Luke 3:1-6
The audio of this talk can be found here
The audio of this talk can be found here
Our reading from the gospel today is a bit of a fraud! Half of it is a reading from the Old Testament. Luke quotes from Isaiah 40 verses 4-6.
Luke is saying that these words, spoken by Isaiah 600 or so years earlier, are fulfilled when John the Baptist turns up in the wilderness ‘proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’.
John – who we know as John the Baptist is the voice
There are three things that I would like to draw from this passage this morning.
1. God is coming
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness “prepare the way for the Lord”.’
Christmas is coming. But something, someone so much bigger than Christmas is coming.
The voice declares that the Messiah, God’s King is coming.
Henry VIII is travelling North to visit York. The whole court is travelling with him. His heralds go ahead of him. They tell people to get ready, to prepare for the coming king. To bow to him. The king is coming in judgement. He is coming to seek, try and condemn those who have rebelled against him. And there will be no mercy.
John the Baptist is also a herald.
But he comes with a far more awesome and far more gracious message
It is not the king who is coming, but the King of Kings.
And he comes not in judgement but in mercy.
Yes, we have rebelled against God – but John the Baptist proclaims that there is forgiveness for those who are prepared to recognise that God is king, for those who wish to repent and to make a new start.
That is why John came "in the wilderness with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins".
God is coming in mercy to transform the wilderness
The font is the place where all the obstacles that we put in the way of God are removed.
If I was imagining this as a picture, I would see a dry wilderness, and in the deepest deep wilderness, there is a font, and out of that font pours water. And the water brings life.
So the King is coming. Get ready!
If you haven’t received the gift of baptism, now is the time to do so. Do speak to me.
And if we have received the gift of baptism, look at the font – and see the overwhelming mercy of God.
3. God is coming to bring salvation
Luke quotes Isaiah and says, ‘All flesh shall see the salvation of God’
That is hard to imagine in a world that has turned its back on God – that is blind to him, that uses him only as, at best, a last resort when everything else has failed and, at worst, a swear word.
But the Lord is coming.
And when he comes, he will bring his kingdom of justice and mercy, of righteousness and peace, of love and truth
There will be safety, abundance and joy.
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
Luke is saying that these words, spoken by Isaiah 600 or so years earlier, are fulfilled when John the Baptist turns up in the wilderness ‘proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’.
John – who we know as John the Baptist is the voice
There are three things that I would like to draw from this passage this morning.
1. God is coming
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness “prepare the way for the Lord”.’
Christmas is coming. But something, someone so much bigger than Christmas is coming.
The voice declares that the Messiah, God’s King is coming.
God in his mercy has not forgotten us.
He had not forgotten his people at the time when Isaiah first spoke these words. They were in exile in Babylon, but God says to them, through Isaiah, 'I have not forgotten you. I am coming to you, and I will bring you through the wilderness to the land that was your home'.
And now, through the John the Baptist, God says to his people, 'I have not forgotten you. I have remembered the promises I gave to Abraham, and to the prophets, that one day I would send my ruler, my Messiah. I have not forgotten you and I am coming to you'.
So we remember his first coming 2000 years ago as a baby
And we
So we remember his first coming 2000 years ago as a baby
And we
look forward in hope to his coming again in glory.
Advent can be a time of preparation to remember and anticipate the coming of the King.
In many Christian traditions Advent is a time of fasting – of going into the wilderness, abstaining from the things of this world, to give us a deeper awareness of our sinfulness, our rebellion against God, of our mortality and weakness, of our need for God.
That is really quite difficult at a time when we have so many Christmas parties.
But maybe it would be helpful to try and do what we can do. Miss a meal occasionally and use the time for God.
Or perhaps this might be an opportunity to read a devotional book. Or perhaps simply read through Isaiah or one of the gospels.
These four weeks before Christmas can be used as a time when we become alert to the fact that God is close, that God came and is coming again.
And then, when Christmas comes, having fasted a little, we can feast a lot!
We celebrate the fact that 2000 years ago God stepped out of heaven and came to this earth as a human baby, as Jesus Christ.
2. God is coming in mercy
Advent can be a time of preparation to remember and anticipate the coming of the King.
In many Christian traditions Advent is a time of fasting – of going into the wilderness, abstaining from the things of this world, to give us a deeper awareness of our sinfulness, our rebellion against God, of our mortality and weakness, of our need for God.
That is really quite difficult at a time when we have so many Christmas parties.
But maybe it would be helpful to try and do what we can do. Miss a meal occasionally and use the time for God.
Or perhaps this might be an opportunity to read a devotional book. Or perhaps simply read through Isaiah or one of the gospels.
These four weeks before Christmas can be used as a time when we become alert to the fact that God is close, that God came and is coming again.
And then, when Christmas comes, having fasted a little, we can feast a lot!
We celebrate the fact that 2000 years ago God stepped out of heaven and came to this earth as a human baby, as Jesus Christ.
2. God is coming in mercy
“Make his paths straight”
A few years back I read a CJ Sansom’s Sovereign. It is a book about a royal procession.
Henry VIII is travelling North to visit York. The whole court is travelling with him. His heralds go ahead of him. They tell people to get ready, to prepare for the coming king. To bow to him. The king is coming in judgement. He is coming to seek, try and condemn those who have rebelled against him. And there will be no mercy.
John the Baptist is also a herald.
But he comes with a far more awesome and far more gracious message
It is not the king who is coming, but the King of Kings.
And he comes not in judgement but in mercy.
Yes, we have rebelled against God – but John the Baptist proclaims that there is forgiveness for those who are prepared to recognise that God is king, for those who wish to repent and to make a new start.
That is why John came "in the wilderness with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins".
God is coming in mercy to transform the wilderness
John appeared "in the wilderness".
The wilderness is the place of desertion, of abandonment, of isolation and death. It is the place of sin and the consequence of sin – but it can be transformed and become the place of meeting with God, of life.
So the promise is that
‘Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
And the crooked shall be made straight
And the rough ways made smooth’.
The wilderness is the place of desertion, of abandonment, of isolation and death. It is the place of sin and the consequence of sin – but it can be transformed and become the place of meeting with God, of life.
So the promise is that
‘Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
And the crooked shall be made straight
And the rough ways made smooth’.
What was a place of death becomes a place of life
What was a place of separation from God becomes
a place where we encounter God.
God is coming in mercy to wash us clean.
God is coming in mercy to wash us clean.
John came "with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins".
Those who came to him, who were willing to go out into the wilderness, to face up to their sin and lostness, to repent, to turn from their rebellion against God and recognise God as their King, he washed in the water of baptism.
Those who came to him, who were willing to go out into the wilderness, to face up to their sin and lostness, to repent, to turn from their rebellion against God and recognise God as their King, he washed in the water of baptism.
It was a symbol that they who were dirty before God were now clean before God.
And although there is so much more in Christian baptism, at the heart of it is the gift of God: that all who come to him in repentance, all who come to receive his mercy, he will wash clean.
Of course it is a symbolic washing. But it is a significant symbol. It means that we recognise that we are dirty before God, that we are unable to clean ourselves, and that we come to him to ask him to make us clean, and to receive his gift of washing.
And although there is so much more in Christian baptism, at the heart of it is the gift of God: that all who come to him in repentance, all who come to receive his mercy, he will wash clean.
Of course it is a symbolic washing. But it is a significant symbol. It means that we recognise that we are dirty before God, that we are unable to clean ourselves, and that we come to him to ask him to make us clean, and to receive his gift of washing.
In most of our churches it is the font that is the place of baptism, and it is usually placed by the entrance of the church.
It is by the entrance, because it is the way into membership in the Church for the new Christian.
But because it is by the entrance it means that we walk past the font every time we come into church. It is a reminder to us of our own baptism.
The font is the place where valleys are filled.
It is the place that lifts us up. It is the place which tells us, when we are in the valley of despair, when we think that there is no hope, that we are ‘unforgiveable’, that there is no one beyond the reach of the love of God, no sin too great that he cannot forgive, no sinner who he cannot begin to change. This is the place where Jesus kneels down and washes our feet.
The font is the place that makes low hills and mountains.
When in our pride we think we stand high on the mountain of ‘the imagination of our hearts’ (in the glorious words of the Magnificat), as we think that we are better than others, as we stand in judgement on others; then as we look at the font, it is the reminder that we are sinners, mere mortal women and men, who were under the judgement of God but have been washed clean, have received mercy
The font is the place that enables us to go straight.
It is the challenge when we are ducking and diving and swerving, going in this direction and then that, lying to get us out of a scrape or so that we don’t look bad, being driven by any and every gust of desire, taking that which does not belong to us, treating another person as if they do not exist or that they exist for us: We look at the font and we remember that in our baptism, as the water was poured over us, we were washed and we died to those crooked ways. We were dirty and by the gift of God we have been forgiven, made clean and we can begin to live that new life, the straight way, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is by the entrance, because it is the way into membership in the Church for the new Christian.
But because it is by the entrance it means that we walk past the font every time we come into church. It is a reminder to us of our own baptism.
The font is the place where valleys are filled.
It is the place that lifts us up. It is the place which tells us, when we are in the valley of despair, when we think that there is no hope, that we are ‘unforgiveable’, that there is no one beyond the reach of the love of God, no sin too great that he cannot forgive, no sinner who he cannot begin to change. This is the place where Jesus kneels down and washes our feet.
The font is the place that makes low hills and mountains.
When in our pride we think we stand high on the mountain of ‘the imagination of our hearts’ (in the glorious words of the Magnificat), as we think that we are better than others, as we stand in judgement on others; then as we look at the font, it is the reminder that we are sinners, mere mortal women and men, who were under the judgement of God but have been washed clean, have received mercy
The font is the place that enables us to go straight.
It is the challenge when we are ducking and diving and swerving, going in this direction and then that, lying to get us out of a scrape or so that we don’t look bad, being driven by any and every gust of desire, taking that which does not belong to us, treating another person as if they do not exist or that they exist for us: We look at the font and we remember that in our baptism, as the water was poured over us, we were washed and we died to those crooked ways. We were dirty and by the gift of God we have been forgiven, made clean and we can begin to live that new life, the straight way, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The font is the place where all the obstacles that we put in the way of God are removed.
We put boulders between ourselves and God. Boulders or maybe barricades. Boulders
of our arguments about why God cannot exist, about the behaviour of people who
claim that they are his, of our pride and resentment.
If I was imagining this as a picture, I would see a dry wilderness, and in the deepest deep wilderness, there is a font, and out of that font pours water. And the water brings life.
So the King is coming. Get ready!
If you haven’t received the gift of baptism, now is the time to do so. Do speak to me.
And if we have received the gift of baptism, look at the font – and see the overwhelming mercy of God.
3. God is coming to bring salvation
Luke quotes Isaiah and says, ‘All flesh shall see the salvation of God’
That is hard to imagine in a world that has turned its back on God – that is blind to him, that uses him only as, at best, a last resort when everything else has failed and, at worst, a swear word.
But the Lord is coming.
And when he comes, he will bring his kingdom of justice and mercy, of righteousness and peace, of love and truth
There will be safety, abundance and joy.
And all people will see it.
I do not know how. I do not know when. It will be an event in space and time, but it will be an event that transcends space and time – a bit like Jesus’ resurrection body transcended space and time. And since we can only talk in categories of space and time, we can only talk about the return of the Lord using analogies. Picture language. It will be like a ruler who gives a great feast, like a wedding, like a celestial court room, like the entry of a victorious ruler into a city.
But what we are told is that the Lord is coming and all
people will see it.
Those who have died and those who are still living.
Those who look at him and, because they have so set
themselves up as their own god that they cannot face the reality that there is
a God who is bigger than them, hate him – that for them will be hell;
And those who look at him and know that this God of mercy
is who they have been searching for all their lives, and love him.
The Lord is coming.
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