God’s Servants: John the Baptist by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

My husband Kurt has worked on several political campaigns. And we have had the opportunity to meet some folks who have worked on some congressional and presidential campaigns. One of the things that happens before the candidate comes to town, is an advance team comes to get things ready.

The advance team comes in to check out the facility, to check on security. They also meet people and decide who are the people that the candidate should talk to… some will be people with power in the city… the movers and the shakers.  Others will be everyday people because a good candidate wants to meet people from every facet of the community. 

You see, the candidate has limited time and so their time must be well spent on the most strategic conversations. People are chosen to ride in the limousine with the candidate from event to event so that not a moment of time is wasted. Every conversation is crucial and can make a difference to the end goal. So, the preparations are essential. Today’s scripture is about Jesus’ advance team, a one man team, John the Baptist. Our scripture starts with his birth. But let’s back up just a little bit further. 

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about Zachariah and Elizabeth? They were well along in years, but an angel came to the priest Zachariah while he was on duty in the temple in Jerusalem and told him, “Your wife is going to have a baby.” Zachariah laughed at such an idea, as he and his wife were quite old, and because he laughed the angel struck him mute. 

Today, we come to the time when that baby is born (Luke 1:57-80 from The Message for those following along from afar). The parents take the baby to the temple on the 8^th day to have him circumcised, and all the friends are assuming the baby will be called Zachariah, after his father. But Elizabeth says, “No, he shall be called John.” Zachariah confirms this by writing on a tablet and when he does this, his voice comes back. He is showing his faithfulness to God and so his voice is restored. 

Zachariah is filled with the sense of wonder and awe and blessing, and he sings this song about his son. This is the heart of our reading for today. First Zachariah reminds the people that God brought them out of slavery in Egypt. God has saved them before. Zachariah reminds them:

God promised long ago
    through the preaching of the holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
    and every hateful hand.

This is important because now the people are living under the oppression of Roman occupation. They are not free. But they want to be free. There is no peace in their land. But they want peace. Their people are living in poverty. They want to live, having enough food to eat, and everyone having a home.

Zachariah says that his son is leading the way. He prophesies:

And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,”
    will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,

This means that John will go ahead of Jesus and prepare the way. John will be Jesus’ advance team. He will get the people ready to hear what Jesus has to say. 

Zachariah goes on to say that John will:

Present the offer of salvation to his people,
    the forgiveness of their sins.

 

This is huge. John will forgive sins. Up to this point, only the priests could forgive sins. Now John is going to take it upon himself to offer God’s forgiveness. And he is going to offer salvation. These people need to be saved from their sin, and John is going to be the one who stands ready to offer them salvation. What a gift! 

          Zachariah continues:

Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
    God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
    those sitting in the shadow of death,

John is going to bring light to those sitting in darkness. He is going to bring the light of God to those who have no light and have no hope. 

Finally Zachariah says John:

Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
    down the path of peace.

John will show people the way of peace. They are living in a land of oppression. They are slaves to the Romans. But John will show them peace in their land. He will point them to the one who is the Prince of Peace, Jesus. 

John prepares the way. He is the advance man. Friends, what are we doing to get ready? What are we doing to prepare our hearts and minds to get ready to receive Jesus once again? Oh sure, we have been decorating our houses, and shopping for Christmas gifts and food for Christmas dinner. Those are our material preparations. But how have we been preparing our hearts and minds? 

We don’t live under foreign oppression, but we do live under the threat of terrorism. We live in cities where there is gun violence. What are we doing to be peacemakers in our day? 

I have a few ideas on what we can do. We can stop hating all Muslims just because some terrorists are Muslim extremists. The Muslim religion at its core does not promote terrorism. The vast majority of Muslims living in this country are law abiding citizens who are just as frightened of the terrorists as the rest of us are. 

As followers of Jesus and as peace makers, we must stand up to those who would oppress Muslims. The idea that we would stop immigration of all Muslims simply because they are Muslim is ludicrous. This country was founded on the freedom of religion. And by the way, for the record, Christians and Muslims do worship the same God who is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They don’t follow Jesus, but our God is the same God. If we want to be peace makers then we need to make peace with our Muslim brothers and sisters. We need to get to know them, frequent their businesses and treat them with respect. This is how we act as peace-makers and prepare to receive Jesus. 

How else can we be peace-makers? By not living in fear between white and black Americans. We still have not overcome the ramifications of the sin of slavery. We still have not left the sin of segregation behind us. Black children are segregated into inner city schools that are inferior to suburban schools. A white woman walks down the street and when she sees a young black man walking toward her she either holds her purse a little tighter to her body, or worse yet, crosses the street to avoid him. We all know this happens. I have gotten out of my car in the Old West End late at night, and been a bit fearful of the people around me. I will confess that sometimes I am more fearful of persons of color than white people in my neighborhood. I’m ashamed of that. As a follower of Jesus, I want to treat everyone the same. John came to show us the way “one foot at a time, down the path of peace.” That’s what it means to get ready for Jesus, to prepare the way for a Savior. We become people of peace.

But let’s take it a little closer to home. Let’s look at our personal relationships. With whom do you not live in peace in terms of your daily relationships? Is it a co-worker, a friend who is no longer a friend, a family member with whom you no longer speak? Maybe you have a sense that you are not living in peace because you have great envy of another person’s life and that envy is keeping you from living in peace with her. Perhaps someone has wronged you and you have been unable to forgive him. 

As Christ-followers, we are people of peace. It does us no good to hold a grudge, or to carry around envy, or to withhold forgiveness from another person. These things just keep negativity in our hearts. Jesus calls us to make peace. That can take many forms. You might go to the person and have a conversation. You might write a letter or an e mail. Or you might just make peace in your heart. Sometimes the person we are not at peace with has no idea, but the negativity is eating away, inside of us like a poison. We need to make peace, because we follow the Prince of Peace.

          Christmas is just a few short days away. John was born to prepare the people for Jesus. He came to show us the way “one foot at a time, down the path of peace.” So as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus once again, let us prepare our hearts. Let us consider how we can be peace-makers. And let us make our peace in the world.