Message in the wilderness

Notice (in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 3) how much detail the writer goes into about what was happening when John the Baptist began his ministry.

He makes sure to tell us how long the Emperor had been reigning. He tells us the names of the governors of some of the regions. He tells us who the High Priests of the Jewish temple system were.

The writer grounds his Gospel in a real place and time in history. And, through the information he provides, we can imagine the politics of the time – the governors ruling regions under Roman occupation must have been constantly competing to be in the Emperor’s good books. Who could raise the most taxes for Rome? Who could put down the people’s uprisings most brutally?

Perhaps we can picture the Jewish High priests –trying to maintain a balance between their own interests of keeping the temple open by helping the Romans to control the Jewish population, while also wanting to stay true to their religious practices and the law of Moses.

By adding so much historical detail, the writer of this Gospel makes it clear to the reader that what he is writing is not a work of fiction.

This is real life. This is what people at the time were dealing with. They were crushed by high taxation on one hand and squeezed on the other by the demands of their religion that made them pay a lot of money for animals to be sacrificed to cover their sins.

This was the gritty real world and in the middle of all this reality, ‘the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness’

The word of God bypassed the elites. It didn’t go to the High Priests. It didn’t go to the temple or the government buildings. God’s word went into the wilderness – to an uncultured man in an uncultivated environment. A place that hadn’t been tampered with, that hadn’t been polluted by the litter and damaged relationships that humans so often leave behind in their wake.

God’s word came to a man who would not be constrained by the politics that made the High Priests compromise truth for their own security and comfort.

And what was God’s message? John was told to call people to repent of their sins and be forgiven. He asked everyone to look at those things they had said and done to hurt the people around them. He asked them to acknowledge that they often ignored God’s straight path and veered off into their own crooked ones.

John’s message was preparing people for the coming of the living Word of God, Jesus Christ. The Good News that God was entering into human history as a man, being born in a real time and place, to save His beloved creation.

This Gospel reveals a God who loves His creation. A God who will do whatever it takes to save us from the harm that our sinful behaviours cause to ourselves and others. A God who will humble himself to come in the middle of all our chaos, all the darkness in this world, into the horrific situations that come as a result of greed, selfishness, corruption and war. To come into the real world. And so the Gospel writer makes sure to emphasise the reality of the world that God sends His word into.

How might this passage be speaking to us during Advent?

Well, we are encouraged to “prepare the way for the Lord”. We are looking back in history and celebrating Jesus’s arrival as a baby but also looking forwards towards His second coming, and recognising a need to prepare ourselves for His future return to the world as Saviour and Judge.

Like the people in the time of John the Baptist, we are living in difficult times. Political polarisation, hints of corruption, protestors on the streets, divisions in our communities. We look around and see brokenness and pain, we hear of parents hurting vulnerable children. Last week we heard the tragic story of six-year-old Arthur and the pain and suffering inflicted on him by the people who should have been his carers and protectors.

We hear of traffickers preying on people who are desperate to escape war and poverty. So desperate that they would pay a fortune to risk their lives across the freezing waters of the channel in flimsy boats. And we saw just a few weeks ago the deaths that occurred as a result of this exploitation.

We are in the middle of a global pandemic that has affected our whole way of life. We see our damaged climate, our polluted waters and lands. Everywhere we look we can see the tragic results of sin, the terrible consequences of humanity going its own way instead of being faithful stewards of each other and the environment we inhabit, the result of placing ourselves first instead of loving our neighbours as ourselves.

The world around us feels chaotic, angry, confused, isolated, frightened. Many of us may be feeling estranged from our loved ones, distanced from our friends and neighbours by covid precautions. Maybe we feel like we are in a wilderness. Off the beaten path with no clue of where to go or what to do.

In this time, just like in the time described in the Gospel passage, we need to hear the word of God.

And the good news is that God’s word comes to us in the wilderness. In the middle of our brokenness and despair.

God’s Living Word, Jesus Christ, has come to the world in all it’s sinfulness. He not only came to live among us but He willingly suffered the ugliness of our sins – the cruelty, torture, mockery, abuse, rejection, hatred, name-calling, and injustice – that we are capable of inflicting on each other to one extent or another.

On the cross Jesus opened a way to forgiveness, offering to exchange his perfect life for our tarnished ones. A free gift to all who will receive Him.

Perhaps in this time of Advent, we are being called to go into the wilderness, like John.

Maybe God wants us to step away from the social media and 24-hour news broadcasts, step away from the worries, fears and opinions that can be so overwhelming at times, and to carve out space to spend time with Him. Not to step away and pretend that bad things aren’t happening out there but to also recognise that there are some things in our own hearts that need to be addressed.

In the wilderness, in that time with God, we can allow the words in the Bible to examine our lives and our motives, praying to God for forgiveness when we see areas we have sinned or fallen short.

We could spend time seeking to repair any damaged relationships, apologising when we see we are in the wrong. Forgiving those who have wronged us. Smoothing over offences.

And if we have received this gift of Jesus, the Living Word of God, then we need to do what John the Baptist did when the word of God came to him in the wilderness. We need to proclaim it.

God’s will is for all flesh to see His salvation and we are called to share with others the same word that John shared in the wilderness: ‘Your sins can be forgiven – not used as a weapon to shame you with; not gathered as fuel for gossip; not self-righteously judged by others – your sins can be forgiven.

This is a message we all need to hear and remember. In an age where people’s shortcomings and failures are not often forgiven in public life, when past mistakes leave an indelible digital stain online. In this age of unforgiveness, we desperately need to share God’s message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

As the prophet Isaiah tells us, it is God’s will for “All flesh” to “see the salvation of God.” So this Advent let’s make space to listen to God and be willing to make changes and repent where our lives do not match up to His word. And, as we receive God’s forgiveness, let’s spread the message to the people around us, that there is hope for this world, no matter how bleak things might look, there is forgiveness, and there is salvation in Jesus Christ.