Sermon:  “PEACE Like a River”

Prayer:   “May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts and minds here together be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.”

I don’t know about you, but “peace” is not the first word I associate with John the Baptist.  John the Baptist is the wild-eyed, bug-eating holy man who dressed up in camel skins, lived in the desert, and preached repentance down by the riverside.  When I think of peace, I don’t think of a screaming prophet calling me to turn back from my sins – that kind of makes me nervous.  But really, as Grant showed us, Mark’s John the Baptist seems quieter, or at least less angry, than he does in the other versions of the story.  Mark’s Gospel is the only one that begins with Good News from the voice of John, as he quotes the prophet Isaiah:

1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
³the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight...’”

These verses from Isaiah 40 that John the Baptist quotes to set the stage for the arrival of Jesus are the beginning of a beautiful passage in the Hebrew Bible known as “The Little Book of Comfort” (Isaiah 40:1-4, 9-11): 

“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid.... ³A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain....“⁹Do not fear...” Isaiah says, “¹⁰See, the Lord God .... ¹¹will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”

The thing is, in Matthew and Luke, John the Baptist doesn’t stop with quoting these poetic words of Isaiah 40, he keeps on preaching hellfire and damnation. In both of those Gospels, John the Baptist appears in chapter 3, AFTER the nativity stories, and he just can’t stop making threats about God’s wrath.  “You brood of vipers! … the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  But in Mark’s version, John the Baptist really does fulfill Isaiah’s promise. He brings Good News and real comfort for a suffering people living under the oppression of the Roman Empire.  He preaches peace to the angry young men of his generation.

This is significant, I think – that John the Baptist leads them out into the wilderness and not into the streets of Jerusalem.  This is not so much “Occupy Wall Street” as a retreat. Out in nature, it’s quiet.  And there John promises his people – he promises us – a savior straight from Isaiah 40 who will feed his flock like a good shepherd, leading us gently on a smooth and level path, carrying us like baby lambs if we get too tired to go on. The savior John promises in Mark will bring “Peace Like a River,” not a fiery sword.  That sounds so much better, doesn’t it?  Isn’t that what we are longing for about now – at the Advent of 2012?  Wouldn’t it be great to get a rest from the ups and downs of the rocky roads of this life and get to stroll instead beside an ever-flowing and peaceful stream?  How refreshing!  And I don’t know, maybe it’s because I broke a toe this week, but it sounds pretty appealing to me about now to get to be carried along by Jesus, close to his heart.  What a relief that would be.  I mean, it’s a great honor to get to follow Jesus – but there are a lot of days when I get pretty tired of stumbling along, falling short, and trying to keep up with him! 

I know my kids felt that when they were little and I tried to turn them into hikers.  It was my fondest dream when I was young – maybe I saw “The Sound of Music” too many times – but I had a vision of one day having kids who would happily follow me and my husband high into the wilderness on glorious day hikes and camping trips.  John and I both were scouts, so when we did have kids, we wanted to get them outside and teach them to love nature when they were young.  We took them out in baby backpacks and then on the trail with us wearing their own little backpacks and water bottles.  That worked out fine, to a point – but you can only push kids so far, and then the “wailing and gnashing of teeth” begins.

My last church, back in California, had an annual spring retreat at Yosemite National Park – and one trip (when Jacob was about 8 or 9, I think) I took him with me on a hike I thought would be fun, but give us a little more of a challenge.  Well, it turns out it was a LOT more of a challenge!  It looked easy enough on the map – just up to the top of Vernal Falls and then back down again.  But it was not a topographic map!   It turns out, you got to the top and then had to go up even more – up and up and finally over a bare and windy ridge (where there was snow, in May) and then back down into the valley through a steep and rocky switchback trail.  You know, “wilderness” sounds like such a pretty, scenic word – until you get stuck there with a crying child too big to carry and too small to reason with!

The only thing that kept us going was the view of the Merced River far below.  I figured out quickly there would be no threats or no promises that would keep him moving.  So I just took our time, and at every switchback where there was a view of the valley through the trees, we’d stop.  And I’d point all the way down.  And I’d say, “Look!  There’s the river.  Doesn’t it look pretty?  Doesn’t it look CLOSER?”  But I was praying, “Lord, have mercy!”  (I didn’t pray out loud – maybe I should have – because I was doing that “mom” thing and trying to hold it together, you know.)  I was thinking the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga had the right idea when he named that river El Río de Nuestra Señora de la Merced ("River of our Lady of Mercy").  “Lady of Mercy, have mercy on us!  Get us down to that river – make these rough places a plain!” And eventually, one step at a time, we did make it – through the sheer power of the Holy Spirit – we were led back to the level ground once again.

So this is very Good News when John says, “I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit,” because the Holy Spirit is not fire and brimstone!  The Holy Spirit is Holy Comfort.  The Holy Spirit is Holy Peace.  Jesus knew the comfort of the Holy Spirit refreshing him like living waters in the wilderness, as the angels ministered to him there.  And Jesus promises that same peace to us, through the Holy Spirit. 

But some days – maybe especially during this busy Advent season – it may be very hard to find that river of peace.  How do we find “Peace Like a River” in the midst of all our worries and griefs and pain?

Well, for one thing, if you’ll pardon the advertisement, we can find it here at church!  We can find it in song, in prayer and sacrament, in the comforting words of scripture.  We can find it in fellowship with others who are walking along that stream of faith with us, in the footsteps of Jesus.  John had it right, I think.  Humility and repentance – admitting that we are not the source of all strength and wisdom, admitting we can’t do it all perfectly, admitting we sometimes need a savior – is the way to peace.  Our humanity in this draws us together. 

As much as anything, I think that’s what impressed Jacob about that fateful hike – not that we went out on a challenging hike, not that we got to the end of our strength and patience, not that we thought we might not make it back and yet we DID.  What probably impressed him most was that his ornery and headstrong mother – for the first time in his life – admitted that she was wrong!  In the end, I begged him to forgive me for dragging him so far into the wilderness that he never wanted to go on a walk with me again! 

Knowing and admitting our weakness is the way to peace, because we know we can rely on a higher power.  We can celebrate getting to HAVE a savior – and not having to BE a savior ourselves.  All we need do is prepare a way in the wilderness of our hearts for Jesus Christ to get through to us and carry us where we need to go. 

Thanks be to God for this Good News.  Amen.

---

 

Isaiah 40:1-11

¹Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

³A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. ⁵Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” ⁶A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

⁹Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” ¹⁰See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. ¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

 

Mark 1:1-8

1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
³the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”