‘In the wilderness…there you must prepare!’

December 4, 2022

Scriptures: Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12

Continuing on with our theme from last week…the four weeks of Advent are a time for preparation…for getting ready.  But not preparing as many might think…not getting ready for ‘Christmas’ or for the traditional ‘Santa/Presents’ way many folks have come to celebrate Christmas.  But rather, Advent is about getting ready for the coming of our Christ.  It is about preparing our hearts, our minds, and our lives to receive, to welcome, and to be guided by ‘Immanu-el’, the ‘with-us God’ who first graced our world in human form some 2000 years ago on a starlit night in the little town of Bethlehem of Judea.

Our readings for today are filled with illustrations giving us a clearer picture of this one we are to seek after. To begin with, in our Advent Reading for this morning Isaiah offers the promise of a ‘Savior’; One whom God said he would send, in order that the Hebrews might finally be set free from their ages-long history of slavery and deep oppression. Ultimately though, Isaiah’s words point towards Jesus…offering a description of him some eight hundred years before that star came to rest over the little stable in Bethlehem.  In this passage Isaiah describes what Jesus would be like, and the way in which his life and ministry would be focused. Isaiah tells us that Jesus, a descendant of King David, ‘shall not judge by outward appearances or hearsay, but rather shall rule and decide with justice and fairness for all people’. And as we see in the gospel accounts, Jesus’ ministry did focus on showing mercy and kindness to those who were poor, struggling, or oppressed. Isaiah also notes that this promised Savior will be righteous, and exceedingly faithful towards those he loves and seeks to lead.

Now, it is important to remember that as we read and ponder Isaiah’s words, that they are not there solely to describe our Lord and Savior, but also to serve as a guide for the way we are called to live our faith.  For you see, Jesus called us to be just like him…to walk along the same pathways he walked, to love one another in the same way he first loved us…to be willing to give our lives over in service of love, that one day all humankind might know what we know…for that truly is salvation!

In Psalm 72 the psalmist also describes this one we have come to know as Jesus.  In today’s psalm, the theme of God’s deep desire and passion for justice is echoed again as we hear that the poor are given justice even as the land produces an abundance which benefits all people.  This good king is seen as both providing for the needy, as welldealing justly with those who may be the very cause of their oppression. 

Then, in our reading from Chapter 15 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, we hear promises of goodness, and of the blessedness of living in community.  This passage is similar in sentiment to Psalm 133 in which the psalmist counsels, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity!” Paul takes this call a step further, telling us the reason we are to live as examples of Christ’s love in community, is so that we magnify the voice with which we speak hope and life into the world…reminding us that a witness of Christ’s love together is so much stronger than a single voice crying out all alone.

And finally, it is in our reading from Matthew’s gospel that we find the story of the one who actually was called to prepare the way before our Lord, Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist.  Matthew tells us that the words and ministry of John were along the same lines as those spoken by Jesus.  Both John, and Jesus were calling for large-scale social change and transformation, speaking out with passion and in frustration against the forces of oppression they saw all around them.

        It was John’s quoting of the passage from Isaiah however that first caught my attention.  In his article; Barren Roots, Fertile Rocks, and a Fiery Spirit, Mark Davis writes: Whenever capitalization and punctuation were added to this verse (from Isaiah), the (spoken) words of the voice became, ‘Prepare the way ….’. Without capitalization or punctuation it could also read…‘In the wilderness prepare the way’. In other words, the verse can be read two ways…either as ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way’…’, or it can be read, ‘The voice of one crying out…‘in the wilderness prepare the way’’.  In the first it seems as though John is preaching in the wilderness, as though he is speaking in all of the outer regions of the Roman Empire near to where he lived…which is the way we usually understand this verse to read.

However, the second possible translation is much more interesting to me, the one that reads; ‘A voice cries out… ‘In the wilderness prepare the way’’, implying that the wilderness is the place where the ministry takes place, that the wilderness is the place where the social transformation begins.  Suggesting perhaps, that we may need to go to the wilderness, or to work from within the wilderness, in order for our work and our message to have its divinely intended weight and purpose.  Davis says that this second translation may in fact indicate that, ‘the Lord is coming in the wilderness and that’s where the way must be prepared.’

In this Advent season, in this time of getting ready to receive Christ amongst us and in our midst, Matthew and Isaiah seem to be telling us that we will find our Lord and Savior in a place, or in places we did not expect.  And that perhaps we would do well to look at this notion of ‘wilderness’ to gain understanding and perspective on where God may be calling and leading us to. 

Now, wilderness is not a new term.  It is a common theme throughout the Old and the New Testaments.  In the Old Testament it was more about external places of hardship such as deserts and other places of danger. In the New Testament however, we find Jesus going to the wilderness at the very beginning of his ministry in order to become prepared, so as to be ready to undergo what was before him.  For Jesus, the wilderness was a place for inner transformation and preparation, a place where he encountered and dealt with various human temptations and distractions.  With each of us, the ‘wilderness’ in which we may find ourselves may be similar to, or different from that of the Hebrews or of Jesus, or perhaps even both at the same time…needing internal guidance in the midst of external difficulties. We too may find ourselves halfway between past understandings and some promised future with no timeline in evidence.

And as with the Hebrews, it is in this place of ‘journeying’ and ‘not yet there’ that our faith often rests…knowing that the past is not enough…that the past may be good, sort of, but that it still leaves us hungering for more. …and all of it coupled with this strange call towards a place about which we know even less. And it is in this place, in this wilderness of uncertainty that ‘a voice cries out’…that voice of the Spirit calling for us to find a way togetherto prepare for the arrival of Emmanuel among us.  But what does that look like?  How do we know where we fit in relative to all this?  Especially if this ‘wilderness of uncertainty’ is a place we often find ourselves?  How do we find the God who supposedly is already dwelling within this wilderness?

First, the place from which we are called to begin our journey towards wholeness and completeness within the purposes of God is not a place for which we have to search long and hard, but rather it is right where we are.  Right within the complexity and messiness of our ordinary, daily lives.  We don’t need to search here or there for a place that feels right, rather we just need to start from wherever we are.

Second, it never is a question of, ‘When we are ready to serve’, for it is never a case of being fully ready beforehand, of knowing how to swim before jumping in. Rather, it’s about consciously choosing to turn towards that call of the Spirit upon our heart and to act in a way that meets that call at the intersection of our gifts, talents, openness, and the vision that God has placed within our soul that somehow brings them all together.

And though it may not always seem so, our own individual wilderness experience is filled with deep purpose as God finds us there and sets about teaching us to trust Him there.  Then, by the persuasive and unflinching love of the Holy Spirit, we will begin to breathe deeply of new life as we journey through danger and struggle, through loss and surrender in preparation to enter and dwell within new life and purpose. 

And perhaps surprisingly, even after all the Spirit’s work invested on our behalf, sometimes we may still find ourselves in the wilderness we thought we had left behind.  In fact, we may even find that this wilderness has become our home of choice.  For it is here that we first found our God, and here that our God chooses to dwell with us.  For, it is in the wilderness of lost or searching souls that God finds and can touch upon the most needs within the human family.  And it is in this wilderness that we also can be of the most use in helping to meet the needs of others through the exercise of our faith.  It is here in the wilderness through which we each walk, that we will find the one for whom we are preparing…for as we search for God, God finds us. 

So, listen carefully for the voice that travels on the winds of the Spirit as it seeks us out and works to prepare our hearts.  Allow that Spirit free reign to bring you into greater and fuller knowledge of the Lord, knowledge as deep and as full as the waters that cover the sea…

…may God bless your journey in and through the wilderness…

…and may God bless our journey…together…

…amen