Pastor John's lesson discussion for December 7

For this Second Sunday of Advent we hear from John the Baptist:

Mark 1:1-81The 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.”

Mark, in his gospel, is not interested in the birth stories of Jesus or any of his early life. He jumps right in with John the Baptist and then the story of Jesus' baptism as an adult.In his terse style Mark connects Jesus to Israel's history and the longings for a new world as expressed by Isaiah. But his main interest is not the background or the genealogy or where Jesus came from: he intends to reveal Jesus through his ministry.

Here, in these few verses of introduction, we hear from the wild preacher John who calls us to "turn around" because we've been going in the wrong direction. I hate to turn around- if I'm traveling somewhere and realize that I'm lost- I'm usually determined to keep going until I can get to the right place. I have wasted a lot of time on this!

John preaches this singular sermon as his way of making preparation for Jesus. He is deeply aware that much of what we do as individuals and much that the society does is simply wrong-headed. And we can't make it right by just trying harder. Stop and turn around and greet Jesus! This is not an easy sermon for anyone and this is not something easy to hear.

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