Sermon preached at St Matthew’s, Stretton

At Parish Communion 10:30AM Sunday 7 December 2014

Introduction

If you heard me preach last Sunday, I can only apologise. You will have been on the receiving end of my traditional Advent rant, the launch of the Vicar’s annual campaign for the preservation of Advent. It was like an episode of ‘Grumpy Old Vicars’©. If you heard me preach last Sunday evening, an extra apology. My sermon was on my iPad and my iPad started to misbehave, randomly swapping pages, then changing documents, then apps. You’re lucky the sermon didn’t degenerate into a series of Facebook updates or Angry Birds scores.

I’ve decided to give in. A bit. I knew I was on to losing wicket when I realised that here, the Christmas trees are lit even before Advent begins, and that I am the vicar of a church that does not even have a purple Advent altar frontal.

But instead of ranting about it, hear this:

Isaiah 40:1-11

God’s People Are Comforted

Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak 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.

The middle section of the book of Isaiah, which begins with these words, is from the period when God’s people were in exile in Babylon. The prophets saw that as a consequence of God’s punishment for their sins, for failing to be the people of God. Now they hear the words of comfort and promise:

A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every 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.

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

These words are like those that go before a king: make ready! The king needs a smooth, straight path on which to travel.

Mark’s Gospel picks up the prophetic word

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;

the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight” ‘,

Mark introduces us to John, whose job it is to introduce us to Jesus, of whom he says, “I’m not worthy to untie his sandals”, to be his slave. And the job that Jesus does is to introduce us to God.

John stands in the tradition of the prophets, a wild character, an outsider. He looks the part, dressed in camel hair, eating locusts and wild honey. Severe, austere, uncompromising – and those are just his good points! And with a dress sense and diet that befits your otherworldliness. He’d be a great candidate for a reality show makeover. And he speaks in the wilderness, where so many key moments and stories from the bible happen – in the desert. He preaches repentance and offers baptism as a sign of starting again with God. He asks, are you ready?

Conclusion

Are you ready for what? Mark starts his book with these words:

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

The beginning…

Like John (John 1:1), Mark takes us back to the beginning, to Genesis (“In the beginning…”, Genesis 1:1). Here is a new beginning that bears comparison with the beginning of all things. That’s how significant this is!

The Gospel

It is the beginning of the Gospel – good news. In the days before 24 hour news, the internet and texting, a messenger arrives, but it is good news or bad? Have you won the battle or lost it? It’s good news! It’s gospel! Mark tells us that his story is gospel, good news. And he has invented a new literary genre: no one had written a gospel before! But how else to tell this story?

Jesus

It’s the story of Jesus – Yeshua (like Joshua). His name means ‘God (Yahweh) is my salvation’. He is ‘God to the rescue!’

Christ

Jesus is the Christ, the one anointed to be God’s king –

The Son of God

And Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the one in whom we meet with God, in whom our relationship with God is restored.

Are you ready? Not for Christmas, but for Jesus, for the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God?