The Messenger of God – November 28, 2021, the First Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 11:1-11, Mark 1:1-8
November 28, 2021
The First Sunday of Advent

I’m using a word today that’s pretty popular in our world – the word “Messenger.”  That has a different meaning than it had years ago.  It used to be that a messenger was someone who delivered a message for someone else.  Usually it was a written message, but sometimes it could mean one who makes any kind of delivery for someone else.  A messenger could be sent to someone to deliver a package.

Nowadays, when we think of a messenger, we think of an app – or an “application” – by which a message is sent.  We have them on our phones and our computers, and many of us use them all the time.  We call it “texting” or “text messaging.”  Yes, we’ve made a verb out of the word “message.”  I was trying to make a case this week that a messaging service should be pronounced, “messager.”  But I lost that battle.  No matter how logical that sounded to me, all of the messaging services still refer to themselves as “messengers.”  Oh well…

At any rate, I wanted to use the word “messenger” today, because it is the first Sunday of Advent, and there is a very important “messenger” in the story of Advent.  And we heard about him today in Mark’s Gospel.  He is the one who has come to be known as “John the Baptizer.”  Or “John the Baptist.”

And he’s not the only one!  There are other messengers in the Christmas story, too!  Angels are God’s messengers.  In fact, as you may know, (because I’ve said it before!) the word “angel” comes from the Greek word “angelos,” which literally means “messenger.”  And there are a lot of “angeles” – angels, delivering a lot of “messages” in the Christmas story.

Actually, the story we’re looking at today takes place at the beginning of Jesus ministry.  That’s some 30 years after the Christmas story.  But it’s traditionally part of the Advent celebration.  Because this story is about this “messenger,” this man who came to convey the message from God that the Messiah was coming.  If you remember, his coming was foretold in the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi.  And the title of that book literally means, in Hebrew, “my messenger.”

That makes Malachi the bridge to the New Testament, because it tells us of the coming of the one who would precede the Messiah, and that’s this man, John.  And as I like to point out, the words of Malachi are actually part of what Mark quotes here in the story of John.  Mark begins, saying, “As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘Behold I send my messenger before my face who shall prepare the way.’”  That part is actually from Malachi 3.  The next part, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” comes from Isaiah.  So, Mark takes a little “liberty” there!

So, as we begin the season of Advent today, we’re crossing that “bridge” between Malachi and Jesus, and we’re thinking about this “messenger.”  And as we think of Advent, we know it’s a time of “waiting” or a time of “anticipation.”  And this man John embodies that.  “Be ready!” he tells us.  “Something’s about to happen.”  “Be on the edge of your seats!”

The other thing we see in this story is that things were changing in anticipation of the Messiah.  Preparing the way of the Lord was a big thing!  Because the coming of the Lord was a big thing!  Look how Isaiah describes it in his prophecy.  “Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill shall be made low.  The uneven ground shall be made level and the rough places a plain.”  Those are cataclysmic things!  I try to picture that!  Mountains leveled, valleys filled up!  One of my favorite places in the world is the Rocky Mountains!  It boggles my mind to think of them being leveled!  This is “hyperbole” at the highest level!  (“Hyperbole” meaning “exaggeration to make a point.”)

That’s how important this event is!  But it’s even more than that.  John is not just saying “Be ready.”  He’s also saying, “Make yourselves ready.”  As Mark tells us, “John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  John was calling the people to action.  He was saying, “Something’s about to happen, so you need to change!”

As you know, Mark’s Gospel isn’t as detailed as Matthew’s.  In Matthew, even the Pharisees and Sadducees came to John.  They knew something big was happening.  And I think, at first, they wanted to be a part of it.  But that didn’t go so well!  John didn’t talk to them very nicely!

“You brood of vipers!” he said.  (And he probably yelled!)  “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit that befits repentance!  And don’t presume to say, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’  I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees.  Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

That wasn’t a very nice thing to say to those religious leaders, was it!  And I’m sure they didn’t like hearing it!  But they were not alone.  Many people didn’t want to hear John’s message.  And they still don’t!  They don’t like to be “called to repentance.”  In fact, his story often gets “conveniently forgotten” in the Christmas story.  (And so does the murderous actions of King Herod!)

People don’t like John’s part of the Christmas story.  They don’t want to be told that they are called to change.  They don’t want to hear that Christ is King and God is sovereign, like we said last week. They don’t want to hear that!  They’re all fine with Christmas being lights and candles and angels and presents.  But God becoming human?  God calling them to change?  They don’t want that part!  As I said last week, when it really comes down to it, people are still hung up on that whole “Thou shalt not” stuff!  But that’s what this “messenger” of God was saying.

You know, it was great putting up the decorations for Advent last week.  It really helps us getting in the spirit of the Advent season.  Because it’s beautiful, and it’s meaningful, and it gives us a sense of preparation!  But Advent is more than preparing our church and our homes.  It’s also about preparing our hearts.  As we think about Christmas, we need to think about what’s in our hearts, because that’s where God looks!  That’s what John was saying.  That’s what this Jesus he was telling us about would be saying.  “I baptize with water, but he will baptize with the holy Spirit!”

John calls us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Messiah.  Maybe we can let all those things we do this season be a reminder.  When we hang a wreath or decorate a tree, let that act be a reminder of the preparation we make, in our hearts and in our lives, for the coming of the Lord.

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together!

Prayer

Eternal God, once again we turn to the celebration of the Advent of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Help us to recall, once again, the feeling of awe and wonder, that you have entered our world and become one like us.  Help us to know of your love through which you sent your son into our world and into our lives.  Help us to live in that love, and to be his light of the world around us.  For we pray in his name, Amen.