Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent – December 8, 2024
Luke 3:1-6
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
The roughest road I’ve ever been on (that wasn’t a forest service road) was Cleveland Avenue in Saint Paul, Minnesota. While I was in seminary there I worked part-time at a bookstore, and I took the bus to work. There are a lot of bad roads in Minnesota due to the frost heaves that buckle the roads every year, but Cleveland Avene was the worst. This road didn’t have potholes, it had craters! I could always tell when we hit Cleveland Avenue because the bus would start to shudder. That was your signal to hold on for dear life, because next came the bone-jarring bouncing up and down. That bus bounced so hard I thought for sure the drive shaft was going to snap! I thought the windows would shatter! I thought the wheels on the bus would go flying off, flying off, flying off. It was terrible.
But then a voice would come over the intercom. The voice was shaky, vibrating, and tremulous because of the violent shaking of the bus, but the message was firm and clear: “Next stop, Como Avenue.” When I heard that voice, I knew that the rocky ride was almost over. When I heard that voice, I knew that I was almost home.
The people of Israel traveled a rocky road. They had been overrun by the Babylonians, their cities and towns decimated. They had been marched off into exile, held in captivity in Babylon. They were far from home, and longed to return. They were surrounded by foreign gods and were tempted to forsake the one true God and start worshipping these idols. It was a temptation that was too much for some. Many gave in. The people of Israel were far from home, and they were far from God. It was a rough road. It was a bone-jarring experience. They were holding on for dear life.
But then came a voice crying out in the wilderness. The prophet Isaiah came with words of demand and promise: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Isaiah called the people to get ready. He called them to prepare themselves. He told them that God was going to act. God was going to straighten out the crooked path they were on. God was going to smooth out the rough ways. God was going to make a road home.
Fast forward several hundred years. The people of Israel were home, but now they were being oppressively ruled by Romans instead of Babylonians. In our gospel reading for today St. Luke reminds his readers of what the political situation in Israel was like. He tells us the brutal Roman leader Pontius Pilate was serving as governor of Judea. He tells us the conniving, murderous Herod was ruler over Galilee. He tells us the self-serving Annas and Caiaphas were serving as the high priests. This roots the story in real history. This is not a pretend, “once upon a time” story, but something that really happened.
But the naming of all these figures from real history also serves to remind everyone what a difficult time this was for the people of God. Just as had happened in Babylon, they were under the thumb of their enemies. Just as happened in Babylon, many had turned away from the one true God and were increasingly comfortable with the pagan gods whose statues were popping up all over Israel. Just as happened in Babylon, many were compromising their faith in order to make a buck, in order to ingratiate themselves with their oppressors. Those who remained faithful faced a particularly rough road. It was a bone-jarringly difficult time. God’s people were holding on for dear life.
But then came a voice. Then came a new prophet. Then came John the Baptizer. St. Luke describes him as a new Isaiah. John came preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. He called the people to turn away from those other gods. He called them to turn towards the one true God, the God who loved them, the God who had rescued their ancestors, the God who was coming to save them. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
As God’s people today, we often travel a rough road. Our lives often look like a crooked path, zigging this way and zagging that way. Oftentimes it feels all uphill. Sometimes life is a bone-jarring experience. Sometimes we feel like we’re holding on for dear life.
But today we hear a voice. Today through the living Word of God, we hear the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. God speaks to us today through the prophet John, via the writings of St. Luke.
Today we are called to repentance. To repent means to turn. It means turning away from sin. It means turning away from all the false gods we find ourselves serving. We may not be praying to a statue of a Roman deity, but we might well be putting our trust in things that are not God. Maybe we’re serving the god of politics, making it the be-all and end-all of our lives. Maybe we’re serving the god of home entertainment. Maybe we’re serving the god of Jack Daniels or the god of money. The most common false god of all is the god of the self, thinking we are the center of the universe, the independent arbiter of right and wrong, and the definer of our own realities. To repent is to turn away from all of this. It is to turn away from the chronic idolatry that plagues our lives. It is to turn away from sin.
To repent is also to turn towards. It is to turn towards the one true God. It is to turn towards the God who loves us and forgives us, the God who rescues and saves us, the God who joyfully receives us through his grace and welcomes us home to him.
To repent is not merely an exercise of the will. It is much deeper than that. Repentance is what happens when God’s Word comes to us and shakes us up. It is what happens when God gets our attention, when God “repents us” away from our sin and towards himself. This is what God is doing for us today as he has called and gathered us by the Holy Spirit to come and hear his voice.
This voice also calls us to prepare. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” the prophet says. As Christmas approaches, many of us are preparing our homes for the holidays. We decorate. We spruce things up. We do a little extra cleaning so things look nice for our guests. Similarly, we sometimes think the preparation we’re called to here involves sprucing ourselves up, cleaning up our bad habits, decorating our lives with a few good deeds here and there. This isn’t wrong, exactly. Perhaps that’s exactly what the Holy Spirit is prompting in you as you are “repented.”
But to prepare the way of the Lord is not just about cleaning up your life. It is about handing your whole life over to God – even the messy parts, especially the messy parts! It isn’t just about cleaning your room, it is about making room. It is about making room for him in our lives. It is about making room for him in our lives by setting aside time to be in his Word, time to be in prayer. We prepare the way of the Lord by making room in our lives for worship. We add extra worship services on Wednesdays during Advent for just that purpose. We are preparing not only our homes, but our hearts. We are preparing not only for Christmas, but for Christ.
For many people, life in general, and perhaps the holiday season in particular, feels like a ride down Cleveland Avenue. It is filled with a lot of bone-jarringly difficult moments. It feels like things are about to snap, about to shatter, about to break. Sometimes we feel like we’re holding on for dear life. Sometimes it feels like the wheels are about to fly off.
But then comes a voice.
The prophet John doesn’t just call us to repent. He doesn’t just call us to prepare. He also gives us a promise from God. He promises us that all the rough ways will be made smooth. He promises us that home is just around the corner. He assures us that the day is upon us when all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
With these words, John is pointing us to the coming savior. He is pointing us to Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. He is pointing to Jesus, who comes to us with forgiveness, life, and salvation. With the coming of Jesus, we have a smooth and straight path home to God, where we find true hope, true joy, and true peace, today and forever.
Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church