and enthusiasm about the promised kingdom. John is the kind of unusual character who is hard to ignore. Like our guest prophet this morning, John the Baptist is a surprise, someone who calls us to attention to make sure that Jesus is noticed.
This week, when I let myself think a little longer about John the Baptist, and the role he played, a question came to mind that ended up feeling important for the direction of this sermon. The question is simply, Why was John the Baptist needed to ‘prepare the way’? When Superman swoops in to prevent a train from crashing, does anyone doubt that this is the Man of Steel? When Luke Skywalker holds off Kylo Ren so that Luke’s friends can escape the First Order armies, does anyone have to say, “You know, Luke is a Jedi Master”?
One way to answer the question Why was John the Baptist needed to ‘prepare the way’? is this: “Jesus was so different from the typical hero that a prophet was needed to point people in his direction.”Another way to answer the question: “Jesus, the embodiment of humble service and sacrificial compassion, isn’t easy to recognize as God’s Way, Truth, and Life.”
A few years ago, Christianity Today magazine ran a column on successful leadership[2] that started out saying, “There are some pastors whose names are known by thousands, even millions of people.” But the author didn’t go on to name a mega-church pastor and list their accomplishments. Then the author said that he wanted to tell his readers about a pastor whose life and ministry seemed a failure, but actually was one of the most successful pastors ever. At which point, like an actor taking a dramatic aside directly to an audience, he wrote, “What do you expect to hear next? …. You’re expecting to hear that, although there were only a few (victories) in that little church, one … convert was someone like Billy Graham, right? Someone who we all know. Someone who went on to lead millions to Jesus, or start orphanages, or found one of the world’s great ministries …. But that didn’t happen in this story. This pastor never led anyone famous to Jesus. No one went out from their church to change the world in any visible way that we know of.”
Then, like John the Baptist, the author gave his readers the lens to see in someone who seemed ordinary what was truly extraordinary. “This pastor did what Jesus called him to do. He stayed faithful. He never gave up. He was a good and faithful servant …. This pastor is every pastor who led people to Jesus, helped families find healing ….” Sermons were preached, lessons were taught, visits were made in hospitals and nursing homes, weddings and funerals and baptisms officiated, all these things undergirded by prayer.
You may be thinking that I found this column interesting because its hero is a humble pastor with ordinary achievements, and you would be right. Pastors aren’t the heroes of many contemporary stories. But there are at least two other reasons that I found the column compelling. One was that it helped me better appreciate how thousands of pastors in thousands of churches are carrying out life-transforming ministry as powerful as any mega-church, yet you and I never will know their names. In that new-found appreciation I find reason to hope. Another reason the article was compelling: what the author was saying about a pastor could be said about you, the members and friends of First Presbyterian Church Edwardsville. And in that realization I feel hope.
For just a moment, perhaps I could play John the Baptist for you. I’ve taken some of this column by Karl Vaters, and transformed it a bit for your hearing.
Today I want to tell you about a church where life and ministry may have seemed plain and average, even a failure to some people, but was actually one of the most successful churches ever.
They gathered every week for worship and education. They reached out to serve those in the community who needed it. There were weddings, baptisms, and funerals. Sometimes, it seemed like there were more meetings than an organization their size had any business holding.
Despite working hard, praying harder, and learning as much as possible about church growth and health, things changed only slowly and gradually. Other churches in town would occasionally spring up and grow big. Sometimes the folks in this church would leave for the exciting new church. Yet still this church kept going. The church stayed alive, healthy, and kept blessing their community.
The members of this church are all the church members you’ve never heard of, but who are celebrated in heaven for doing what they were called to do. These church members are most church members. One of them may be you. If you’re staying faithful to the simple call of God on your life, you are one of the most successful church members ever. Together, you are “Christ for the world today.”
John the Baptist and his message may be analyzed in many ways. But behind the prophetic demeanor and underneath the morally challenging message, the gospel must be “good news” that surprises us with hope. As John the Baptist points toward Jesus, could the good news for us be a renewed appreciation for the freedom and simplicity found in Jesus’ countercultural example of humble service and sacrificial compassion? Each and every Advent season, God in Christ comes in ways that we have never seen or quite imagined before. Prepare ye the way of the Lord!
NOTES
[1] The dialogue above inspired by the brief account of a visit from John the Baptist in “Preaching the Advent Texts,” by Theodore J. Wardlaw, Journal for Preachers, vol. xxxi, no. 1, p. 5.
[2] Karl Vaters, “The Most Successful Pastor You’ve Never Heard Of,” Christianity Today, 18 March 2019, https://www.christianitytoday.com/karl-vaters/2019/march/most-successful-pastor-youve-never-heard-of.html, accessed 2 December 2022.
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