It can be hard for us to understand John the Baptist today

O Lord, we pray, speak to us all here in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your children listen. Amen.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near

I do not know about you, but a lot of people find it difficult to understand John the Baptist and what value are his message is to us today.

I have a feeling that very few people, whether it be 2000 years ago, or in today’s world really understand what he was trying to tell us when he told everyone that his job was to ‘prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.” At least I must admit that I did have a problem in understanding what it means for us in today’s world.

I do not think that there were that many people who could even begin to understand it when he said that “After me comes one whose sandals I am not worthy to untie”

And among all the people who responded to his call of, “Repent and be baptized” they must have been deeply confused to hear him declaring to them “I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

What was John all about?
Why was he doing what he did?
And what is the importance of his message for all of us gathered here today?

To me, John the Baptist is the very voice of Advent, he is the voice of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to this world to intervene for us in the relationship between God and ourselves.

His message was not only a word about our Lord Jesus.

It was the Good News, in other words, the Gospel. It was the beginning of the Good News for you and me. It was the beginning of the Good News for the entire world.

The entire episode of John and his message was at the beginning of the Ministry of Jesus in this world. John’s message, still is the beginning today for everyone who want to walk with Jesus. This is for everyone who wants to find their way out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land…..

There is an old Chinese proverb, and I should know, as I am Chinese by race, that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step.

John’s purpose in his ministry was to point out to everyone in those days, and to all of us in today’s world what that first step must be. He was pointing out to us that the way of our Lord Jesus Christ must be prepared, and that we are not simply talking of a highway in the desert, but it must be a highway in our very hearts, a route or direction that we must all take, if we are to be ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

One day a university professor went to visit a great master by the name of Nan-In. The university professor asked the Master to teach him what he needed to know in order to have a happy life. He told the Master that he studied the sacred scriptures, he already visited all the greatest teachers in Japan, and yet he was not able to find the answer, and humbly he was asking Nan-In to show him the way to a happy life.

Nan-In said nothing and started serving tea to his guest. Nan-In kept on pouring tea into his visitor’s cup, and kept on pouring and pouring so that the tea began to run over the rim of the cup and across the table, and still he poured, until tea was flowing down from the table onto the floor. The professor watched this until he could no longer restrain himself. “It is overfull, stop, no more will go in”. He cried out.

Nan-In said, “Just like this cup, you are full of your opinions and speculations. How can I show you the way to a happy life until and unless you have emptied your cup?”

Indeed how can we ever welcome Christ? How can we ever enter the Promised Land with Him, if we ourselves are so full of our faith and trust in our own strengths, so full of our own high opinions of ourselves, so full of our poor opinion of other people, or so full of our own speculations, and therefore have no room for Him. How can we ever welcome the Lord if our hearts are not prepared? How?

How can we ever welcome the Lord if our hearts are not prepared? How?

John the Baptist came in order to prepare the way of the Lord. He prepared the way of the Lord, not by building a highway in the wilderness of Judea. He prepared the way of the Lord by preparing the hearts and minds of all who were willing to listen to him and to repent of their ways.

John the Baptist called on the people to hear his message and to take action, so that they would be able to greet the Messiah, and walk in the way of the Lord.

Repent, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, he cried out, for after me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

REPENT!

What does the word repent mean?

It simply meant to “turn around”, to change the direction that we are going, to face a new way, to begin to move on that new way, and to leave behind the old way. It means to turn to the Lord and not to rely on our own resources, for never could we have salvation by our own efforts or to be able to face our daily trails or to walk with our Lord. By our own efforts we will not even be able to live another day!

Much as the professor had to empty himself to learn the way of how to have a happy life, so each and everyone of us must change direction if we are to truly see the Lord and walk with Him from the wilderness to the Promised Land through all the trials and tribulations we faces in this world.

You may tell me, ‘But Edwin, we are living in Hong Kong, and not in the wilderness of Judea. What are you talking about?” The wilderness we are in, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is contained in our hearts. The wilderness is in our hearts.

The wilderness is in our hearts.

It is not what is outside that defines our wilderness, rather it is what is inside ourselves, it is created by what we are done, or what we left undone. In other words, it is define by our own actions or inactions.

However, outside things do have a great influence and they can, especially during certain time in the year, to point out to us just how barren and how unfruitful our present way of life is.

During Christmas time we can more easily detect the hazards of a life unprepared for our Lord Jesus Christ.

We can more easily see what we are lacking in, and have a more of an experience of our need for God, for something or for anything that will ease our burdens in life.

Christmas can be such a lonely time.

It is a lonely time, not only for those of us who are far away from family and loved ones, but also for those who are alone because they are widows or single mothers. It is also a lonely time for those who have no peace in their minds. It is a lonely time for those who have been deceived into thinking that they can ever buy happiness for their families and friends by purchasing bigger gifts, better gifts or more expensive gifts.

It can be such a barren time and a time without joy, for those who think that somehow all that they ever needed could be found at Christmas parties, whether it be in the office or someone’s home, or in having just the perfect tree, or the nicest decorations in the whole city block, or the best decorated house in the entire province.

Even for those of us who place great value on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Christmas can be a time of year that reveals our need for a new way of doing things. A time of the year that shows that we too need to repent, and that we too need to empty our cups so that they can be filled with the water of life.

In so many ways we are all in a wilderness at this time of the year. A wilderness that is not of rocks and sand, heat and thirst, but a wilderness that is just as desolate and which makes us feeling spiritually dry.

Being busy is a feature of this desert of ours. Endless rounds of Christmas shopping, meetings and partying. At the end of the day, all this busyness leaves us exhausted and emotionally drained.

Noise attacks us. From the noise in the large shopping malls to the endless noise of carols, advertisements attacking us in the middle of our city of Hong Kong, or wherever you might be, not to mention from radios and televisions.

There is great pressure on us to feel happy, to be full of Christmas cheer, to enjoy ourselves, even when we are feeling much too tired, or wrapped up in our private and important grief.

We all feel compelled to spend money that we do not have. Either charging up great big debts on our credit cards, and for those who do not have credit cards, borrow money from money lenders in order for our families and friends either in Hong Kong or overseas can have the latest toys and gadgets that they do not really need.

On top of all that, we get so many appeals for this charity or that charity, and we are also asked to work harder and longer hours, so that we might, as it was possible in our absence, make our family happier.

We are certainly in a wilderness, a wilderness both within ourselves and outside, and we need desperately the way of the Lord to be made ready in our lives so that we can emerge from that wilderness and come to the place where there is rest, the place of hope, joy, peace, and love, the place where our God resides – within our hearts.

I remember hearing of suggestions as to how we might better prepare the way in our lives, and in the lives of other people.

The suggestions are ways of turning around in how many of us go through Advent and Christmas, a kind of repentance as it were.

It might be worth considering that instead of doing more things during Advent and Christmas, we might consider doing less, that we might consider slowing down and relaxing a bit more, as these precious Christmas days are much too precious to spend in doing what other people wanted us to do. Maybe we can consider having a month of saying NO.

NO to meetings that I can put off until the month of January. No to invitations that I may regret of giving out or accepting when the date arrives. NO to demands that take our attention away from our families and loved ones. When I say No to all such things, I will be able to say YES to other things, things such as Yes in trying out that new Christmas recipe. Yes to writing to neglected friends and relatives, YES to sharing Christmas stories and singing the beautiful songs of the season with people I love. YES to cuddling up to your spouse or love ones.

Maybe we can even consider inviting someone whom we know is lonely over to our house for Christmas dinner? What about reading the scriptures and praying for our church and our world? What about letting go of some unnecessary activity so that we will can have more time for family, church, home and friends. What about meditating each day on the generosity of God and his call for us to live by His love?

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, repentance is what most of us needs, the turning around that most of us requires. It is not such a hard thing to do. It is a necessary change of attitude toward life, and towards the things in this world that we hold as important right now.

Repentance is not all about beating on your breast and saying what a miserable sinner I have been. Repentance is not saying I am sorry over and over again. Repentance is doing things in a new way. A way that will give life both to yourselves and to other people. Repentance is the only way that will allow our Lord Jesus Christ to enter more deeply into your hearts.

All of us here today know more about John the Baptist than the people who first heard him some 2000 years ago. We do know that the one, who followed, the one that he called people to prepare for, was the Lord of Life, a man who bestowed health and wholeness on all who were ready for him. However, John’s words to us are just important today as it was 2000 years ago. John calls on us to the new life revealed in Jesus.

JOHN IS CALLING ON US TO THE NEW LIFE REVEALED IN JEUS.

He reminds us that if are to have that life, we must do just a little more than just wanting it. We must prepare ourselves for it, by making changes in our directions. We must prepare ourselves for it by doing certain things differently than we have done in the past.

To repent is to recognize that the old ways in which we have been traveling on will lead us only to a spiritual death, and will lead further and further away from God. To repent is to recognize the need to turn around, and to ask for God’s forgiveness and help, and by the help of His grace started walking in the way that will lead us to the light.

Repentance is a beginning that is blessed by God, a beginning that we all need to make each day, one day at a time.

As we turn to face Jesus, our lives are warmed, for his light shines on our path. As we walk forward from the place we were, we find our paths are made straight, the valleys in our way are raised up, the mountains and hills are made low, the rough places are leveled out, the rugged places becomes a plain, for Jesus is walking with us.

Comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, all her sins has been paid for. AMEN.