Preparing the Way
Isaiah 40:1-11
December 7, 2014 / 2nd Sunday of Advent
Circumstances were not such that we could do it this year, but most
years we go back up to my home area in East Central Illinois for
Thanksgiving. We usually drive and the first half of the 8 hour drive
in in Missouri. But after we pass through St. Louis, we cross the
Mississippi River into Illinois. The river crossing at St. Louis is quite
substantial with the river being probably a mile wide there and the
crossing by bridge above the river to allow for boats and barges. It is
interesting but at Memphis the river crossing is probably a bit wider
even than at St. Louis, and in New Orleans the bridge over the
Mississippi is at least 2 miles wide.
But if you were to travel up to Minnesota to the head waters of the
river, you would find that it is a small stream that you can easily step
across. It is amazing to me that something on the order of two miles
wide in New Orleans is less than 2 feet wide in Minnesota. But then it
is often the case that great movements start very small – a single event
can ignite a spark that erupts into a glorious blaze.
Now I am sure we can think of many examples of just such an event
and most of us this morning are already turning our thoughts to a
undistinguished family and a lowly stable. But this is Advent; we
aren’t ready to look at the birth of Jesus yet. So let me turn us to a
couple of people who aren’t on Christmas cards, but who pave the way
for the Son of God.
If great things grow from small beginnings, let me suggest that one of
the most humble beginnings is a woman named Ruth. Ruth was from
Moab. Moab was the son of Lot’s incestuous relationship with his
own daughter. And because of that the Moabites were not considered
by Israel to be part of God’s people. Nevertheless when there is a
famine in Bethlehem, Naomi and her husband, Elimelech flee to Moab
to live. Naomi’s husband and sons die in the course of several years,
leaving Naomi alone with her daughters-in-law, one of whom is Ruth.
Naomi and Ruth move back to Bethlehem because Naomi hopes that
her kinfolk will take care of her. A woman without a man in this time
has very few options – her best being that a kinsman will redeem her
and take care of her. Ruth and Naomi are so poor at this point that it
falls to Ruth to glean in the fields behind the harvesters to gather food.
Gleaning is a long held practice in the Israel of this time as it helps
provide for the widow and the orphan per God’s command. But it is a
modest income at best. The harvesters are not paid to leave grain in
the field. A good day gleaning might provide enough food for a single
meal. Ruth is a poor widow from a foreign land who is not even
considered among the Jews to be a child of God. And only God
knows how many there are like her that we do not ever hear about.
We know that she wasn’t the only widow gleaning in the fields at the
time of the story. A non-descript outcast, driven to what amounts to
digging in the dumpster for survival. Not a pretty image for a
Christmas card.
The other one is someone we do not hear about much at Christmas,
and certainly is not on any of your Christmas cards. With long,
unkempt hair and a beard and wild look about him, wearing a camel’s
hair tunic and living off of the wild, eating locusts and wild honey, he
comes declaring the Kingdom of God to be at hand. With shouts of
repentance and a call to live a life that testifies to God, John the
Baptist is Mark’s herald of Christmas. In fact, John is Mark’s offering
about the origin of Christ, as Mark is silent regarding the birth of
Jesus. For Mark, Jesus’ life really begins at his baptism into his
ministry, and so Mark begins with an account of someone who while a
prophet is probably not the image we would have of a prophet. He is a
hermit, a recluse who spends his time alone in the desert with the Lord
instead of among people.
His appearance is startling and his message abrupt. There is not candy
cane Christmas here – John simply yells, “Repent!”
In our modern world during our modern Christmas season and
celebration we would more likely find John and Ruth on the streets of
DC, living out of dumpsters, panhandling for change, and if they
deigned to speak at all, we would probably not listen, or simply
dismiss them as addled. They are miniscule on the stage of history –
only noteworthy at all because they are the tiny stream from which the
great events flow.
For you see, Ruth is redeemed by Naomi’s kinsman, and she marries
Boaz, the father of Obed, the father of David, and this insignificant
poor woman is in the line of Jesus. And John, well we all know that
John is the cousin of Jesus, according to Luke, and appointed to herald
the coming of the messiah.
These two people pave the way: the insignificance of Ruth is made
significant in her grandson who becomes the greatest of Israel’s kings
and who is promised the throne forever. And John, comes, quoting
from Isaiah when asked to identify himself, declaring,
that we are on God’s schedule and repentance reminds us that God is
often present in the poor and the homeless, the widow and the orphan.
Advent is a season of waiting for God’s time, and a season in which
we can repent of our own self-centeredness and learn to focus again on
what is important: love, hope, forgiveness, compassion and mercy.
It is these small things – a smile, a hug, a moment shared and a kind
hand offered that pave the way for the great things, for in these is
repentance. It is from the small stream that a great river flows, by the
poor and outcast that the road is paved, and from humble stall that
greatness is born. And so we wait…
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the
way of the Lord.”
From the most humble of beginnings comes the most auspicious of
events – from the small stream grows the mighty river. Sometimes
God, as well,, doesn’t come or do things the way we expect. We want
power; he comes as an infant. We want the majesty of kingdom; he is
born in a stable. We want the vindication of proof, and he challenges
us to faith – he calls us to wait – to wait for his time, and his terms.
He calls us to a season of waiting as we prepare to celebrate that same
humble beginning that grows to a great movement. We could skip
right to Christmas, but there is value in waiting, and yes, while it is not
the most pleasant message to hear, there is value in hearing John’s cry
to repent.
Waiting reminds us that we are not the center of the universe, which
Christmas is ultimately not about us, but about God. The problem is
an old one, as old as in itself. We are selfish; we call upon God to act
on our terms instead of being willing to wait for God’s time.
So God’s solution is to call us through John to the humility of
repentance, to remind us that God works most often not in the mighty
and the powerful, but in the lowly and humble. Waiting reminds us
© 2014, Al Gritten, Neosho First Christian Church