10 December 2006

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

We get two views of John in our readings this morning so attention must be paid. First there is the song/prophesy that his father sings in the first reading from Luke upon the birth of John. And then secondly, there is the introduction to John’s ministry that we heard in the 2nd Luke reading.

As part of the nativity narratives, the birth of John is included. We’re told that Jesus and John are related. Mary and Elizabeth are cousins, likely. John is born late in life for Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah. They had previously been childless but in their later years John came along. And Zechariah knew that this was a special child from the beginning, thus his song that we read together this morning.

Then we get the introduction, a few chapters later, of John’s ministry: a ministry of preparing the way for Jesus. John was calling people to repentance and baptizing in the River Jordan out there in the wilderness. And people were flocking to him from everywhere. John was very popular.

But his was a ministry of preparation. A ministry in which he made the way plain for the one who was to come, that being Jesus, of course. Preparing the people for Jesus’ message.

We know a little about John. He was, as I said, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah. As an adult, he took to the desert, living a rough life. He ate locusts and wild honey and wore a hair shirt, whether as a sign of his own repentance or whether it was just a sign of how rough his life was, I don’t know.

Luke places him in history with his introduction that lists Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas and Caiaphas. These were real people, who ruled the lands where John did his ministry. Real people who are marked in the history books.

John is all about preparation: preparation for Jesus. So we too are on about preparation this advent. But how are we to prepare? It’s got to be more than just putting up Christmas decorations and making our houses look nice. It’s got to be more than baking and cooking and entertaining. It’s got to be more than shopping and buying and wrapping until our fingers are numb. It’s got to be more than all that.

Malachi gives us a hint of what we’re in for if we’re truly to prepare for Christ’s coming into our world. Preparing for the Messiah is not for the faint of heart. Malachi compares it to the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap. A refiner's fire is the forced-air, white-hot blaze that melts metallic ores and brings their impurities to the surface. Fullers' soap is the strong, lye-based soap used to bleach the impurities from cloth. Soap and fire, fire and soap. That’s what we use to prepare for the Messiah. Not just any fire and soap; super hot fire, super strong soap.

Our impurities are going to surface and be melted away leaving only the pure gold or silver that will shine. Our sins are to be scrubbed away leaving only the cleanest of cloths.

Preparation is not, as I said, for the faint of heart. It is something that is more than all our Christmas readyings and busyness. In fact, it’s quite antithetical. Those things can distract us from the real meaning of Advent. Advent is a time of purification and readying; readying ourselves for a meeting with Christ, with a meeting of Malachi’s Messiah, with the one who comes to save us and redeem us.

We’ve got to put aside the prettiness of Christmas for a moment and deal with hair-shirted John, who is going to level out our rough places and make plain those hills and valleys in our souls. We have to be ready for the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap both.

This is not a Currier and Ives Christmas card preparation. This is a down-on-the knees, soul-searching preparation that leaves us with tears on our cheeks and a shake in our step. This is a preparation that will leave us gasping for breath and weak in the knees. It’s not going to be simple nor will it be pretty. That’s the problem with Advent. We want it to be pretty. But neither refining ore nor lye soaping cloth are pretty.

Nor are they quick, easy processes. They bite and cause us to struggle and just want to get it over with. But both John and Malachi recognize that this is a process; a process that doesn’t end quickly. It is an ongoing and ever-present part of our life that is accentuated at this time of year as we work towards celebrating the birth of the one who would save us.

Yes, both John and Malachi, prophets separated by about 400 years, are making us ready for the Messiah; the world’s Messiah and our own personal Messiah. As a society we are not immune from this cultural preparation any more than we individually should try to escape it. But for our culture to prepare for the coming of the Christ, we each need to do our own preparation.

Prepare for the coming of the Christ-child into your world. Prepare for Christmas. But make sure you leave room for the true preparation that will require fire and soap and rough places made plain and the crooked made straight. It is difficult, but it is important. Make this your Advent of preparation.