Mark 1:1-8
“Prepared for Peace”
December 6, 2020
We who live on, walk dogs along, pedal bikes on, push strollers over, run quickly up and down and dodge the dozens of potholes have a path that is Ice Pond Road, and it is in desperate need of straightening.
A few years back the Town of Arlington determined that Ice Pond Road would be surfaced in a new way – not paved and not only dirt but some combination of the two – it was some new technology.
They didn’t do the whole road – only the part going from the church mailbox up to Warm Brook Road got this new treatment.
There were those who said it would save the town money while others said it would slow speeders down.
Some of us have who live along this beautiful country road have strong opinions on the matter but what is indisputable is that this is not a straight and even pathway.
Monthly, the town – usually at daybreak – sends the road crew over to fill in the holes again and regrade it – again. They go forward and in reverse working to make it smooth again.
The maintenance of this straight path is never ending.
So, too, do we once again move during this Advent season of waiting to the preparation of a path for God to return – in the form of a newborn Jesus.
This path will not be smooth, especially given this rocky year of upheaval and pandemic.
Mark here calls on Isaiah who beckons John the Baptist – in order to make ready a straight path for God.
“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God” is how Mark jumps into the Gospel story.
Rather than shepherds and magi to set the stage,
John the Baptist, a prophet leans into the words of another prophet.
Mark is writing this during perilous times that are filled with upheaval much like Isaiah’s would have been.
If we want to understand the one who is clearing a path for the grown-up Messiah, John says think back to the clearing of the way by Isaiah.
Isaiah proclaimed good news to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, far away from home.
John is proclaiming the good news to folks living under Roman occupation.
In both life experiences, centuries apart, the freedom and peace that comes from being in charge of one’s own fate in their homeland is hard to grasp.
Both of these men are in need of the reassurance that their faith in God will yield a promise.
There is a better way.
We know Mark’s Gospel is often filled with confused and clueless characters that are a little slow on the uptake.
But Mark doesn’t mince words.
He begins right off the bat by establishing Jesus’s authority.
In Hebrew when you say, “Son of,” followed by a name, what is clear is that the Son has the characteristics of the parent. what This means Jesus’ credentials are established from the get-go.
He is being empowered to speak and act on God’s behalf.
Here we know from the start that if we want to see God, we look to Jesus.
If we want to understand Jesus, we have to study the Jewish prophets.
Mark’s Gospel starts by looking back at old lessons.
We are all products of those who came before us and Jesus’s place is established on the shoulders of all those earlier prophets.
John the Baptist is also a prophet.
Prophets are not fortune-tellers or forecasters of the future or doomsday prognosticators.
Prophets are in the truth-telling business.
This is happening when more than 40% of farming production was eaten up by taxes.
And these folks in first century Palestine got little or nothing in return except the right to keep on working and keep on paying.
To have your debts forgiven would have been absolutely amazing.
When they hear that God’s kingdom will usher in a whole new system, they hold on to that for dear life.
This is still the good news that we treasure even now.
The peace that comes with justice is for all of us.
What that looked like then and still looks like now involves confession and repentance.
All those folks that made the trip to hear John’s words of hope were aching for God.
Jesus brings with him and shows them a life of service – not service to armies and kings then and not to those today who have the most power and wealth – but service to God.
The peace we find in God’s way is the peace we are to share with all others.
That’s what service to God looks like.
That’s what will be the sign that the Kingdom of God has come –
It will be peace that lasts.
That’s why we keep filling the holes of the lives of those around us with generosity and kindness.
That’s why we keep coming back to Advent.
The work of peacemaking is never-ending.
Now is the time to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
Let us pray these words from Unfolding Light:
God, how shall I prepare your way?
How might I announce your coming?
How might I live to make your coming plain?
How will I think, speak and act this day
as a messenger of grace
so those who yearn may hope,
and those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death
may rejoice?
How do you enable me to live this gospel?
What path are you making in my heart?
How are you preparing your way in me?
Let me see, and hear,
and trust,
and follow.
Amen. (Steve Garnaas-Holmes, www.unfoldinglight.net)