SEATTLE MENNONITE CHURCH
Second Sunday of Advent, December 8, 2002
Sermon: Weldon D. Nisly
TITLE: “Make the Lord’s path’s straight”
THEME: Pardoning grace
TEXTS: Isaiah 40:1-11(12-31) “Comfort, I comfort my people, says your God.”
Psalm 85 “Righteousness will go before [the Holy One],
and will make a path for [the Holy One’s] steps.”
Mark 1: 1-8 (9-11) “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Holy One of God…make [the Holy One’s paths straight…”
2 Peter 3:8-15a “beloved…waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God”
(Read in congregational meeting following worship)
Hear the Gospel of Mark:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the [Holy One] of God.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
"Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way;
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make the Lord’s paths straight -- "
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness,
preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
And there went out to him all the country of Judea,
and all the people of Jerusalem;
and they were baptized by John in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins.
Now John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist,
and ate locusts and wild honey.
And he preached, saying,
"After me comes one who is mightier than I,
the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
I baptize you with water; but [this One] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
And just as he was coming up out of the water,
he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
And a voice came from heaven,
"You are my Beloved [One]; with you I am well pleased."
This is the Gospel – the Advent – of Jesus Christ.
[Sing “Celtic Alleluia”]
Imagine! These prophetic words coming after 2 centuries of silence!
Breaking into the centuries long silence comes a long-awaited word.
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God…..
A
voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and
all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
These are the words that open the second book of the prophet Isaiah after some 2 centuries
of silence and a long exile. (Isaiah 1-39 740 BCE & Isaiah 40ff 540 BCE?).
God is coming in a new Way in Jesus to straighten things out again.
Centuries later Mark begins the Gospel of Jesus Christ by giving voice to Isaiah again.
Mark connects Isaiah the prophet with John the baptizer.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the [Holy One] of God.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
"Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way;
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare
the way of the Lord,
make the Lord’s paths straight -- "
Then John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness,
preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.
Isaiah the prophet and John the baptizer dared to raise their voice in the long silence of
their day. We might call their times a long bending silence. Isaiah and John dared to
speak the gospel into being in a long bending
silence. They dared to
prepare the way
of the Lord in the long bending silence.
The metaphor for that preparation was to straighten bent paths. The Way – which is The
Way that God had set before them – was bent out of shape. God’s people violated God’s
faith in them. They were bending The Way that God had called them to follow.
In the grand scheme of creation and salvation history God searches for a new way to reach
out to humanity – to you and me. God’s bold new all-out effort was to reach out to humans
by becoming human. Jesus is God’s reaching out to us. Jesus is God’s becoming human.
Jesus is God’s new straight path to God.
Isaiah and John’s task is to give prophetic voice to God’s new reaching of outstretched arms
to us. They are making the way straight again.
John the baptizer introduced baptism as the meeting place of God’s reaching out to us
and our reaching out to meet God on this new straight way – The Way of Jesus Christ.
The Way is the way Mark’s Gospel identifies the work of Jesus.
John enacted Isaiah’s prophetic promise with a call to three-fold action: repentance,
forgiveness of sin, and baptism.
People came from all over the Judean countryside and Jerusalem to walk this new
straight path. They came from their bent ways to repent, which is a turning around,
or a turning from the bent way to the straight way. They came to be forgiven of sin.
They came to be baptized by John in the Jordan River out there in the wilderness.
Every few weeks this fall, Adam has been meeting at Seattle Pacific University with
a group of students interested in “alternatives to war.” It is not easy in our time to be
a voice or to see a vision that is an alternative to the war cries bombarding our ears
and eyes. War is a sign and sin of our bending God’s path out of shape. It is inspiring
to hear young people calling for an alternative to war!
Last Thursday, as we meet with students for this ongoing discussion, Adam led us in
exploring the meaning of violence and nonviolence in light of cries for war. In that
exploration, Don shared his recent discovery that the root word of violence is viol ,
which has to do with a bowing or bending. The word violate or violence take that
root to mean to break or infringe or harm or an undue
alteration. (Merriam Webster’s
Collegiate
Dictionary,
Tenth Edition).
It would be useful to trace the etymology of the word violence and of the root word
viol to explore that meaning of violence as a bending or breaking.
I am struck by that reference to violence as a bending from the way. As we hear
these two Biblical words today from Isaiah the prophet and John the baptizer, we
are called to prepare the way of the Lord by making the paths straight.
Today, this very Advent, a voice is heard in what we might
call a long bending
silence. It is a voice calling all who have ears to hear to turn to the straightened
way. It is a call to baptism – to remember our baptism or to claim baptism as
the meeting of God’s reaching out to us in Jesus and our reaching out to God in
Jesus. That is The Way. Jesus is the straight path between God and you or us.
Baptism has always been a central act of followers of Christ. It is grounded in
an ancient Jewish rite of purification. Baptism has been central to the church
through the ages even when there have great differences over how and when to
baptize.
Baptism is a divine-human act – a mutual meeting of God and human – where
God reaches out to meet you and you reach out to meet God.
In Jesus God became human. It is a new straighten path between God and us.
This straight Way in Jesus is The Way of nonviolence, The Way of repentance,
The Way of forgiveness. It is a powerful and prophetic and poetic Way of
touching God touching us.
Our Advent theme is “With arms outstretched.” It is our reminder that when we
reach out to God we find a God who has already reached out to us.
Our baptism is an unbending of the crooked way and our commitment to walk the
Straight Way with Jesus and with each other in Christ made visible in the Church.
God we thank you for continuing to reach out to us through Jesus Christ.
This Advent as you prepare to send your own Jesus Christ again upon the earth
to make straight The Way before us, may we reach out to you in our baptism in
Christ. May we remember our baptism and give thanks. May we welcome
baptism into life with you in Christ made visible in your Church. We pray in the
name of the One whom you have sent and are sending yet again and will send
in the fulfillment of your Reign forever. Amen