The Second Sunday of Advent

Preached by The Very Reverend Robert Neske, Dean, at Saint Mark’s Pro-Cathedral, Hastings, December  6, 2009

The Gospel of Luke is arguably the most readable of the four Gospels. It isn’t only that Luke writes well, but more than the others, the third Evangelist with his sensitivity to the working of the Holy Spirit infuses his Gospel with a truly wonderful sense of both the holy and the human. Never for a moment do we fail to understand that what we are reading in Luke’s Gospel is the story of God at work on our behalf or that Jesus is both truly his Father’s Son and his mother’s child.

However at the same time Luke follows the pattern set in Mark’s and begins his account of Jesus’ ministry with the appearance of John the Baptizer. But not before placing the ministry of Jesus in context of time, place and culture. It is still the time of the Pax Romana – the Roman Peace; Tiberius is the Emperor, Pilate, is Governor, the Herod brothers are the region tetrarchs, Annas and Caiaphas are the high-priests. “Luke’s recitation of the names is not without design as all of them with the exception of Lysanias will play some role in the events of the Gospel.

 What Luke would have us know is that in a world of Caesars, tetrarchs, governors and high-priests; in a world where human beings believe they control the destiny of the known world, there is a God who speaks the word to the last prophets of Israel, who is bringing about the salvation of humankind. “The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” This is a solemn way of asserting God’s unique intervention at this moment in history.

John’s mission covers much of the Jordan Valley west of the river where we are told he proclaimed “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” What is remarkable is that the emphasis is on the proclamation more than on the baptism itself, because what is necessary is the removal of sins. John’s emphasis is on ‘repentance’ of which baptism is the outward and visible sign of this intention, this desire; to receive turn form sin and receive God’s forgiveness.

This is the means by which John is to prepare the land of Israel for the Messiah’s coming, for without proper preparation and forgiveness, the coming of Jesus as the bearer of salvation will be of no benefit to Israel and the people of God. The quote from Isaiah restates the meaning of John’s mission with an emphasis on the alteration of the moral landscape: “the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

 John’s job is not to prepare the nation for the sudden advent of the messianic deliverer; John is preparing the way for God so that God may announce his salvation for all flesh. That salvation is Jesus, in whose person the forgiveness of sin, the display of God’s good pleasure becomes reality.

 As a prophetic sign of what was to come, John’s baptism was an effective anticipation of this future cleansing and forgiveness for not only the people of God, the Jews, but for all of humankind. Since forgiveness was unthinkable without repentance, John summoned the people to express their repentance in baptism.

 The critical element is repentance; the word in the Greek is metanoia, which literally means turn back, to return to (to God). The Hebrew word is shuvah, which also means to return to the right way, to return to God. Both words carry within them, the realization that we have left the right path, that we have ceased following God or God’s directions either intentionally or unintentionally, but we have fail to stay on the path and have gotten lost, and need to return to God’s way.

 Repentance implies conversion. Forgiveness of sins as a result of conversion is for Luke, especially, one of the constant elements of the Good News. Metanoia, repentance, then, is to turn back or turn away from is a form of conversion, as is its opposite which is faith, which means to turn to.

 Conversion is a conscious act; it is a desire to do things differently, to live differently in this world. We don’t always seem to get this, but the people listening to John did. They responded to him and the act of baptism, this ritual cleansing served to signal their conversion – a turning from the sin in their life and a turning to the renewal of their faith in anticipation of the Messiah’s coming.

 This is what our Advent preparation is meant to be as well. As noted in this month’s edition of The Chimes, Advent serves as an antidote to that dreadful tyranny which is the ‘holiday season’ a term which says nothing and means even less. Because Advent asks us to look at what we are doing and really think about who and what we are looking forward to as we observe and celebrate the first coming of Christ into the world.

 What the Advent season asks us to consider is conversion, both in terms of repentance which asks us to turn from the sins that weigh us down and hold us back from fulfilling our commitment to Christ; and in terms of the turning to of our faith, which reminds us that even as we struggle with the challenges that confront us we are not alone and not without the support that comes from the God who loves us and has called us into relationship and servanthood, because God believes in us, strange as this might seem.

 This is what Paul was telling the Philippians when he wrote: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” In the turning from of repentance and the turning to which marks our faith we find our purpose, which is to prepare ourselves, that we might always be faithful in our witness to Christ as his followers and servants of one another in Jesus name.