Read the Lectionary Texts

Today’s Scripture lesson tells the story of John the Baptist. Now, I’m not sure if John was a northern Baptist or a southern Baptist, but what I do know is that John was an odd kind of fellow who lived out in the wilderness of Judea. He wore camel skin clothes strung together by a leather cord and lived on a diet of wild grasshoppers washed down with honey – probably to keep the grasshoppers from wiggling too much on the way down. And with long hair and a wild beard, John was an imposing figure. He put up a little tent along the banks of the Jordan River, called it The First Baptist Church of Judea, bought himself a rickety old church bus, and went out and got himself some church members, most of whom were Methodists who were mad about the fact that their Conference Apportionments were getting higher and higher every year.

And it wasn’t just the Methodists. Why, the Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Congregationalists came out to the “church” by the river too. There was a sprinkling of Episcopalians, Pentecostals, and even some Church of Christ people. There were Catholics, and Disciples, and some AME Zions. And there were Jews too – lots of Jews came out to the little Baptist church by the river – along with Hindus, Buddhists, and people from other large religions. And even the unbelievers were there – agnostics, atheists, and people who believed in some really strange things.

And why did they come to the little church by the river? Not to see a slick, well-groomed televangelist in an expensive suit. Probably not even for the free Loin of Locust Sandwich with Honey Mustard John served up after the services.

Why did they come out to the unlikely little church by the river?

Well, they came because of the VOICE.

It was unlike any voice they’d ever heard. Compared to the voices all around them, the voices they heard every day – from society, from philosophers, from religious leaders, from politicians, from friends – this was, someone once described it, like a voice crying in the wilderness. It was different. It was unique. It was not a voice preaching a message they expected to hear.

“Repent! The kingdom of heaven is at hand! The one – the Holy One – who brings you the gift of the Holy Spirit, who separates the wheat from the chaff, who lifts the poor and judges the unrighteous, is here. In our world. Now! And soon, you will meet him face to face! Turn from your sins while you still can! Get ready before it’s too late! Prepare your hearts for the Lord!”

It was not a voice with a message they expected – or wanted – to hear.

You see, these folks lived in the same kind of world we do. They lived in the world of the same old, same old. It’s the world to which God is coming – but probably not today. It’s the world that really needs God – but since God isn’t around, we’d better take matters into our own hands. It’s the world in which some people see God as a righteous God of judgment, out to punish wrongdoers; and others see God as a merciful God of love who tolerates our sin and loves to forgive us for it; and others still who wonder how there can even be a God with so much violence and tragedy in the world.

We all have our own expectations about God.

Recently, I heard a story about a boy named David. Little David’s favorite character in the whole world was Superman. He had Superman pajamas and a Superman plate and cup. He had the action figures. And for his third birthday, Little David received a Superman cape. He was ecstatic! Little David put on the cape, went outside and ran as fast as he could around the backyard. It wasn’t too long though, before he returned to the house, out of breath, with the cape crunched up in his hands. In disgust, Little David threw the cape on the floor and said, “This thing doesn’t work.”

You see, reality doesn’t always live up to our expectations.

And that’s what was so disconcerting to those who went out to hear the Baptist preacher by the river. He introduced them to realities about the Savior that were beyond their long-held expectations:

They expected a king, but John told them about a baby.

They expected a royal mansion, but John spoke about a stable.

They expected a royal nursery, he described a manger.

They expected robes, he gave them swaddling cloths.

They expected courtiers, but what they got were shepherds and wise men.

They expected a royal birth, they found an unwed mother on a donkey.

They expected a mover and a shaker, but they got a humble carpenter.

They expected a King on a white charger claiming his throne, they got a Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a lowly donkey.

They expected a throne, they got a cross.

They expected easy answers to life’s problems, they got parables that raised more questions than they answered.

They expected glory and honor, they got a crucifixion.

Oh, they expected a Savior…but not like this.

So why did the people keep coming to the little “church” by the side of the river? I’ll tell you my theory. There was something about the VOICE that drew them like a magnet.

Because John’s words were not what they expected. And the words stirred up their souls.

I think they must have felt like I felt a few years ago listening to a colleague preach at a conference. He started low and slow, as they often do in the African-American tradition, and then built the message to an unbelievable peak. I can’t exactly remember what it was the preacher was saying, but that part of me that felt content with my life as it was, was suddenly confronted with the unexpected thought that it was not even close to what God expects of me and needs of me. And into those places where I felt lost and alone and far away from God came wonderful new insights about how close God was and how much God loved me. I felt all at once like the world’s worst sinner, and yet the most loved and revered of all. I can’t explain it except to say that the preacher spoke such unexpected words that my heart was thrown into turmoil. And into that boiling mix came the Holy Spirit, and I felt visited by the divine.

Have you ever heard one of those unexpected messages that stirred your very soul?

Have you ever spoken such a message?

One of the best ways you can open up the lives of others to Christ is by learning to speak to them unexpected words of the truth about Jesus.

Once, as my wife and I were driving home to Tennessee from New England after the Thanksgiving holiday, we listened to the soundtrack of Les Miserable. That stage play of Victor Hugo’s classic work, I think, is one of the most wonderful treatments of the unexpected graces of God. Jean Valjean is a convict whose heart has been touched by Christ through a priest, and whose life is transformed into a walk of compassion and love. Jalbert, on the other hand, is the dutiful policeman whose devotion is to the law and whose solemn pledge to God is to put an end to Jean Valjean.

And isn’t that an unexpected reversal! Why, Jalbert is trying to destroy – in the name of God – the very man God is trying to save! And what unexpected things begin to happen when Jean Valjean realizes that God is on his side, and when Jalbert realizes…that God is against him.

The people who came to the little “church” by the river heard an unexpected message. The weak, the lost, the lonely, the lepers heard that God loved them and was coming to lead them to freedom and new life! Others – the successful, the accomplished, the religiously correct crowd – heard that God had some things against them.

Do you know that God has some things against you, too? And me as well.

The way we’ve pushed the Lord into the background of our lives, pulling him out on Sundays and in case of emergency, but otherwise not seeing a relationship with him as something to value and develop. The way in which we’ve reduced the commandments of God into a kind of moral ambiguity, making not only ourselves, but most especially our children and grandchildren extremely vulnerable to the forces of evil. The way we laugh at racist jokes and help perpetuate a system that kills people. The hurts we’ve inflicted upon the people God sent us specifically into the world to love, and the way in which we say things without even thinking about their impact upon others. The times we’ve turned your back on the very people God is trying to save because, like Jalbert, we see them for their failures and not for their promise. The way we throw around the gifts of our lives as though we brought them with us into the world and they are our own possessions, to do with as we please. And all the while, millions of God’s children go without.

Oh, God has some things against you today. And me. And he’s coming with a winnowing fork in his hand to clean out the barn and separate the wheat from the weeds.

So listen the VOICE of that one in the wilderness!

Cut it out! Change! Look up! Turn around! Before it’s too late!

That’s how John stirred up the souls of some. By speaking the unexpected truth – in love. And I imagine they felt about it probably just about the way you may be feeling right now. Why, you may be sitting there thinking, “He’s kidding, right? Marty doesn’t do this kind of thing. He’s just using a little linguistic license here to make a point, right? The punch line is gonna come any second now! Or is he actually standing there saying that God has some things against us?”

Well, I’ll plead the fifth to those questions. After all, only you know what God has against you, and what you need to do to put it right.

John’s message was an unexpected word. And it stirred people up and made them search their souls. And for many of them, the inner turmoil was what opened them to the Holy Spirit, and they believed and were baptized in the River Jordan.

An unexpected word of hard truth to some. And unexpected words of mercy and hope to others.

Are you struggling trying to parent your teenage child? God knows and cares. Turn to him, and let him help you. Let him give you strength and wisdom beyond yourself. Let him teach you patience, and how to open your child’s life to the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Are you hurting because of some spiritual, or emotional, or physical wound? Turn to God, and let him teach you how to find healing and ways of living that produce wholeness. Let him show you how to put the past into the past, and how to carve out a future built upon unfailing principles of life.

Are you afraid of dying? Facing the possibility that the end of your life may be near? Turn to Jesus, and let him speak to you about things of which he has firsthand knowledge – about how he will reach into your very death, and pull out life! About how he will cast a net about your loved ones and protect them while you are gone. About how he will bring about the moment when you will all be together again.

These are not words that show up often in the same old, same old of our lives. These are unexpected words that cause something deep within us to sit up, and stir, and take notice.

Can you feel it in yourself right now?

Dear friends, may this Advent Season be for you a time for learning how to listen to and how to speak the truth – in love. In some cases, they are unexpected words of accountability to a higher power. In others, they are unexpected words of gentle hope in the face of desperate situations.

There are people all around who need you to do what the Baptist did in that little “church” down by the riverside. They need you to speak the truth in love – and so prepare the way of the Lord!

They need you to be a VOICE.