Advent 2                                     Luke 3:1-6                                            12/7/03

       Prepare The Way Of The Lord

 

How many gourmet cooks would make a grand meal, set it out, watch family and friends sit down to eat, but then leave the house before any eating was done?

 

How many farmers or gardeners would willingly prepare the ground for planting and then leave the actual planting and harvesting to someone else?

 

How many business owners would build a store, stock it with merchandise, advertise the store opening and put a sign in the window “Help Wanted”, then just walk away, leaving whoever comes along to take over?

 

This all seems very contrary to logic or even human nature.  If we’re going to do the preparation work we want to at least see the outcome and preferably have a controlling hand in that outcome.

 

                This is exactly what John the Baptist was called to do and it is often what we are called to do.  Prepare the way of the Lord.

 

                Last week we reflected on the idea of being odd for God.  If ever there was someone who was odd for God from a human perspective it was John the Baptist.  Leaving aside John’s strange choice of clothing and diet which are not recorded in Luke, John’s odd for God-ness shows itself in his lifestyle and the conduct of his mission.

 

                We are told that John received his call to be a prophet while he was in the wilderness.  What was he doing in the wilderness, anyway?  People didn’t normally live or spend time in the wilderness.  In fact, many believed it was a place of demons.  As the son of a priest and member of a priestly line of descent, John would have been well educated, therefore, it’s unlikely he was in the wilderness shepherding sheep.  He may have been a member of the Essenes – an isolationist Jewish sect – but this would only add to his odd-for-God-ness.

 

                Then, after his call, he “went into all the region around the Jordan.”  In other words, he stayed out in the open, outside the cities and towns.  He didn’t go to the synagogue to proclaim his message, much less to the temple, as one might expect a preacher with a priestly background to do.  His was a mission out in the world – a common person to common people.

 

                And for a final bit of oddness, John seems to be satisfied preaching just half the message and to then leave the scene.  He prepares the way, but since he dies very early in Jesus’ ministry, he never gets to see what all this preparation is leading to.  It’s enough for him to prepare the way of the Lord.  This should be especially odd to our modern way of evaluating success.  John didn’t build a big church.  He didn’t seem, at least, to keep a record of growth in the numbers of his followers or to mind when some left him to follow Jesus.  He didn’t, from what we have recorded, do any follow up to make sure his message and baptism of repentance were having the desired effect.  He didn’t even seem concerned with the outcome.  He was called to prepare the way, that was his focus and that was all he cared about.

 

                That really is all you are called to do.  You are to spend your time out in the wilderness of work, school and family, preparing the way for Christ to enter in.  By living your odd-for-God-ness in the way you set priorities, how you handle the stress of the season, on whom you focus concern, you prepare the hearts of those you connect with for the coming of Jesus. You are to spend your time in church preparing the way for God to enter the hearts of once-a-year members and visitors.  You may do this by extending a special invitation to special services to people who don’t come regularly, by considering how to make visitors feel especially welcome and by praying for people who may be worshiping with us during these holy days. 

 

You are to prepare the way of the Lord to come and save in whatever way He chooses.

 

                And then we face the hard part: we step back and leave the outcome to God.  This doesn’t mean we don’t care.  It doesn’t mean we don’t do follow up on returnees and visitors.  It doesn’t mean we don’t seek to involve people in the life of our community.  We do.

 

                What it means is that we do our work – fulfill the unique, odd for God call God gave us and then turn over control of the outcome to Jesus.  We give Him space and trust to work through the Holy Spirit in people’s hearts and lives.

 

                We don’t worry with numbers and outcomes.  We focus all of our energy on proclaiming repentance for sin and assurance of forgiveness to all who are still in the wilderness.  We do all we can to prepare the way for the Lord and then let Him do the saving.

 

                If we do otherwise we will almost surely be disappointed and frustrated because we will have taken our eyes off our call and made ourselves the center of attention.  When we do this we need to repent – which means change how one thinks and admit we can’t save anyone, then pray for grace to trust the outcome to God.  In so doing we will have followed in John the Baptist’s footsteps and fulfilled out mission as Jesus Church.  Prepare the way of the Lord.  Amen.