Waiting in the Wilderness, Advent 2 (C) – 2003

---

In the third year of the presidential term of George W. Bush, when Ariel Sharon is the Prime Minister of Israel and Yasser Arafat is the President of the Palestinian Authority and Frank T. Griswold is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States and Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury, a man is waiting quietly in the wilderness, asking that you change, and that you then change the world so that Christ can safely come back and all will see the salvation of God.

Luke’s words for today set us in a particular time and a particular place. The reader and listener find themselves with John in the wilderness after being told about the world around them. And, John is proclaiming that the particular world in which Luke has just placed us is about to change. To be ready for that world to change, people must themselves transform and change. John invites people to do this by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and then, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, he calls out for a change in the natural world, for a modification of the earth, so that all shall see the salvation of God.

John announces the opportunity for personal change and calls for a change of nature. Paths must be made straight. The valleys shall be filled. The mountains and hills shall be made low or flattened. The crooked shall be made straight. And, the rough ways will be made smooth. And, all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Luke reminds us that John says this is in accordance with the words of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah, like Luke, is set in a particular time and place. The time is the end of the Babylonian exile. The people are not yet home, but they will soon be back in the city of God. God will be with them again. God asks for an announcement that Jerusalem’s “slavery is past; [the] punishment is over. I, the Lord, made you pay double for your sins.” God has allowed the people to be taken away from their city, Jerusalem, where they lived under God’s protection and law. Isaiah announces that after the separation from God and after double the punishment, Israel will return home. The world will change and Israel has had time to change. Their hearts are ready and they are ready for the security of home. People who have been subjugated are ready to be set free.

This is Isaiah’s announcement and this is also Luke’s announcement. Only in Luke, the language of punishment, especially that of double punishment, is entirely absent. Instead, John announces a new way to change a heart and be ready for the security of a home with God-the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Johns says, “experience the water, change your ways, and be forgiven.”

And, he calls for the natural world, the environment, to be changed. God initially created the world. And, now, that creation is going to take on an entirely different appearance. The lesson from Baruch tells one story of change in the natural world. In Baruch, God has told Jerusalem that mountains, hills, and valleys will be altered so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of the Lord. Now, in Luke, the world must change so that the way of the Lord will be easier and safer. If the world undergoes a change, if empty things become filled, and high things become low things, and crooked things become straight things, and rough things become smooth things (Isn’t this sounding familiar? Isn’t this our story?) then people will see the salvation of God.

The story in Luke continues beyond our lesson. John says that it is more than baptism that will help you see God when God comes. And, Paul picks up on that story in his letter to the Philippians. Paul is referring to Christ coming again when he asks for those in the church to have an overflowing love that will help them determine what is best. If they do this they will be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, for they will have produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. Even before Christ is born, John gives examples of what Paul is saying. In the verses following our text for today, John describes a time of overflowing love where people in need are clothed by those who have more than they need and people who have food share it. And, no one is asked to pay more than they owe. Even though the words here are John’s, the message does not change. The world is crooked, and it can be made straight. Those who are empty can be filled. Those who are high shall be brought low. Rough ways will be made smooth. And, the natural world, the world as we know it, the world we are surrounded by, will change by our actions of love. We will be ready for the day of Christ and we will be ready to see the salvation of God.

This year, like every year, we celebrate that Christ, the salvation of God, is coming. And, in Christmas, we celebrate the reality that Christ really does come. So, we are merely weeks away from celebrating the truth that Christ will indeed come again, the words that we speak every week in our table celebration, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Christ will come again, this year as in all of our liturgical years. Christ is coming soon. And, there is work to do.

Is the world safe for the coming of Christ? Have the paths been made straight? Have you readied the paths? A woman is just over eight months pregnant, and she is readying herself for a journey over hills and through valleys. Christ is coming and the triune God will be with us once again in this particular time and this particular place. You still have time, a little bit of time before the world changes.

So, in the third year of the presidential term of George W. Bush, when Ariel Sharon is the Prime Minister of Israel and Yasser Arafat is the President of the Palestinian Authority and Frank T. Griswold is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States and Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury, a man is waiting quietly in the wilderness asking that you change and that you then change the world so that Christ can safely come back and all will see the salvation of God.