ADVENT II: ADVENT II: LUKE 3:1-6

ADVENT II: BARUCH 5:1-9; PHILILPPIANS 1:4-6, 8-11; LUKE 3:1-6

Carl Michalson, a brilliant young theologian who died in a plane crash some
years ago, once told about playing with his young son one afternoon. They tussled playfully on their front lawn when Michalson accidentally hit the young boy in the face with his elbow. It was a sharp blow full to his son's face. The little boy was stunned by the impact of the elbow. It hurt, and he was just about to burst into tears. But then he looked into his father's eyes. Instead of anger and hostility, he saw there his father's
sympathy and concern; he saw there his father's love and compassion. Instead
of exploding into tears, the little boy suddenly burst into laughter. What he saw in his father's eyes made all the difference!
The sharp blow of God's message to us is: Repentance. But, look into your father's eyes. What he offers you is forgiveness and that makes all the difference. Repent and you will be forgiven.

On the second Sunday of Advent, we hear the words of the ancient prophet, Malachi.
Malachi tells of a figure who is coming "to prepare the way for the Lord."
He speaks of a messenger who will purify people's hearts. "God is sending an
emissary," writes Malachi, "who comes intending to cleanse your souls."

In this world we find a lot of warning signs: At an intersection, the green light changes to yellow. At the theater the house lights flash. At the airport terminal the boarding call comes over the intercom. At school zone and railroad crossings the lights begin to flash. Tornado siren screams before the tornado hits. On the football field the two-minute warning sounds. They are signs or warnings that we need to prepare ourselves for what is about to happen. Advent and lent are the times the church rings the warning bells. And those who heed the call are found prepared to receive the Lord.

Each year, the second and the third Sundays in Advent center on John the Baptist, reminding us that if we want to prepare properly for the coming of Jesus we need to listen to the Baptizer’s message. The evangelists realized the importance of John’s message. Hence all the four of them wrote about John’s preaching, while only two of them described the nativity of Christ. The Baptizer proclaimed the coming of God’s Kingdom and preached a ceremony of immersion as a response that was to symbolize the interior repentance that leads to forgiveness.

John's baptism was not a proselyte baptism converting Gentiles into Jews. Instead, it was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and it required repentance (metenoia, a change of being}, which implied a turning around to proceed in a new direction. Baptism itself is a purification ritual and John was inviting people to be purified of the unholy elements in their lives. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist declared, “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” (Lk 3:5). If a king were planning to travel, work crews would be dispatched to repair the roads. Ideally, the roads for the king's journey would be straight, level, and smooth. John considered himself as the courier of the king. But the preparation on which he insisted was a preparation of heart and of life. "The king is coming," he said in effect. “Mend, not your roads, but your lives. A smooth road means nothing to God, but a repentant heart means a great deal. Hence, the truly important goal for us is to prepare our hearts to receive the Lord. True repentance hates the sin, and not merely the penalty; and it hates the sin most of all because it has discovered and felt God's love.

Billy Graham, had these comments about the disease running rampant in our
world: "We're suffering from only one disease in the world. Our basic problem is not a race problem. Our basic problem is not a poverty problem. Our basic problem is not a war problem. Our basic problem is a heart problem. We need to get the heart changed, the heart transformed." This is the call of John the baptizer today.

As we walk farther into the Advent we need to prepare the way for the Messiah in our hearts: We have to fill in the “valleys” of our souls which have resulted from our shallow prayer life and a minimalist way of living our faith. We have to straighten out whatever crooked paths we’ve been walking, like involvement in some secret or habitual sins or in a sinful relationship. If we have been involved in some dishonest practices at work or at home, we are called to straighten them out and make restitution. If we have been harboring grudges or hatred, or failing to be reconciled with others, now is the time to clear away all the debris. If we have been pushing God off to the side of our road, if we have been saying to Him that we don’t really have the time for Him, now is the time for us to get our priorities straight. And we all have to level the “mountains” of our pride and egocentrism.

John's message calls us to confront and confess our sins. We have to turn away from them in sincere repentance and receive God's forgiveness. There are basically two reasons why people who have recognized their sins fail to receive forgiveness for them. The first is that they fail to repent. But the second is that they fail to forgive. Jesus was very explicit about this in Matthew 6:14 and 15. He says, "For if you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." Is there someone I need to forgive today? We must not let what others have done destroy our lives. We can't be forgiven unless we forgive. We must release our bitterness if we are to be able to allow God to do His healing work in our lives. Let’s heed to the call of John the Baptist to prepare our hearts for real Christmas in our lives.