Mark 1:1-8

In the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way- a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’’

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: ‘After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

Let us pray,

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing and acceptable to you, our rock, and our redeemer.

This week I decided to put up some of my Christmas decorations. My favorite Christmas decoration is a nativity set that belonged to my great-grandmother before she passed. I remember helping her set it up on her mantle place as a kid. As we set it up, she would tell me story of Jesus’ birth. Of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. Of a baby born in a stable full of hay. Of angels leading the shepherds to Jesus. Of shepherds worshipping him. Of magi bringing him gifts. This is the reason we celebrate Christmas, she would tell me every year. Not so that Santa would bring us presents. But to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

This year as I set up Grandma’s nativity set on my own mantle place; I was struck with gratitude. For her patiently retelling the story to me year after year. Her storytelling prepared the way for me to come into my faith as an adult. This tradition of putting up the Christmas nativity together taught me how my story was woven into this larger story of God and human history. In retelling this story to me every year, she would give me a new perspective on how to move forwards.

Our Scripture passage for today, the opening verses of Mark’s gospel, help us look forwards by looking backwards. Mark’s gospel does not begin like the other gospels. There is no genealogy of Jesus (Matthew). There is no orderly account of Jesus’s life and ministry (Luke) There is no reflection on Jesus’ divinity (John). Instead we begin by looking backwards to the words of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah proclaims:

I will send my messenger ahead of you,

Who will prepare your way-

A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

Make straight paths for him.’

Mark compares the preaching of John the Baptist to the voice calling in the wilderness that Isaiah foretold. Isaiah prophecies that the Messiah is coming. But first, God needs men like John the Baptist to prepare the way for him. Those preparers of the way will be like a voice of one calling in the wilderness. That voice proclaims that God is coming. Whether God’s people are ready or not. They better prepare the way for the Lord!

Thankfully for us, John answer’s God’s call to be a voice crying out in the wilderness. John has a clear sense of why God put him in the Judean countryside:

To fulfil Isaiah’s prophecy that a messenger is coming to prepare the way for the Messiah.

To preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

To prepare the way for the one who is to come, by baptizing with water.

While John fulfills Isaiah 40, John is not the Messiah. John’s mission is to prepare the way for the Messiah. John gathers the people together. John encourages them to confess and repent of their sins. John baptizes them in the River Jordan. But John can’t save the people from their sins. Only the Messiah, Jesus Christ, can do that. John is the preparer of the way. But Jesus is the way and the truth and the life.

This week I’ve been reflecting on the idea of being a preparer of the way. I believe that preparers of the way are the ones working behind the scenes. They are the ones retelling the Christmas story to their bored grandkids. The ones who get to church early and make sure the lights are on and the doors are unlocked. The ones who shovel their elderly neighbor’s driveway without being asked. The ones mentoring the next generation over Zoom during a pandemic.

I think the best way we can honor the preparers of the way in our lives is to take the lessons they’ve taught us and apply them to our leg of the journey. To take the nativity sets our Grandparents left us and to use them to teach our children the Christmas story anew. Knowing that we may not tell it as well as our grandparents did. We may get some of the details wrong. Or we may put baby Jesus in the manger too early. But that’s okay. Because we honor the legacy of those who came before us by being faithful, not perfect.

Friends my prayer for us this Advent is for God to give us new eyes to see the preparers of the way in our midst. And new hearts to carry on their work for the generations that will come after us.

One way that we honor the work of the preparers of the way is through traditions. Traditions are the practices that ground us in who we are and who we aspire to be. They often remind us of who we are. While helping us visualize who we want to be. They can be as simple as setting up a family nativity. Or as complicated as organizing a Christmas Eve worship service. The point of a tradition is to help us reclaim an important part of our past so that we can look to the future with fresh eyes. Traditions help us prepare the way for what is to come.

My challenge for us this week is to begin to imagine what Christmas traditions are available to us this year. And how we might participate in them anew this year. For example, maybe we can’t go Christmas caroling door to door this year. But maybe we can create a Christmas carol playlist on Spotify for our friends and our families to listen to this Advent. Maybe we can’t spend as much time with our loved ones as we would like this Christmas. But maybe we can spend a little extra time writing out, addressing, and mailing our Christmas cards.

However we adapt our Christmas traditions this year, I take great comfort in knowing that even in 2020, we are preparing to retell the same Christmas story. God is still going to become man and dwell among us. And the life, ministry, death, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus still alters the course of human history each and every time we encounter it. If Jesus is still the way and the truth and the life. Then we can be flexible with how we prepare to encounter the one who is to come.

Thanks be to God,

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.