Text: Luke 3: 1-6
He shows up this time each year. It might seem kind of confusing. Here we are a few weeks from celebrating our Savior’s birth and this man named John shows up. It doesn’t seem like he belongs. Soon we’ll put up our manger scene. Mary, Joseph, the Child, We think of shepherds. But we won’t have a figure of John the Baptist.
So why is he here this morning? He kind of throws off our chronology. In fact, as a young person John the Baptist used to confuse me. Was John the Baptist a grown man when Jesus was born. No, Jesus and John were born months apart.
So what is he doing here this morning. John was sent to ready people for the Lord’s coming. He does the same for us. His message readies hearts to welcome our Advent king… whether it be his coming at Bethlehem, his coming to our hearts in his Supper or his coming in the clouds in all his glory. John’s message readies our hearts. So we say:
A Voice Calls Out From the Desert
I. To a fallen world crouching in hopelessness
II. To ready a people to welcome their King
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,… The gospel writer Luke fixes for us this time in world history. I’d like to give you a taste of those times from some of my reading. We hear of the glory of the Roman empire. Before Tiberius, Augustus was emperor. In those years, the empire reached its zenith, but also was in the midst of decay.
Think of the city of Rome. It was about two million people. About half were slaves, the rest were freedmen or foreigners. Any slavery is a sad thing. But the slaves of Roman society suffered untold cruelty and oppression. The sick or old were disposed of like trash. Some slaves were treated so badly that being fed to wild beasts in the coliseum might have seemed a better fate.
The slaves permitted some of the free citizens to sit around and do nothing but maybe drink and think about what was playing in the theatre or the spectacles of death in the coliseum. Many of the free citizens were dependent on the state. They were idle and morals declined. There was no right or wrong. Marriage and family life suffered terribly as women joined in the immorality of men. And abortion, even the murder of new born children, was common and accepted.
The Roman empire was a society in decay. And with that decay came a kind of despair expressed in many ways. The old religions left them empty. On the grave of a young girl was written: To the unjust gods who robbed me of life. Even the best of Roman society felt that despair. A senator and historian named Tacitus captured it well when he declared human life a farce and saw the Roman empire as under some terrible curse. Yes, the glory of Rome had become a pit of despair and decay.
Then think of the people of Israel in Palestine who lived under Rome. Under Augustus the Jews were treated fairly. But he was succeeded by Tiberius who was bitterly hostile to Judaism and the Jews. Pontius Pilate was an instrument of that emperor’s brutality. And the other tetrarchs, the Herods, all but one, served their emperor well.
But it wasn’t just the secular rulers who oppressed the people. You heard Luke speak of the Jewish high priests, Annas and Caiaphas. The temple was supposed to be God’s house. But Caiaphas was handpicked by the Romans. And Jewish writings describe those men who ruled over the church in terrible terms.
I’m not sure about you, but my study of those days makes me think of our own. There are some sad parallels. We don’t have slavery but our society, our values, our way of life in many ways resembles the Roman world back then. I see a downward spiral where marriage and family and human life is being degraded. I also see a growing tendency on the part of the ruling class to push us Christians back into some dark corner where no one can see us or hear us speak of God. And the Christian church. Look at some of its leaders. Annas and Caiphas were men who did not believe in much of God’s Word. They were like some leaders that we see in church bodies today. And can you see the emptiness and despair in our own day? People surrounded by stuff but with hearts sometimes bitter, empty and alone. People without hope and without God and unable to sense what is wrong.
So we’re told in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar …the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. There of all places, a voice would call out. Not in the city, not at some great center of learning, but in a dry, barren uninviting place. A voice would call out. A man with God’s own Word. The voice of a messenger that God had promised long before. And now after a long silence of 400 years there came that voice. God’s own man. A voice that called out from the desert to a fallen world crouching in hopelessness. A world not much different from our own.
Many came out. Crowds. So many that Mark described it this way. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem came out to see him. (1:5) The people probably wondered what they would find, what they would hear what they would see. What was this man, this voice all about. God had told them if they were paying attention when the scrolls of the prophets were read. It was to prepare them A voice calls out from the desert to ready a people to welcome their King. That voice does the same for us today.
When a king came to town, you got things ready. Everything had to be just right including the roads. You didn’t want your king’s chariot or horse to stumble into a big hole and he then raise your taxes even more. Here Luke takes us back to the prophet Isaiah, who used that kind of picture to describe John’s mission. “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
It’s pretty clear. For John to readya people would take some big time earthmoving. But don’t misunderstand. This is not about civil engineering, work crews and hard hats. These are pictures of what needs to happen in hearts and lives for us to be ready to welcome our Advent King. Think of a path beaten by our regular visits to things that ought not be part of our lives. How about that empty valley that seems to have nothing but hopelessness and despair Or what about that mountain of foolish pride that says, I’m a pretty good person. Maybe not perfect but not as bad as some. Prepare the way for the Lord. Well for that crooked path to become straight, that valley filled in, that mountain made low would take some big time earthmoving in human hearts.
But God’s man was up to it. He did not shrink back from calling sinners to repentance. And remember what repentance is. A change of heart and mind. A change that the Spirit works. A change where we see sin, our sin, for what it is—a deadly act of rebellion against God. Something we want no part of. But something that has covered us with guilt That’s repentance. It’s admitting that before God. But it’s more. John led these people to see how much they needed this One to come. That in him there was forgiveness, God’s forgiveness, full and free. That his coming would bring salvation, rescue, from this fallen world crouching in death and hopelessness. John pointed them to this One. He urged them to trust in Him and what he would bring.
So repenting, they were baptized by John. Baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. And they were ready, ready to welcome their Lord and King.
You know, when I think about it. Isn’t that the work of God’s messengers today? Not to gather people and make this into some big pep rally where so much is about feeling good and feeling God’s presence. For what is the work of God’s messengers and what we should we look for? Not that they preach the seven sure fire rules of good marriages or better finances. But this. What John the Baptist preached. What this King who bled and died and rose in victory for us calls his church to do: That first Easter Sunday he gave us these marching orders: and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in Jesus’ name to all nations.
For there the Spirit readies us. He helps us to look up from the the hopelessness of this world to the coming Lord. To look up from all the busy preparations of this season to Him whose coming we will soon celebrate.
So let me close with this thought. Two days ago I got a note from a new friend of mine. He told me how his family had just gotten back from driving around their town looking at all the Christmas decorations. Jerry has a tradition in his family. When they see a manger scene they stop and ring a bell to celebrate the baby Jesus. This year his young daughter had the bell. Jerry told me this: To see our little girl get so excited about Jesus is priceless. Her little heart is ready isn’t it? Ready to welcome our King when he comes again. Amen.