“Prepare The Way!”
Luke 1:13-17
November 30, 2003
Now that it is winter here in Nebraska, getting to work in the morning will be a little more difficult for me. More preparation will need be done before I can pull (or skid) into the parking lot here at church. Above and beyond the normal, everyday morning preparation I will have to add a few more items to my routine. There will be the frantic dash to the truck, to get it started up, before I rush back in the house and finish getting ready. If I do not take that preparation seriously, I will freeze on the drive to church, there might be few teeth left due to the shivering if I shirk the truck-warming preparation. I will also have to put on new items of clothing, weird pieces of attire called gloves, caps and longhandles…I am still unsure of what those are. On mornings that find the streets covered in snow and ice, I will need to await the snowplow which will prepare the roadways for my epic 1 mile journey to Good Shepherd. All of it, sandbags and chapstick, thermals and ice scrapers…remind me that this time of year will certainly be a time of preparation for me.
As we begin the Advent season we aren’t just preparing for cold weather, we are looking forward to that grand celebration that the kids have been anticipating since last December 26th…Christmas-the festival of the Lord coming to us. The biggest holiday of the year! And as we gather together in church these next few Sundays we will hear the story of a man named John the Baptist. A man whose mission it was to prepare. To prepare the people for the coming of their Lord.
Our story does not begin with John the Baptist, rather, it begins about five centuries before the events of today’s Gospel reading, in the last words of the Old Testament. It’s not a pretty picture. Israel has seen Jerusalem and the temple destroyed because of idolatry. They’ve been carted off into captivity and slavery. Delivered by the Lord, a few of them have returned, rebuilt the city and temple, and started all over again.
But already, the prophet Malachi declares that corruption has once again come to the holy place. The hearts of the people have turned. The priests have become lax and immoral. The ceremonies of the temple are no longer God-pleasing. The number of the faithful is dwindling once again. The prophet speaks out against these sins, but he still preaches a word of hope: The Savior is coming. "The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple," he prophesies (Mal. 3:1). And just before the Lord appears, one will come to prepare the way. Listen to these final words of the Old Testament:
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
Then the Lord says nothing more for 500 years.
500 years later, a priest enters the temple. He’s an elderly man, this Zacharias, chosen by lot to burn incense that day. He sees more than incense: Gabriel, an angel of the Lord appears to Zacharias with startling news, we hear this proclamation in the Gospel lesson today:
”Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ’to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Lk. 1:13-18)
The Lord has been silent to human ears for five centuries, but He picks up His plan right where He left off. As the Old Testament closed, He promised the Savior and a messenger to precede Him. As the New Testament opens, He announces that the messenger is nearly there: He will be the son of old Zacharias and his barren wife, Elizabeth. He will be the miracle-child of their old age. But more than that, he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
He will be great in the sight of the Lord. But why? How? Gabriel answers that question in this manner: Verses 16 and 17
”He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.
He will turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.
He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
How will he do these things? By being the messenger who prepares the way. He will turn the disobedient to wisdom, by preaching to them a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We see this if we peek ahead a couple of chapters, in Luke 3, when John is full-grown. He warns the children of Abraham not to trust in their pedigree, but to repent of their sin. He speaks out against the sin of covetousness, telling people to share with, and help out, their neighbor. He preaches the law to tax collectors, exhorting them to stop the greed and theft, to repent of their sins and go about their duties honestly. He warns soldiers not to operate with a heavy hand, but to confess their sins and act justly.
He was calling people to repentance. Repentance is an often misunderstood word in our world today, let’s take a moment to clarify it. Repentance has two parts. 1. Contrition-the sorrow over one’s sin. 2. Faith-which looks to Christ alone for forgiveness. Both parts are absolutely necessary in preparation for hearing the wonderful words of the Gospel message, “You are forgiven.”
You could say John was preaching the Law to bring people to repentance so that they would be prepared to hear the Gospel of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins. Without people hearing and believing the words of the Law, they will not hear or believe the wonderful Good News of the Gospel. Their hearts must be prepared.
A modern day analogy might help us illuminate this truth. I want you to imagine that you are walking down a sidewalk that is near some railroad tracks. You see someone trapped on the tracks, their foot has gotten wedged between the rail and the wooden plank beneath. As you look down the tracks you see a train coming, the person sees it too. They are frantically trying to free themselves but they can’t do it. You run over to help and just as you get the person’s foot free from the rail...WHOOOSH...the train speeds by. What do you think that person’s response to you will be? Most likely, the words, "Thank you, thank you for saving my life!" will be said. Now imagine this. Same situation, same scenario. Someone is caught in the tracks. You look down the tracks and see a train coming, the person does not. You rush over and offer to help, but the person refuses you saying, "It’s OK, I got myself into this mess and I will get myself out." You tell them a train is coming and that they need to let you help them. They say, "I don’t see any train and I am just fine thank you, go away." If you try to intervene and help them anyway the response might well be, "Get your hands off me, stop harassing me, stop bothering me and GO AWAY!!!"
See the difference? One person knew they were in danger, the other did not. It made all the difference in their response to your offer to help. It is the same way with God’s Law and Gospel. Without people hearing and believing the words of the Law, they will not hear or believe the wonderful Good News of the Gospel. Without realizing the danger of their sin people will never realize their need for the Savior. Their hearts must be prepared.
This was what John was called to do. John proclaims this message before Jesus arrives. And his tune does not change when Jesus steps onto the scene that day at the Jordan River. John points his finger and boldly declares, "LOOK! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
That’s was John’s job, and that’s what makes him “Great in the sight of the Lord”: He does not fail to point to Jesus. He is the messenger, not the Messiah; and when the Savior comes, John is content to fulfill his ministry of preparation and point the people into the loving arms of their Lord.
John spoke, and all Judea heard. He was great in the sight of the Lord, because he always pointed the people of God to their Lord. This preparation is just as valuable today as it was 2000 years ago. How have you prepared?
In Advent we look forward to celebrating Christmas, the festival remembering when Jesus came in flesh and blood to save us. We also look forward to His 2nd Coming, when He will come again to earth, in the flesh and blood, on the Last Day. How are we to prepare for these two events?
In the same way we prepare for all of the other times Jesus has come to us, flesh and blood. Christmas and the Last Day aren’t the only times Jesus comes to us in His body and blood. He comes to us here every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. If you want to know how to prepare in this season of Advent, you need look no further than how you prepare for Communion.
Do we string up lights, go shopping, or stay up all night wrapping presents every time we have Communion? No we don’t, that suggestion sounds absurd. We prepare for the Lord’s Supper by having a repentant heart, and humbled hands that beg for undeserved forgiveness. We know that forgiveness of sin is granted when Jesus’ flesh and blood are present here at the altar.
The people of John’s day didn’t look forward to the Messiah’s coming by decorating their homes or giving lavish gifts. Their hearts were clothed in repentance and they hoped for lavish gifts of love and forgiveness that they did not deserve. That is what it meant to be prepared back then, and that is what it means to be prepared today.
Is stringing up lights wrong? Of course not. Is “shopping till we drop” to provide gifts for loved ones a sin? No it isn’t. Is staying up all night wrapping presents, or doing the “some assembly required” work a waste of time? Not in a million years. Are these things the heart of our preparation? I hope not.
Christmas is more than a holiday. In Advent we look forward to something greater than just presents under a tree. Santa is not the most important guy who makes a visit.
We already have the best present we could have ever asked for. The gift God gave us wasn’t wrapped in shiny paper but in swaddling clothes. He didn’t place it under a brightly lit tree, but in a dimly lit barn. He didn’t decorate the place with small colored lights on the roof, but He adorned it with a brightly lit star shining down from the sky above. And the content of this gift…His only Son. A small baby who was born for but 1 purpose. To die. To live a perfect life and then to lay it down. To pay the price we could never pay, and by doing so He purchased salvation for us.
As we prepare for Christmas, we prepare to celebrate again that perfect gift. With a mix of joy and repentance our hearts are prepared for Jesus as we hear again that sweet story of God’s love embodied in a little baby.
This December when I come to work I will prepare for more than just cold weather. This Advent I hope we all prepare for more than just the celebration of Christmas, but the One who is to be celebrated this Christmas. He is with you. The Way has been prepared, Amen.
