Welcome to the Knox Talks blog. Here you can find recent and past sermons relating scripture to a wide variety of topics. I would like to thank Shelley Rose for transcribing my notes into text for the blog.
Preparing the Way
Scriptures: Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8
I find myself overwhelmed by music at this time of year. To prepare for writing this sermon I listened to two parts of Handel’s Messiah: “Every Valley” and “And the Glory of the Lord”, both quoted directly from our Isaiah lesson, as well as “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” from Godspell.
I recommend all of these to anyone who doesn’t know them.
Mark’s is the oldest gospel we have and he says the good news of Jesus begins with John the Baptist preparing the way, giving us the classic Christian interpretation of this ancient prophesy.
Mark’s intent is clear. We need to think about Jesus in light of what Isaiah promised: representing the arrival of God in the world in the form of a good shepherd, someone who would bring a long-desired peace.
I have no doubt that part of what Mark had in mind is that the first Christians weren’t called “Christian” for years. They were followers of “the way” of Jesus. In the Bible this is written in Greek as tropos which is where we get the word “trope” and, interestingly, is the same meaning as “dao” which gives its name to Daoism
The first Christians were following the Way of Jesus: a new way of living; an alternative lifestyle.
It fits well with the imagery Isaiah gives us: the valleys being raised up; the mountains levelled out. It is a great image for the first being last and the last being first, the weak being strong and the poor being rich, and all those other calls to change that filled the teachings of Jesus.
And I find it significant, on this Sunday of Peace, that Jesus’ way of peace begins with John the Baptist’s call to righteousness: repentance, which literally means a “change of direction”.
John, a prophet in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets, was concerned with justice and particularly with calling those in power to behave justly towards those who are in their power. Eventually, he was beheaded because King Herod Antipas considered him a threat.
Peace without justice can certainly exist but it is the peace of the graveyard. I have been in many graveyards and they are certainly peaceful places, but it is a peace where the voices of the living have been silenced. That is not the kind of peace you want going forward.
It is not the peace Isaiah pictures for us, where the people are restored to their homeland, where God is a good shepherd, where the powerless lambs are protected and allowed to thrive and no predators are allowed to do harm.
By following the way of Jesus, his disciples found this hopeful vision of peace, not the kind promoted by a strong-man dictator where peace comes after the army has finished stamping out all enemies.
Rather, they found the kind of peace Jesus preached: where a community of faith created space for those you would least expect to come forward and learn to be leaders; where the meek inherit the Earth.
In Jesus’ world this provided a powerful contrast with the ever-present image of Caesar Augustus whom the Romans called the Prince of Peace because his armies had subdued the nations around the Mediterranean Sea and enforced the Pax Romana through military might and regular crucifixions.
Augustus even had a kind of social media. Since he couldn’t get around through the whole empire, he had monuments put up in many cities, one of which, still standing today in Turkey, names him prince of peace, among other titles. And you thought posts on the internet last forever!
Being a bringer of peace through power was a central theme of Augustus Caesar’s propaganda. It is credited with helping establish the stability of his long rule.
The followers of Jesus disagreed with the whole concept. “We have a better Way, the Way of Jesus who is the true Prince of Peace” and as Mark’s gospel says, it all began with John the Baptist’s call to justice: that call to get right with God; to stop being self-centred and lording over others; to turn away from greed, corruption and abuse.
It can be breath-taking to recognize how little things have changed over 2000 years. The same principles are still at stake, the same call to prepare the Way is still valid, is still vital.
There are still dictators claiming to create peace through military might and terror. There are still powerful people in each place who take advantage of others for their own benefit. John’s call wasn’t just for king Herod and Jesus’ way was taught to everyone.
This is the kind of thinking to which we can apply that phrase “think globally, act locally” because the global crises are so blatant and the costs so high that they provide an unmistakable example of the damage of doing things the wrong way. That kind of example can inspire us to apply the alternate lifestyle of Jesus – his Way – to more local situations where we can turn things around in our ordinary lives.
We also have the benefit of living in a country where, in theory, our leaders are accountable to us, so we can call on our leaders to turn things around, too.
Where a tyrant is in power, this is the job of a prophet and the prophet often suffers or even dies after they deliver their message. For us, we have the great privilege of being able to call for change, call for justice, without getting our heads cut off.
We can be peace-makers in our own lives, in our land, in our world if we start preparing the Way of Jesus with that same vision of turning things around, creating a world where the powerful can’t run rough-shod over ordinary people and where we can build that true peace that Jesus showed us in his teachings.
Not the peace of the graveyard, but a peace full of life, a peace full of safety and growth, a peace that should be welcome in any age.
Amen.
Knox United Church Nepean 