Turn Around!

John the Baptist tells us that we need to get ready for the Messiah. But he isn't talking about putting tinsel on the tree or roasting chestnuts oven an open fire. He wants us to repent! What exactly is that all about? My sermon may help to explain it.

I used to have an hourglass sitting on my desk at home, just for my own amusement. When I was stuck writing a paper or outlining a sermon (which was frequently), I would turn that hourglass over and watch the grains of sand falling from the top to the bottom. Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to be one of those grains of sand. I invite you to imagine that with me, just for a moment. As we begin, we’re in the top of the hourglass, shoulder to shoulder with all the other grains of sand; and we’re doing whatever it is that grains of sand do with their time – working in little sand offices, eating in little sand restaurants, and maybe even going to the beach to take a vacation. Our world is wide open and expansive. But then we feel the foundation of our world begin to shake; and we are jostled closer and closer together to all our other sand friends. And then, almost before we realize it, we’re plummeting through a tunnel that becomes narrower and narrower, until we finally tumble through the very center of the hourglass and fall into a world that is very much like the one that we came from, but where everything is upside down! The hourglass opening isn’t “down there” anymore; now it’s “up there.” We are once again in a wide expanse; but now we’re in the bottom of the hourglass.

These verses that we read just a moment ago (Luke 3:1-6) give me that same feeling of falling through an hourglass. The structure of this short section is something like an hourglass itself. It begins by considering the vastness of the entire Roman Empire that is governed by the emperor Tiberius Caesar. Then we move to the slice of the Middle East that we now call Israel, and we meet its governing powers: Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, and Lysanias. Next, we move to Jerusalem with the high priests Annas and Caiaphas. Finally, we stand next to a single person: John, the son of Zacharias. From our consideration of the entire Roman Empire, Luke has narrowed our vision to one man in the wilderness. But then, as quickly as it narrows, the scene widens again. John moves “into all the region around the Jordan” to preach. His message is that the Messiah is on the way, and we must prepare for his arrival! Our perspective expands to include the road on which he will travel, the mountains that will be leveled to construct that road, and the crooked paths that will be straightened out so that he can travel faster. Finally, “all flesh” is drawn into the picture. Everyone will see the salvation of the Messiah who is on the way even now, traveling somewhere along that highway. Do you see why the text reminds me of an hourglass? In just six verses, Luke has moved us from the entire Roman Empire all the way down to a single man, and then moved us back out again until everyone on earth has been included.

This text is like an hourglass in another way, too. Just like the sand in an hourglass falls from the top part of the glass to the bottom, Luke moves us from one way of life to another. As the text begins, we are enmeshed in the political power of the world. We are in the company of earthly rulers: Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, and Caiaphas. Whatever is accomplished is done by human hands, with human motives, on a human timetable.

But once we fall through the hourglass past John the Baptist, there is not a human being in sight, political or otherwise. We hear a voice – but it isn’t a human voice. We hear a prediction that valleys will be filled, that hills will be leveled, and that crooked roads will be straightened – but human effort won’t accomplish it. And our ultimate destination is the salvation that only God can offer! As we fall through the hourglass, we move from the area of human power into the realm of God’s activity. We travel from politics into mystery; from possibility into impossibility; from the grimly predictable into the wildly unexpected. We move from a place of human control into a place that is under God’s control alone! And at the point of contact of the two realms – at the very narrowest point of the hourglass – stands John the Baptist. He lives on the boundary between a time that ticks along routinely, one controlled, predictable minute following the other; and God’s time that breaks through into ours and allows us a enthralling glimpse of the eternity that is filled by our creator. John may not be the gatekeeper into God’s time, but he is the one who points toward it. He shows us the way to the Kingdom of God!

Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s where I really want to live! Whether we’re calling it God’s time or the Kingdom of God or a transformed life or heaven, we’re all talking about the same thing. It’s a life that’s not mere existence but quality, infinite quality! It’s a life that is so full of the love of God – and the God of love – that there isn’t room for pettiness or hatred or greed. It’s the kind of life that the gospel of John tells us Jesus came to give us in abundance! That’s what John the Baptist is pointing towards. That’s the life that the Messiah offers us. And that’s where we can all live if we will listen to John the Baptist and fall through the hourglass out of the world’s kingdom into God’s.

But John the Baptist preached repentance, didn’t he? And we don’t typically think of “repentance” as being very appealing. We usually think that “repentance” is feeling bad about what we have done. But “repenting” doesn’t mean “feeling bad” at all! Repentance means “turning around.” When we repent, we turn away from the world’s way of doing things and turn towards God’s. We give away our control of things and allow God to take charge – and who knows what will happen when we do that! And John tells us that to get ready for the Messiah, we need to do just that: to change our minds and our lives and fall through the hourglass into God’s kingdom where anything can happen! And what a kingdom it is when we reach the bottom of the hourglass! It may look upside-down when we fall into it, but it is really the place where everything is right-side-up! In the bottom of the hourglass, God is so anxious to get back to his people that God builds a superhighway through the desert so that he can travel more quickly! In the bottom of the hourglass, the ones who God cares for the most are the ones who don’t have any power at all. In the bottom of the hourglass, everybody will see God’s salvation, not just the folks we think are acceptable! In the bottom of the hourglass, the Messiah doesn’t live in a palace, but is born in a stable, rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, and dies on a cross. In the bottom of the hourglass, the victory banquet is bread and wine, given by the Messiah himself; and there’s enough for everybody, from every time and place!

Listen to John the Baptist calling us to repent! Turn around! Change your minds and your ways! Fall through the hourglass out of the ways of the world and into the Kingdom of God! And when you do, then you will be ready to join together with all the other people in God’s Kingdom in welcoming the Messiah.