Reflection on Luke 1:39-55

Luke 1:39-55]

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

    46 And Mary said,

 “My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,  

48 for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. 

Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,  

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, 

and holy is his name;  

50 indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him 

from generation to generation.  

51 He has shown strength with his arm; 

he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  

52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones 

and lifted up the lowly;  

53 he has filled the hungry with good things 

and sent the rich away empty.  

54 He has come to the aid of his child Israel, 

in remembrance of his mercy,  

55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, 

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Reflection

There are lots of things that I do not understand in this world.  For one, I do not understand how feeling a child moving around within ones womb can convince someone that the Messiah is very near.  How does feeling a baby jumping and thrashing around within her belly convince Elizabeth that the child within Mary’s belly is the Lord?  I do not understand.

Maybe, it is because I am a guy, and I have no idea what it is like to have a baby inside of me, pushing on by spine and bladder?  Maybe, I simply have no idea what it is to have such an intimate relationship with an unborn child? 

But, I do not need to have a womb or a child in my belly to trust what the Bible says.  And, it says that after the child leapt, “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” and it says that because she was filled with the Holy Spirit, she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:41-42). 

That is the way of the Spirit.  Like the wind, it “blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8).  God’s Spirit does what it needs to do, and we are not here to understand, we are simply here to pay attention.  So, I will pay attention of Elizabeth.

Again, there are lots of things that I do not understand in the world.  Like, I do not understand why younger women need to go to the bathroom together.  What are they doing in there?  In the same vein, I do not understand why it was so essential for Mary to get to Elizabeth so fast in the first place.  The Bible says that she “went with haste” to greet Elizabeth (Luke 1:39).  It also specifically mentions that she went into the “hill country” to visit her.  One thing that I do know is that “hill country” is a reference to being on top of a cosmic mountain, where heaven and earth touch.  I do know that whatever is going down between these two women is viewed as really, really important by the Bible.  Apparently, this mutual support between two women was considered so holy and so vitally important that it got its own special “mountain of God” scene here in the Bible.  Are women supporting women really that important and that holy?  I do not understand.

Maybe, I just do not fully understand how vital it was for women to stand together in the male dominated world of the time?  Maybe, I still do not understand the vital importance for women to stick together and support one another today, even in the bathroom?

But, I do not have to have experienced one of these female relationships to trust that the Bible says that these sort of relationships are extremely holy (like, mountain top holy), and even vital to God’s purposes.

That is the way of the Spirit.  Like the wind, it “blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8).  God’s Spirit does what it needs to do, and we are not here to understand, we are simply here to pay attention.  So, I will pay attention to the importance of these relationships.

Once again, there are lots of things that I do not understand in the world.  For instance, I do not understand why adults go on and on about the incompetence of the younger generation, but God chooses someone so young to carry out one of God’s greatest tasks.  In response to having been given the task to birth and raise the savior of the world, the young Mary exclaims, “for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant,” and then she continues to sing, “the Mighty One has done great things for me…” (Luke 1:48-49).

Nor, to I understand why so many people try to convince us that gaining success and power is what we should all strive for in life, when Mary sings that God, “has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,” and that God “has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly” (Luke 1:51-52).

In the same way, I do not understand why so much importance in life is put on striving for wealth and getting things, and why rich people are always held up so high and listened to above all others when Mary sings that God “has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:53).

 

I do not understand a great many things about why we do what we do and why we trust who we trust, but what I do understand is that because we have everything so backwards; because we do make judgments about people, and do not pay attention to who the Spirit is choosing; and because we believe so much in our own independence that we dismiss the importance of close relationships and needing others; and because we look down on the young, the unimportant, and the poor (who are all God’s children too), we desperately need the savior in Mary’s belly to come to the “aid of his” people and remember us all in “his mercy” (Luke 1:54).

 

Only by Jesus’ mercy, is our up-side-down world made right-side-up again.  Only by the blowing of the Spirit where it chooses, is our backwards world turned to face the right way.  Only, by Jesus’ mercy are we turned around in our hearts and minds so that we too might be a part of the “great things” of the Lord (Luke 1:48).

 

Because, the Lord “has done great things” for Mary even though she was “lowly of state” (Luke 1:48-49).  The Lord likes to raise the lowly.  The Lord likes to choose the unlikely.  The Lord likes to use the mess up. 

 

So, maybe even we have a chance.  Maybe, this savior in Mary’s womb will be able to save even a mess up like me.  Maybe, this savior will choose someone even like me for some mysterious and vital purpose.  Maybe, we will even start singing a song of thanks and praise that will reverberate throughout the ages.  Who knows? 

 

After-all the Spirit blows where it wants.  Why would it not blow through an old Elizabeth, or a young and lowly Mary, or even someone like you?

 

“For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Luke 1:49).

Reflection on Isaiah 12:2-6

 

Isaiah 12:2-6

 ² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God is my strength and my might, and has become my salvation.
 ³ With joy you will draw water
  from the wells of salvation.
 ⁴ And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the Lord, call on God’s name;
make known the deeds of the Lord among the nations; proclaim that this name is exalted.
 ⁵ Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
  let this be known in all the earth.
 ⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Reflection

Life without God is chaos.  At least the author of Isaiah thinks so.  More to the point, the author of Isaiah knows so.  He knows what happens if God withdraws from us.  His nation crumbed from a flood of chaotic forces which were allowed to slam into Judah and Israel.  The chaos were like walls of water that were released and allowed to flood the land after God’s protective hand was removed. 

Such is what happens when you forget.  When you forget to care for the vulnerable around you, the walls holding back the waters of chaos are taken away and returned to God; chaos floods the land.  After that, God can make a fresh start. 

It is not a literal flood of water, of course.  God promised never to do that again after saving Noah.  But, it is a flood of enemies, allowed to pillage the land.  When your heart becomes hard and you forget to love and care, it needs to be destroyed and replaced.  When your nation forgets to care, another nation may need to arise to destroy and replace.  The author knows that life without God is chaos.

So does the young man who decided to trust only in himself for a change.  He left his family and his faith to live his life his way with his own rules.  It was fun.  It was parties.  It was lights.  It was love.  It was high highs.  It became chaos. 

You can only destroy your body for so long.  And, when it is destroyed, and those who helped destroy it are nowhere to be found, who is left?  Who will save you?  Life without God is chaos.

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid” (Isaiah 12:2).  I am not sure if the author is trying to convince us of God’s salvation or if he is trying to convince himself; as if saying it out loud will make it more true.

“Surely God will save me, surely God will save me, surely God cares.  I guess, now that everything else has fallen apart, I have no choice but to trust that God is here.”

“I will trust, and will not be afraid” he convinces himself and us.

Do you know what happens when you finally, truly, deeply trust that God is here, present with us, and you finally trust that God actually cares?  God gives you new eyes.  Rather than seeing all that is wrong with the world, and wrong with your life, you start to see God.  You start to see the wonders of God, which look exactly like what we see in Jesus.  We start to see the healing.  We start to see the forgiveness and people coming closer together.  We start to see the feeding.  We start to see the life growing in dark places.  We start to see the power of the cross over death.  We start to see God, who has never wanted to withdraw, but just could not see any other way to get our attention.

And, when we see God, and we see God’s love becoming very, very real in front of our eyes, we start to say things like, “Give thanks to the Lord, call on God’s name” (Isaiah 12:4).  And, “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously” (Isaiah 12:5).  And, “sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 12:6). 

After-all, God does not have to allow the water to destroy us.  God very much prefers to allow the water to provide for us, “wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).  Waters that cleanse us rather than drown us.  Waters that provide nourishment for life, rather than swamp our life.  Waters that save and draw us into God’s family rather than making us float away.

“The Lord God is my strength and my might, and has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).

Reflection on Luke 3:7-18

 

Luke 3:7-18

7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

 10 And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

 15 As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

 18 So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people. 

Reflection

“What, then, should we do?” (Luke 3:10).   

When the crowds of normal, everyday people seeking to hear a word from God suddenly hear from John about how people like them are like trees that are going to get cut down and thrown into the fire if they do not produce some nice pears or figs, they ask, “What, then, should we do?”  They wonder, “Do I even have a chance?” 

When the tax collectors hear themselves described as a “brood of vipers,” (Luke 3:7) cursed snakes slithering out of the fields seeking redemption, they instinctively ask, “What, then, should we do?”  They feel the judging eyes of all upon them, the eyes of those who feel like they collude with the enemy by taking people’s hard earned money, sending it to Caesar, and then skimming some more off of the top for themselves.  The tax collectors ask out loud, “What, then, should we do?”  But, they secretly wonder, “Do I even have a chance?”

When the soldiers too wander out into the wilderness to listen to John and hear about how, “the ax is lying at the root of the trees;” (Luke 3:9) how the heavenly axe is laying right there, waiting to be swung at them because they have exerted power by swinging their own swords, they ask, “What, then, should we do?”  They wonder, “Do I even have a chance?”

Are some people so rotten that they do not have a chance?  Are some people so lost and gone that they cannot find a way back home?  Are some people so forgotten by everyone else in the world, that they will not even be given the call to come back home?  Is the only possible end to all of their stories, being chopped down and thrown into an eternal fire?

“What then should we do?”  “Do I even have a chance?”

I know that the words of doom and gloom coming from John the Baptist’s mouth make him seem like the least likely of preachers to give a word of good news to these people, but John does actually care.  He does not send the crowds away as they step into the waters of his cleansing baptism.  He does not make the tax collectors slither back into the fields from which they came.  He does not show violence to the soldiers who also come to dip into the cleansing waters.  Instead, he takes all of them seriously.  He gives the people exactly what they ask for.

“The crowds asked him, ‘What, then, should we do?’  In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise’” (Luke 3:10-11).

In others words, John says that they can repent; they can “turn around” from their old ways.  That is what “repent” means after-all: “turning around.”  Of course, they have a chance.  Of course, they are not dead trees waiting to be burned.  Instead of caring only about themselves, those who have clothes and food can share.  “Do you have two coats?” John asks.  “Then give one to someone who needs it.”  If you want to be in God’s kingdom, then do kingdom things.  Allow yourself to be turned around by God.

“Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’  He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you’” (Luke 3:12-13).

John says that they too can repent; they too can “turn around” from their old ways.  There is nothing evil about being a tax collector, just do not take advantage of your people.  Collect the money in a just way.  If you want to be in God’s kingdom, then do kingdom things.  Allow yourself to be turned around by God.

“Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages’” (Luke 3:14).

Even these soldiers have a chance to be more than their swords and the power those swords yield.  Even they can “turn around” from their old ways.  They are asked to start using that sword to make peace rather than to threaten and wage false accusations.  They are asked to start using that sword to protect rather than using it to seek other people’s food and wages.  If you want to be in God’s kingdom, then do kingdom things.  Allow yourself to be turned around by God.

Everyone can repent.  Everyone can “turn around.”  Everyone can be turned around by God.  Everyone can be a gift of God’s kingdom to those around them by simply doing their daily vocations in a holy way.  Even you, and me, can turn around and perform our holy vocations, our daily tasks, in ways that help others with basic needs, in ways that care about how others are treated, and in ways that allow us to be content with what God has provided.

The drunk one who seeks the waters can be turned around by God to be clean.

The depressed one who seeks the waters can be turned around by God to give hope to others.

The cheating one who seeks the waters can be turned around by God to become a pillar of honesty.

The hopeless one who seeks the waters can be turned around by God to pray with those who live in the dark.

“Do I even have a chance?” you ask.  Of course you do.  Come to the waters.  Come and wash the old away.  Come, wash, and turn around, and step back out into the world acting in kingdom of God ways.  You can start right now!  God is ready to turn you and me around today.  God desires us to go out from here washed clean, living lives that have changed in a very concrete and meaningful way.

I got you John.  I am a changed man.  I am going from here a changed man.  You just wait.  You will see how God has changed me.  You will see how God has turned me around; and not just “me,” but “us.”  You will see, John, in very concrete ways how we are better husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, girlfriends and boyfriends, coworkers and neighbors this week.  You will see how we are better workers in God’s kingdom.  You will see!

And, John will see. 

But, like any good diet goes, it will work, for about a week.  Then the old ways will creep back in, and we will have to be washed again, and do it all over again.

A man pulled me aside at a family reunion and said, “I don’t think I understand this Christianity thing.  I was saved pastor.  I was saved.  I was a mean guy, but after I became a Christian I started to be loving to my wife again, like when we were first married.”  Then whispering he said, “But, then I started being mean again.  I don’t think I understand this Christianity thing.”

Like the people who came out to John, he was “filled with expectation” (John 3:15).  He expected that because he was now a saved person who goes to church, that he would be so much better than he had been before.  And, I am not pointing any fingers at anyone here, but anyone who has spent any time in a church knows that his high expectations of himself and those around him were probably set a little too high.

Those of us who have been in the church for any amount of time know that John’s call to repent, John’s call to “turn around” is great, and good, and full of hope, but we also know that it is temporary. 

“Tuning around” does not save us.  Repenting, as great as it is…and it is great, we remember our baptisms and we confess our sins every Sunday, and we seek to turn around every single week, to go from here as God’s renewed people…as great and important as that is, it does not save us.  It alone does not make us whole.  John is not the Messiah, and his baptism of repentance does not save us.  John himself says, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16). 

Now, I know that John thinks that Jesus’ bath of fire is a lot better than his own bath of water, but if you set in front of a four year old a tub of bubbly water and a tub with a blazing inferno, I guarantee that I know which one the four year old is going to get into.  

I admit that I myself like a very, very warm bath.  My baths were so warm when I was a teenager that I was once asked if I could please cook the noodles for supper while I was in there.  But, even I would not bathe in an inferno.  I will keep washing in John’s nice bath of “turning around” thank you very much.  I might keep getting dirty again every single day, and I might need to take that cleansing bath of “turning around” each and every day, but at least it will not leave me looking like the steaks I forgot on the grill.

“But, we used to used to burn our field to get the soil nice and fertile for the next year,” a farmer once responded as we talked about this very Bible text.  “We would set the field on fire and it would burn up all the stubble and add nutrients to the soil.”  Then others chimed in about how fire was used to purify metal and get all the impurities out that caused it to be weak.  They went on and on about the goodness of fire and I do not know if they realized it but they were speaking some biblical truth. 

You remember, to get back into the garden of Eden, to walk and talk with God again, you would need to pass by that flaming sword.  You would need to go through the fire. 

When Moses went up the mountain of God to get the Ten Commandments, remember that he too needed to pass through a wall of fire. 

And, here John is telling us that Jesus is going to bath us in fire.

And it makes me think that though repenting is good, “turning around” is good, maybe Jesus is able to do something that no one else can.  Maybe, Jesus has a way to make us truly pure, like those burned fields, ready to make things grow for another year.  Jesus does not simple wash us off.  Jesus baths us with his own fire.  Jesus makes us pure, because he is pure.

Maybe, John is asking us to turn around and look for the one who will burn away the impurities so that we can walk with God and talk with God and truly be the people of God once again? 

Maybe, Jesus has a Spirit of fire that will refine us to truly be his people of love? 

Maybe, even now, Jesus is throwing us into the air like wheat, allowing the useless chaff to blow aside, and burning away the chaff so that it does not infest the wheat of our hearts ever again. 

Maybe, Jesus cares enough for you to do that work of refining.  Maybe you, yes even you, has a chance. 

“What, then, shall we do?” 

Follow the one who takes the time to care for you, who does the hard work to refine you, and who gives up his own life to make you a part of God kingdom.  Yes, you have more than a chance.

Reflection on Luke 1:68-79

 

Luke 1:68-79

68 Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel, 

you have come to your people and set them free.  

69 You have raised up for us a mighty Savior, 

born of the house of your servant David.  

70 Through your holy prophets, you promised of old to save us from our enemies, 

71 from the hands of all who hate us,  

72 to show mercy to our forebears, 

and to remember your holy covenant.  

73 This was the oath you swore to our father Abraham: 

74 to set us free from the hands of our enemies,  

free to worship you without fear,

75 holy and righteous before you, all the days of our life.  

76 And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, 

for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way,  

77 to give God’s people knowledge of salvation

by the forgiveness of their sins.  

78 In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,  

79 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, 

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

 

Reflection

He stood at the door as snow lightly touched down around him, wondering if he should knock.  He could turn back.  He could go back to his old ways of life.  He could return to the confused days of drunken nights of ecstasy and blurry days of confusion as he drifted from job to job. 

That is no way to live, of course.  He looks at his thin hands which had been starved of proper nutrition through those years.  Look at what he had become, a mere shadow of himself; a mere glimpse of who he could have been.  All of those years wasted.  “All those years,” as if it had all happened a long time ago, as if it had been longer than just last week when he made up his mind to make his prodigal return to his parents. 

One of his buddies told him to try.  He told him to try going back to his parents to get a new start.  It is what he did anyway.  When he did so, his parents welcomed him back with forgiving hugs.  That welcome was not the end of his problems, but it was a start on the way toward the end.  The friend was his own personal John the Baptist, preparing the way for salvation, preparing him to be free from his past by sharing this promise of forgiveness.

As he reviewed all that his buddy had said, the song of Zechariah echoed through the snow filled heavens.

“And you, child (meaning John), shall be called the prophet of the Most High, 

for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way,  

to give God’s people knowledge of salvation

by the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:76-77). 

But that is the thing; would his own parents do the same?  Would they embrace him and forgive him?  He had disappointed them in so many ways.  He can still hear his dad’s voice shouting, “Out!  Get out of here!”

But, how else would he move forward?  How else would he finally be free of his past and find salvation? 

His dad’s shout, his family ousting, was two year ago.  Time heals.  God heals.  And, God continually promises to set us free.  He needed to be free.  He needed to be healed.  He needed God’s promises to be true tonight in a very real way because if they were not true tonight he did not know what else he would do.

The song of Zechariah continued to swirl with the falling snow, snippets of promise and hope jumbled up in the wind:

“…You swore to our father Abraham: 

to set us free from the hands of our enemies” (Luke 1:73).

These words swirled one way.

“Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel, 

you have come to your people and set them free” (Luke 1:68).

These words swirled another.

“In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us” (Luke 1:78)

The promise landed on the back of his thin hand like snow as he considered the knock.  “The dawn from on high shall break upon us.”  “Shall” is a powerful word.  “Shall” means that it will happen.  “Shall” means that forgiveness is his and he will finally have a way forward.  “Shall” says this is certain to happen.  But, will it?  Will God’s compassion find him through the loving eyes and arms of his parents?  Or will those eyes and arms be cold and distant?

There was only one way to know.  He would have to knock.  “Knock and the door will be opened for you,” he once heard in Sunday School (Matthew 7:7).  He guessed that it was time to find out if the light of compassion could fall across someone like him; someone who knows the reality of darkness and death all too well.

He knocked.  The door opened.  And, his feet were guided, more like yanked, over the threshold of the door “into the way of peace;” so powerful was the hug from his dad (Luke 1:79). 

I guess you could say that God remembered the covenant of mercy (Luke 1:72).  It is the very mercy that we are promised in the hands and feet of Jesus Christ our Lord, for whom we await, hand ready to knock at the door.

Reflection on Luke 3:1-6

 

Luke 3:1-6

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“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.’ ”

Reflection

Do you know who the gospel story is not about?  It is not about Tiberius Caesar, though he is mentioned in the Bible as existing.  However, God is not particularly interested in telling his story. 

Do you also know who this story is not about?  It is not about Pontius Pilate, though Jesus’ life is definitely affected by his actions and decisions.  As a Roman governor, Pontius Pilate does send Jesus to the cross, but the story is not about him any more than your story is about the president and any actions that he may or may not have taken that raised inflation.  It affects your story, and you pocketbook for that matter, in a very personal way, but your story is not about him. 

Neither is the gospel story about Pontius Pilate.  Nor, is it about King Herod, the ruler Philip, the high priest Caiaphas or his all influential father-in-law, Annus.  The gospel story is not about any of these powerful men who resided in powerful cities.  God is not particularly interested in telling their stories.

To find out who the gospel story is all about, to find out whose stories God is interested in, we need to back away from the powerhouse cities in Rome and look in the wilderness.

We need to look in the places where the Bible says the snake slithers and waits to strike.  We need to look in the places where real people live real lives, struggling in real ways to get food and find shelter.  We need to look in the places where the Israelites wandered, with starving stomachs and struggling souls.  We need to look where Satan thrives and is ever trying to tempt.  He even tempts Jesus there.  We need to move our eyes from Washington DC and look in the woods just outside of Shunk, PA.

We need to look in the places where lineman struggle to restore power, and where trucks hauling cows struggle to keep on the road when full of ice.  We need to look where houses look lived in and where families work hard just to get by.  We need to look in the places where lots of people assume that God has forgotten, and we need to look at the people who lots of people assume are not worthy of a gaze; yet it is where God chooses to send his messenger.

“The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:2-3).

The all powerful and redeeming word of God skipped over the powerful and mighty and fell on a guy in the wilderness.  The word of God chooses to come to him and chooses to send him around the wilderness, speaking to the people out there near the Jordon river.  And, what was the word that God wanted to say to those people, struggling out in the wilderness? 

Well, I will tell you that it is a great word. 

It is a word that asks those everyday people struggling out in the wilderness to change their minds about how they see the world.  To those who are convinced that they have no importance, God has a word: “Repent,” open your mind to the truth that you are loved and you have a purpose. 

To those who struggle and cannot imagine that anyone really even cares, God has a word: “Repent,” open your eyes to see someone who cares and is coming to you. 

To those who have been ensnarled by the thorny brambles of this troubled life, those who have been convinced by the snake that the only way to get by in the world is to look out for yourself, God has a word: “Repent,” be freed of those thorny vines, there is a better way to live.

“Prepare the way of the Lord;” the people hear (Luke 3:4).

“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 3:4-6).

Those people struggling with everyday life out in the wilderness are promised that when the junk of life is shoved to the side, when roads are allowed to be made straight and the impossible mountains that we think we need to climb to get anywhere in life are leveled, when we allow the road to be straight rather than trusting the crooked ways that the snake tells us to rely upon, and when the rough paths of this world are allowed to be smoothed, then we will see the truth. 

It is a truth that has always been.  It is a truth that has just been cluttered, not seeable.  It is the truth that God wants you to desperately see, especially when you are out, struggling in the wilderness of life. 

Your salvation is near.  You “shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6).  In fact, God plans that “all flesh,” all people will be able to see God’s heart of love and salvation. 

And, the amazing thing about all of this is that God came first to you in the wilderness, to let you know that even you, especially you, are worthy of being freed from the snares and thorns found in the wilderness.  Even you, especially you, are worthy of God’s attention and salvation.

I cannot tell you the amount of people who I hear from who are genuinely surprised during this time of year when they find out that Jesus came into this world to save them too. 

So many people have somehow heard that God is distant, or God, if there is one, does not necessarily care.  How many people say, “If I stepped into a church, it would fall down.”?  Or say that it would be struck by lightning because of their very presence! 

Somehow, these people have learned a lesson that says, God is not for them, and God wants nothing to do with them. 

But, right here we find out that the gospel message is especially for them.  God jumped over all of the important people in the world so that the poor, sinful, struggling schmucks of the world might be encountered by God’s promise of salvation.  No, the church will not fall apart if they were to step their foot in.  In fact, God is trying create straight roads to those churches, and is desperately trying to unlock those door and break them down so that these very people might see that the “salvation of God” for them (Luke 3:6). 

Jesus’ forgiveness is for them.  Jesus’ life of freedom and love is for them.  The purpose that Jesus has for the world includes them.  Jesus wants desperately to speak a word of sacrificial love in their ear, and allow them to see the power of the cross with their own eyes.  Jesus wants to speak a word of love to you.  It is a word of love that would die on a cross so that you might be free of the troubles in the wilderness.

Just this week, I read the story of a young woman who, though a pastor’s kid, suddenly found herself in the thorns and threats of the wilderness.  Her name is Cindy Price.  She is not a famous Christian speaker.  She is just a young woman with a gospel story that tells about seeing the salvation of God while in the wilderness.  She is just someone who experienced God’s work to make the paths of salvation straight for her when they had unexpectedly been made crooked during Christmas time.  She writes:

“The year my dad- who was a pastor at the time- was caught in his addiction, the Church leadership asked him and my mom to not attend the Christmas Eve service. The investigation was ongoing and they wanted him to step back while it happened.

What they didn't count on, I don't think, was for me to show up at the service. I have a deep commitment to tradition so when my parents said we weren't going to the service, I resolved to go by myself.

Under the weight of uncertainty and the fear of what I had suspected might just be a true accusation, I showed up to the candlelight service.

Families were there to celebrate, it was Christmas after all.

I found my usual spot at the front and as the first carols rang out, my tears began to fall. I felt like an imposter. I was a cloud of grief and darkness amidst a cheerful celebration. I felt guilty for dampening the time of rejoicing.

As I sat I found myself talking to Jesus. ‘I'm ruining your party,’ I told him.

It was his response in that moment that changed Christmas for me forever. He told me, ‘Cassie I came to that manger as a baby not for those in celebration, but for those in mourning.

I came for you. In this moment. Right here.’

For the first time in my relatively easy life, I was tasting heartache (and oh if only I knew how much more would come). And it was there that Jesus showed me the heart of Christmas. Jesus stepped down to pursue the broken and the hurting and the lost.

If this year broke you down. Isolated you. Left you grieving or fearful or hurt. I want you to know that you don't have to muster up cheer. You don't have to feel like a downer in the midst of celebration. You can sit at the feet of a savior who came for you where you're at right now. That's how Immanuel works. It's God with us in the dirt giving us hope in the face of despair.”

She ends with a quote from Isaiah, "Those who walk in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in spaces of deepest darkness a light has dawned" (Isaiah 9:2).

Those in the darkness, those in the wilderness, “shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6).  You “shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6).  “Repent,” open your minds, and your eyes, to see that the word of salvation, the very saving work of God is coming to “all flesh,” but especially you.