Sermon Advent 2

“It’s the End of the World as We Know It.”
Baruch 5:1-9
Luke 3:1-6

Whenever I hear the text that I just read from the Gospel, I am reminded of the song by R.E.M. called, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.” In a chaotic stream of consciousness the lead singer gives us his apocalyptic imaginations of what the end of the world would look like:

Earthquakes, birds and snakes and low flying planes.
Books burning, bloodletting, cars exploding

And amongst these disasters the group keeps singing the chorus

“It’s the end of the world as we know it….and I feel fine.”

Luke’s gospel gives us a similar stream of consciousness from the character of John the Baptist. In the wilderness he cries out “to make paths straight, every valley will be filled, and every mountain shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.” Unlike the rock stars of the group R.E.M., John is a man who lives on the fringes of his society, portrayed in other gospels as a recluse, an eccentric who wears camel skin and eats locusts. John is like those the doomsday folk we occasionally see in the comics; you know the ones who carry signs saying, “Repent, the end of the world is near.”

Yet John does not stop at the end of the world. He’s more optimistic than that. He tells all that would listen that yes, the world will end as they know it, but he feels fine because he knows that the Lord is coming to make things right.

The beginning of this passage locates this story in a very specific time and place. Luke lists off the names of the rulers of that time. The Emperor Tiberious of Rome, Pontius Pilate the Governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee. Also included is the high priest Caiaphas. By naming those in the powerful elite of that day Luke projects this story against the backdrop of the political and religious history of Israel. We will see these characters again in this gospel’s account of Jesus’ trial and execution.

History tells us that at the time the gospel of Luke was written, the Roman Empire ruled the world through a system of domination and the homeland of Jesus, John and those who followed them, the land of Israel was oppressed under the tyranny of Roman occupation. Scholars note that in the first century under Roman rule, a small elite class controlled all the production of wealth, resources and land. Those who were not of the elite class, which was most of the population of Israel, lived in wretched poverty. The majority of the people living in under the Roman Empire lived in misery, danger, fear and despair.[i]

For those in power, for those whom the status quo was good, the imagery of valleys being filled and the mountains being flattened was indeed a threat to their way of life. For the oppressed, John’s message was comforting because they could very clearly hear him say “watch out, because the Lord is coming and will be bringing on a new world order.” The theme that runs through out the whole gospel of Luke is the coming of the kingdom of God here on earth, where the powerful are brought down from their thrones and God lifts up the lowly, where God fills hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty. (Luke 1: 52-53) The world order would be reversed as God makes the ground level so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. (Baruch 5: 7)

“It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine.”

I wonder if John the Baptist were to give the same message to our world, right now, if I could count myself among the comforted or the afflicted. The vision of a reversed world order of a ground made level by God makes me nervous. You see, even though I may struggle to make ends meet, have had to deal with the stressors of an uncertain job market for me and my partner, and grapple with the economic problems of our day, I do know that because of my education, my class and my living where I do, I have a life that is more comfortable than most. What does the end of the world as we know it going to mean for me and my family? Am I ready to repent, to turn from my consumeristic ways that may cause harm to others? Am I ready to do what it takes to live simply so that others may simply live? Will I be fine? Will I be forgiven?

When the word of God came to John, he began “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (3:3) Biblical scholars note that repentance literally means to turn, to change direction and John is telling the people of Israel to prepare the way of the Lord by cleansing themselves of the pollution of sin and turning towards God. Although John’s emphasis on repentance might seem to make human action more important than God’s grace, that is not the case, for repentance itself is understood as something God freely gives. We do not turn in a new direction because of our own power. The past can hold us so tightly that something outside our control must happen to create a new opportunity. Repentance is the renewal of personal and communal life made possible the arrival of a special time, the time when “all flesh” can “see the salvation of God.” (3:6)[ii]

A church in a time of interim ministry is in many ways preparing the way of the Lord and making paths straight. Now hang with me here, I am not implying that the person you will call to be your next settled pastor will be as great as Jesus himself and I ain’t no John the Baptist, you won’t see me eating any bugs in the near future. What I am saying is that when a church moves from the ministry of one settled pastor to another, there are things that we can do together to prepare for your new ministry with your next settled pastor. Yes the work may be difficult, there may be crooked roads which we will have to try to make straight, there may be bumps that we will have to make smooth. However, know that we do not do this alone. God is here and God is working with us and through us. “For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up, to make the level ground, so that [we] may walk safely in the Glory of God.” (Baruch 5: 7)

May it be so. Amen.

[i] Bridges, Linda McKinnish, "Preaching the Parables in Matthew's Gospel in Ordinary Time: The Extraordinary Tales of God's World," Review & Expositor (2007): 325-362.
[ii] Tannehill, Robert C. Luke. Abingdon New Testament commentaries. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996. 78-79.