Advent 2B

In the gospel of Mark

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ

Starts before Jesus is even on the scene.

It starts with Isaiah...

It starts with the prophets!

Isaiah being the representative

And then we get John.

The crazy evangelist.

Luckily

we don't all have to wear camels hair and leather

And eat honey and locusts.

Though I thought about bringing some in for coffee hour this week...

Any story really begins back before the main character

Many times I've heard people tell their life stories by beginning with their parents or grandparents,

because what comes before us makes a huge impact on who we are and what we do.

Personally I know the truth of this in my own story

My parents' stories have impacted my life in so many ways.

I am named after my mother's mother, Sharon,

who died in a car accident long before I was born.

Yet, her name, her legacy, and her death,

all impacted how I was raised and who I am today.

So when Mark begins his good news about Jesus

with stories that come before Jesus,

We know he is giving us history we need to know in order to make sense of the story.

That's one way we can count on Mark,

He only ever gives what he thinks are the most important pieces, and nothing extra.

Mark also gives away

Jesus' identity right at the beginning of the book.

There is no question in the gospel of Mark,

Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ.

Jesus is the Son of God.

Mark will develop how he understands those titles and roles of Jesus'

throughout the whole book,

but he isn't afraid of telling you up front.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Mark chooses the passage from Isaiah

because John the Baptist was known for being loud in the middle of nowhere,

the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.

The Jewish tradition was that Elijah would be the messenger

who would come before the Messiah

to let everyone know to get prepared.

You may have seen or heard of the tradition of leaving a seat for Elijah at Seder celebrations,

Always leaving room for God's plan to commence at any time.

Later on in the story,

John will get asked if he is Elijah

because many believe in his role as the messenger preparing the way.

John's message was the right one.

Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Baptism, washing with ritually clean water,

was a common ritual in the First century.

People had to baptize, clean themselves,

using the prayers given

before they were able to enter the Temple

or before other important religious ceremonies.

Especially in the Essenes, a religious group of the first century,

most notable for hiding the scrolls of text which we know as the Dead Sea Scrolls today,

different kinds of baptism,

different kinds of washing,

were very important.

John the Baptist very frequently gets associated with the Essenes,

which was a group on par with the Pharisees and the Sadducees,

because of where he was located,

near the Jordan River,

and what he was proclaiming,

a baptism of repentance.

Now one of the interesting things about John

was that his baptism was done in the Jordan River.

If you've ever been to the Holy Land

or seen pictures of the Jordan River,

you'd know...

its not the cleanest looking river in the world.

Actually, in most places,

its quite muddy looking.

And for example,

here's a vial of Jordan River water I brought back with me

from when I was in the Holy Land and renewed my baptismal vows in the Jordan River.

Not the clearest water.

Just another example of God doing extraordinary things

with very ordinary materials.

John, as a human being,

as a character in the story,

very much knows his place.

In this passage, we hear him say,

"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.

I have baptized you with water;

but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

John knows that he is not the main character,

that his role to help people get prepared for what is to come.

Its interesting that the way he thinks best for people to get prepared to meet the Messiah

the Savior of the world,

is through repentance.

Repentance is a long word

and has quite a bit of meaning associated with it.

Many think that repentance

is the act of saying sorry,

yet there is more involved in repentance

beyond simply saying sorry.

Repentance requires reviewing your actions,

feeling sincere remorse for actions done, or not done,

acceptance of responsibility for your own actions,

saying sorry,

and making a commitment to changing behaviors

so that such actions do not happen again. 

Repentance is a cleaning out of all the spiritual and emotional closets

you know those closets

the dusty, dirty ones

the ones with all the skeletons hanging out in them,

the old emotions which come back to haunt us

in certain situations or makes it hard to face certain people in our lives

or to trust them again.

The problem is that many in society today,

and we have seen this on the main stages of the entertainment and political worlds,

believe that saying sorry is all that needs to be done.

Actually feeling remorse, 

or committing to changing behavior

is not necessary 

for people to think other's should move on.

Yet, true repentance requires the whole process. 

John's call to repentance

is part of what makes Advent

"penitential"

in nature.

Penitential being the part of the process

where people make amendments to their lifestyles

or their relationships

in order to return to good, healthy, relationships.

The church has two penitential seasons,

Advent and Lent;

it is good to clean out the emotional and spiritual closets periodically.

And both seasons are seasons of preparation

for pretty major spiritual events.

The church has two major ways

it tries to help its people live into repentance.

First, in the General Confession which we say together

almost every week in our Sunday worship service.

Our General Confession comes,

before the Eucharist,

before we encounter Jesus 

in the Body and Blood 

of the bread and wine.

For a very good reason.

Our General Confession includes

what we have done wrong,

in thought, in word, or in deed.

Its not just the actions we do,

but also the thoughts and words we say or write or share

which can get us in trouble.

The General Confession includes

what we have left undone

for all the things we forget to do

or don't do spitefully

or we are not aware that we are apart of.

And not only is the General Confession about all the things we have done wrong to God

but it is also to our neighbors.

The General Confession comes before the Eucharist

so that when we take Jesus into our bodies,

we are ready to receive it,

we know where we stand 

and we aren't carrying too much spiritual baggage

which will get in the way 

of whatever work Jesus wants to do in our lives.

The second major way the church offers people help in living into repentance

is in the rite of Reconciliation,

available to all with a priest,

which goes more in depth

than the General Confession,

giving time and safe space

to acknowledging the wrongs done or left undone

out loud,

and accepting suggestions and council on how to change the behaviors

which lead to reoccurring issues.

In both the ways the church offers people a chance to repent,

the church also immediately offers forgiveness.

Jesus made it very clear 

that all those who repent 

and all those who forgive others

will receive forgiveness. 

(Forgiveness is such a huge part of our lives together,

especially for anyone who is married. 

Marriage brings about a huge opportunity to offer the grace of forgiveness

to each other

and is certainly one way in which marriages can continue to last 

throughout the hardships of life.

As we celebrate together today,

the anniversary of Matt and Pam's marriage,

we can also give thanks for the spirits of love, grace, and forgiveness

which has sustained them throughout their marriage.)

Many people who speak of difficulty

learning how to repent,

learning how to say sorry,

learning how to change their behaviors,

worry about whether or not they will be forgiven.

Through Jesus,

we have been promised

forgiveness of our sins,

forgiveness for all the things we have done wrong,

forgiveness for all the things we are complicit in

when we acknowledge our part in them

and seek to change our ways.

Listen to John's cry

listen to his call for repentance

Repent!

Clean out that spiritual closet!

Prepare for Jesus' coming.

Take comfort in his forgiveness.

Amen.