Prepare the Way

Sunday, December 5th. 2004
Second Sunday of Advent (Peace)
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton
Matthew 3:1-12

1In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 3This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”’ 4Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Peace, like war, is waged.
Peace plans its strategy and encircles the enemy.
Peace marshals its forces and storms the gates.
Peace gathers its weapons and pierces the defense.
Peace, like war, is waged.
But Christ has turned it all around:
the weapons of peace are love, joy, goodness, longsuffering;
the arms of peace are justice, truth, patience, prayer;
the strategy of peace brings safety, welfare, happiness;
the forces of peace are the sons and daughters of God.

This poem by Walker Knight was what first brought to my attention the existence of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America. It was founded by a small group of people at Deer Park Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 31st, 1984.

The poem was first published in the Home Missions magazine in 1972. At the time I first read the poem, the country was not engaged in any sort of action that could be considered outright ‘war’ – at least not to the public’s knowledge. There were peacekeeping operations going on in the middle east as well as a couple of other places around the globe, but there was no military conflict comparable to the one that was going on at the time the poem was originally written – the Vietnam war.

Once a year, the Fellowship gathers for a retreat, to work out a continuing strategy to achieve peace in real, physical, tangible ways, primarily focused around issues of justice. Part of the tradition that has grown up around these gatherings has been that they are as much a spiritual retreat as a planning meeting. To that end, each year a passage of scripture is chosen as a theme around which to center that prayer and devotional time, and a banner is made, similar to the ones we would otherwise have hanging behind me on the wall, with the scripture on it.

This year, the man who was carrying the banner to the gathering was stopped, and the case in which the banner was carried was confiscated by agents at the airport. No reason was given for the confiscation. After a two week period, the man was notified that he could return and pick up the suitcase with the banner inside. That was, of course, after the gathering had taken place. No explanation was given, no apology, no reason as to why the banner was confiscated. The absence of the banner did not stop the retreat or the prayers for peace.

It seems that even today, there are those who would hold suspect any organization trying to promote peace in the midst of conflict, perhaps doubting the sincerity of the motives, perhaps questioning the validity of their call to prophetically speak against the grain of what would seem to be most things Baptist. We are, after all, the only denomination to have come out in favor of the war in Iraq. Perhaps it would do us good to lend an ear to those with whom we might disagree, there might be something to learn in the tension created between differing viewpoints.

There is another tension I’d like to talk about this morning.

One of the biblical names for Jesus is ‘Prince of Peace’. There’s a reason for that. He is the one who brings ultimate peace to our lives. It’s not always immediate, it’s not always smooth, and it is not free from rough spots. Anyone in this room can probably attest to that.

We heard a few minutes ago, Lindsey reading from the book of Micah, 4:3-4:

“He will judge between people from many nations. He’ll settle problems among strong nations everywhere. They will hammer their swords into plows. They’ll hammer their spears into pruning tools. Nations will not go to war against one another. They won’t event train to fight anymore. Every man will have his own vine and fig tree. And no one will make them afraid. That’s what the Lord who rules over all has promised.”

So it seems a bit jarring that the passage from Matthew this morning sets Jesus up as something of an instigator and not so much a peacemaker; the words are coming from John’s mouth, but they could just as well have come from Jesus’. “Brood of vipers” is not exactly what you’d call a ‘term of endearment’. It is not designed to “win friends and influence people”.

In this case, what it IS doing is speaking truth. Calling a spade a spade was something Jesus was both good at and unafraid to do. No matter WHOM he was talking to. He didn’t let the Pharisees get by without calling their bluff, or the Sadducees, or the Samaritan woman at the well, or the woman caught in adultery, or his own disciples. Though the ultimate result is and will be peace, the road to reach it is anything but smooth.

If we are called to be Christ’s presence in this world, we are called to be imitators of him. We are to be about the business of building the Kingdom of God – on earth. That is our duty, that is our call, that is our goal, because that is what we have to work with. We live in the present with our hope in the future. We live in the midst of turmoil and pestilence. We live in an age that does not know peace – true peace. It is reflected in so many ways. It is reflected in the incredible inequities we find in our very own society. It is reflected in the constant outbreaks of wars, and insurrections, and infighting between those who should be brothers, it is reflected in estrangement between family members, and broken relationships, and physical and emotional abuse, it is found in the horrible mistreatment of animals, in the exploitation of natural resources with little or no regard for the long-term consequences for our children and their children, it is found in the world at large turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the masses of hurting and dying people who COULD BE helped, if we only had the heart.

Yes, we are working toward the hope of one day experiencing the Kingdom of God directly – when we are in God’s presence, but for now, we are to be

‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’

For those of you who were here last Sunday afternoon and evening, I believe we caught a glimpse of what it looks like to make that path straight. With over 60 of our Mexican friends in attendance, the presence of each of you around those tables, smiling and laughing, going over English vocabulary or working in the kitchen, preparing the trays, and yeah, even fretting about whether or not we were going to have enough food to feed everyone, you were preparing the way of the Lord.

Most often, we understand the second coming of Christ to be … shall we say, a … dramatic event. Not something that you might, say, sleep through; angels, and fire, and clouds of light, trumpets, the works.

Picture it, if you will, as unlikely as it may seem; a world that has been so infused with the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit, that the coming of the Kingdom is indeed like that of ‘a thief in the night’ – but in the best sense of the word. Unexpected, yes, but at the same time, the ‘after’ not greatly different from what was there ‘before’. Can you imagine, if we as the body of Christ were to carry out our calling as thoroughly and completely as we could, alongside every other member of the body of Christ? Can you imagine what the world would look like if most of the work of breaking in the Kingdom had already been accomplished?

It’s a dream, I know, perhaps an unrealistic one.

But then, what are dreams for?

Let’s pray.