Our job to do

Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6

Not much is known about the prophet Malachi. In Hebrew, Malachi means “My Messenger,” so that could be his name, or a job description. Further, it is not known just when he was active, though it appears from context that he lived after the return from the Babylonian exile, and after the temple was rebuilt. So somewhere from about 520-450 BCE.

Like all prophets, his job is to tell the people to shape up, because God wants to have a relationship with them and they are not paying attention. His message is a call for religious revival. It seems that although the temple had been rebuilt, there were too many people not bothering to come to worship, not bringing their sacrificial offerings, not putting God first in their lives.

Malachi says, there will come a time when God will purify God’s people, like a refiner purifying gold and silver with intense fire; like a washer of wool, cleansing the oil and dirt from it before it can be spun into yarn.  So, the people should return to the Lord, and prepare for God’s return among them so they are not burned in the refiner’s fire or washed like wool.

Malachi is seen as the last prophet. After him the messages from God will come from the scribes and later the rabbis.

… Unlike Malachi, we know when John the Baptist lived. Luke has done his research, and uses the reigns of Tiberius, Pilate, and Annas and Caiaphas to give his story context. We have to remember that it was only centuries later that these times were given yearly numbers using Jesus’ birth as a baseline.

A similar counting system for us would sound like this: In the days when Joseph Biden was President of the US and Ronald DeSantis was Governor of Florida, and when Elizabeth Eaton was Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, and Francis was the Pope, Pastor Lynn preached a sermon. We get a sense of when this happened, but not a specific date.

So, we know it is about the year 29 when John the Baptizer began drawing crowds in the wilderness of Jordan. We know what life is like under these rulers: the Pax Romana is enforced at sword point and cross, and many Jewish people tended to abandon their own culture to become more like the Romans, because it was easier to go along to get along than it was to resist.

We know what John the Baptizer’s job is: it was given to him before he was conceived: he will be the prophet called to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus, the Savior. The Psalm for today is called the Benedictus, and it’s sung around the Christian world during Morning Prayers. John’s father Zechariah sings this song on the day of John’s circumcision and naming. So, for his whole life, John knows what his job will be: to prepare God’s people for the coming of someone more important than he, John, is.

Like any good Jewish boy of the time, he knows the scriptures, and finds it useful to quote the prophets who have gone before him. In the same way, we quote Martin Luther King, Jr, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and others, in addition to Jesus and Paul, of course.

John quotes Isaiah here in his call to the people to repent, to return to the Lord. With repentance, there is forgiveness, and with forgiveness the relationship between believer and God is restored. The people are now thinking about repentance and forgiveness, so when Jesus appears, they are more open to what he has to say.

… The Apostle Paul writes letters to his congregations as a way of keeping in touch with them, since he can’t be in all of them at the same time. This one, the letter to the Philippians, is my favorite. It just feels like it’s from Paul’s heart speaking to his people with love and truth.

Mostly it’s filled with joy as he reminds them to continue to love each other as he has taught them, though he also includes some admonitions for specific instances of a lack of love. Focus on what matters, Paul cautions, so your hearts will be pure and blameless, righteous in God’s eyes.

… Advent, as I keep insisting, is a time of waiting, of preparation. Just as John the Baptizer’s job was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, it’s my job to help us all prepare our hearts for his coming.

And it’s your job to take time to examine your hearts, and consider all the ways in which we are drawn away from God toward secular activities.

·       We spend time and money decorating and buying gifts; do we spend equivalent time and money worshiping and giving offerings to God?

·       Are our decorations secular – snowmen, reindeer, and Santa – or do we include Joseph, Mary and Jesus?

·       Do we allow the stress and anxiety of the season to interfere with our relationships with family and friends, or do we take time to enjoy each other without thinking about the gifts we need to buy?

·       Do we think kindly about those who have little, and ask for forgiveness when we don’t?

… Advent is a challenging time, often filled with stress. For some, it is filled with grief and a sense of loss as we reflect on those who are no longer with us. For some, the stress comes from the lack of funds to give as we’d like to give. For some, the stress comes from our past – or current – behavior.

Advent is a time to remember that the best gifts are the love we share today, and the love we have shared in the past. Advent is a time to remember that God loves us, and invites us to ask for forgiveness, so God can demonstrate the power of Divine Love for all of us. And Advent is a time to grant forgiveness, even without an apology. Because this is our way of passing on the love we receive so others may know it, too.

This week, I wonder what you will do to prepare your hearts for the coming of Jesus. Amen