The Promise of the Promised One
Advent 2 – December 4, 2011
People often ask me, since I'm not originally from around here, what I think of Long Island. Do I like it here? And in general, my answer is usually the same – “It's a good place to live. I like it here just fine – except when I wanna leave.” Because you know and I know that getting off this Island is a pain. Being on an island means that to leave it, you have to cross some body of water somewhere – and that means bridges or tunnels, which lead to toll booths and traffic. No matter how you go, unless you leave at just the right time and get very lucky, you're bound to get gummed up somewhere – and that's even without construction or accidents or repairs or who knows what else! It's not easy to leave this place. In order to do it and not lose our minds (or our tempers) we have to plan. We have to prepare.
Here we are, at the beginning of Mark's gospel – Mark, who doesn't give us any stories of Jesus' birth or family tree – but just starts in the middle of the story that is just the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark takes the camera and zooms in on a wild man, out in a wild place, John the Baptizer, who appears as the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,” and the crowds come a-running to see this man and to hear his voice, to embrace his call to repent and be baptized.
Now we may or may not realize the importance of where this scene takes place. When Mark tells us that John is out in the wilderness at the river Jordan, this is about more than geography. It is a harkening back to the story of Exodus, when God led the people out of slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh and into the Promised Land. But first, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. It was there and then that they learned what it meant to trust God, to rely on God, to depend on God – for food and for water and for guidance. It was for them, both a time of purification and of preparation – there was a reason God had them wander in the desert for 40 years, after all! But finally, when a generation had passed and the time had come, they came to the river Jordan. Just across the Jordan lay the Promised Land – but they would have to cross through the water to enter into the promises of the Promised Land, into the new life God had been leading them to all that time. The river is a dividing line between their past slavery and their future freedom.
So when John the Baptizer shows up out in the wilderness baptizing in the Jordan, it's a clear reminder of their history, of their relationship with the living God. This is a place filled with meaning to this people. It jogs their memory of who they are and where they have come from; where they have been and where they are now and how far they have fallen away. It is a splash of cold water in their face, waking them up to reality: they are living in the promised land, but they were not living into God's promises to them or living up to their promises to God. This is a covenant relationship, but they haven't lived up to their end of the agreement – to love and to trust God above all else. It's as though they have set up roadblocks in their relationship with God, detours that cause delay, potholes of pretending. It's the opposite of preparing the way of the Lord and making his paths straight! Once again, the people find themselves in the wilderness, knowing that the way into new life with God is through the waters of the Jordan.
We have a lot in common with these, our ancient ancestors in the faith. We, most of us, have crossed through another body of water – the waters of baptism – and through that gift, we have entered into God's new life. We too are people of a promise – and yet all too often, we fail to live into these promises. We forget the promises God has made to us – that we are God's beloved children, that God claims us as God's own now and forever, that we have a place in God's kingdom forever, and that we are called to be kingdom people, bringing God's reality to life in our world. We fail to live up to the promises made at our baptism, the promises we make for ourselves at confirmation or whenever we affirm our faith – promises to live out this relationship with God in the presence of God's people, promises to tell everyone what God has done, promises to serve one another, promises to work for justice and peace in our world. Just as hard as it can be to get off Long Island because of tolls and traffic and construction and accidents – that's how hard it can be for us to prepare the way of the Lord. The roadways of our lives are strewn with sin and sorrow, the wrecks of regrets and wrongs.
And so we hear, with the people of John the Baptizer's own time, John's call for us to come to the water, to seek God in the wilderness places of our lives, to trust that we will encounter there the Promised One who is more powerful that John himself. We hear his invitation to step down into the water, to pass through to the other side and re-enter God's promised land, the promise of a new life and a renewed relationship with the One who is always at work to redeem and restore and repair. The call is to prepare the way of the Lord, but the promise is that the Promised One is on the construction crew, patching up the potholes and widening the roads, clearing the debris. Despite our roadblocks and our detours, the One who is coming, the One we wait and watch for, is the one who made the map. He knows all the back roads and alternate routes. He will blaze a trail through the woods and ford the rivers if he has to. He is the One who makes a way when it seems there is no way, and nothing will stop him from coming to save us, even our selves. The promise is that he is coming whether we are ready or not, prepared for him or not – because the truth is that we'll never be 100% ready. But we return to the waters of baptism, we reclaim God's promises of forgiveness and mercy and grace, we renew our efforts to prepare our hearts and our lives, trusting in the One who is coming.
Amen.
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