Advent 2B - my first public post!

Today I am taking a HUGE risk and opening my blog to others! If you are visiting from RGBP - welcome. I am a 2 year ordained priest in the Anglican Communion of Australia - so all this is still very new to me! Be gentle... :)

Mark 1:1-8

1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
³the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

³A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. ⁵Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” ⁶A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

⁹Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” ¹⁰See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. ¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. 

This Church year, known as year B, our Gospel readings will focus on the Gospel of Mark, so it is fitting that today we start with this Gospel’s first words – “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”.

Is there any better way to start than that?

Right from the very beginning the Gospeller we call Mark (we don’t actually know who wrote any of the Gospels) is establishing the most essential facts – although God’s people have been lost, God is fulfilling the promise made to God’s people in the person of Jesus the Christ, son of God. The link between Christ and the promises of God as shown through the prophets is immediately made apparent in the words and actions of John the Baptist.

To understand the mission of John we have to go back to Isaiah. Our text today announces God's intention to visit God's people. God gives directions for the way to be prepared. But by who? By the people God wants to visit? No, by God's own servants. God does not say, "Tell the people to get ready and when they have done so, I will come to them.” God says, "Prepare the way! I am coming to my people." This is not an optional visit – God is not going to wait for that distant time when we have managed to get ourselves, our lives and our world into a state fit for the coming of a King.

Isaiah’s words speak of comfort and restoration. God is withdrawing punishment, forgiving their sin, and providing pathways toward tomorrow. God will care for the people with the affection of the Good shepherd, giving special attention to the most vulnerable among the flock.

In the midst of restoration, the people are reminded that life is brief. We cry out, “All people are grass.” We wither and perish, our national empires are eclipsed, and even the planet will dissolve in fire at some distant time. But, God’s words – God’s energy – will endure forever. We can make changes that involve sacrifice because we know we are in God’s enduring. We can depend on God rather than trusting our own power and achievement, especially when we walk through the valleys of death, disappointment, and destabilization. The fidelity of God, whose presence is revealed in possibilities, encounters, and energies, brings comfort in challenging times.

It is within this context that the ministry of John the Baptist takes place. 

The Baptist is to be identified the prophets – right down to the description of his clothing and diet. Here is the link between the old covenant and the new, the tension between the now and the not yet. The coming of Jesus to Israel is to be identified with the return of God to the Promised Land, Jesus identified beyond the Messiah as the very real presence of the Lord. John’s task is to prepare God’s people for this gospel event, literally coming out of the wilderness to call all to repentance and rebirth.

Ritual washing was quite a common theme in worship in Israel, but several aspects of John’s baptism make it stand out as unique. First, as opposed to the regular, repeated washings that many Jews undertook, John’s baptism was a one-off action—this represented not simply the maintenance of an already pious life, but rather a moment of radically new commitment to being and living as God’s people. Secondly, it took place not in the ritual baths set aside for such purpose, but within the river Jordan River – a place integrally connected with Israel’s journey with God.

The baptism God’s people were being called to is one of repentance, preceded by confession. When used correctly these are words of power and of hope. In confessing our sins, both personal and corporate, we experience the joy of companionship with God. We acknowledge that without God in our lives we are lost, beyond return. Confession is not about punishment or shame, but the recognition of our place in relationship with God and others. Do our words and actions, our thoughts and emotions, bring us closer to God or do they distance us from God’s visions for our lives? Are we growing or contracting in our care for others? Are we open to change or closed to new possibility? Confession is not about penance, but abundant life. Repentance is when we use this new knowledge of ourselves and our God and put it into action in our lives, actively turning away from all that draws us into darkness and living as if God’s kingdom has already come.

Our repentance will involve uncomfortable changes in our own lives, as individuals, families and communities. Repentance is not a state that we can achieve and then rest in, happy that no more change needs to take place. John the Baptist calls us to repentance as a country as well as a family of the Church, and trying to separate the pastoral from the political is an artificial construct destined to failure. Our actions as individuals effect so many more than ourselves, from what we choose to purchase to how we choose to vote, and living as we are in a free and healthy society we owe it to our God to make our repentance a daily part of our lives.

Advent is a little like the children’s game hide and seek. There is no fun in hiding unless you know for sure that someone is going to look, and the game can’t come to an end until everyone has been found. Today we start to explore Mark’s understanding of this game – the part where through our own action or inaction we are hidden from God. But this is only the beginning – through our baptism, our repentance and our faith we are allowing God to find us and draw us out, “¹⁰See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. ¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”

We have been found.

Amen