Sunday December 6, 2009 Luke 3:1-6

Welcome to the second Sunday in Advent. We have survived black Friday and cyber Monday. In contrast to those two days let’s focus on what we are waiting for. We have a feeling that something is about to break in, but what. It’s an uneasy feeling of a big change on its way, but how will it affect us? While we are in this state of anticipation, good or foreboding, something starts to take place.

V1 The fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius was about A.D. 28-29. Pontius Pilate is the governor of Judea. The territory had been ruled by one of Herod the Greats sons, Archelaeus. His rule had been so brutal that the people had complained about him and Rome had banished him to Gaul in A.D. 6. Another of Herod the Greats sons, Herod Antipas, ruled the Galilee until A.D. 39 and a third son of his, Herod Philip, ruled the land north and east of the Sea of Galilee until A.D. 34. Philip was the most moderate of the three sons in ruling their territory.

V2 The High Priest is Caiaphas, the son in law of Annas, although Annas is called a High Priest too as one held the title for life even if not in active office. Annas still pulled the strings from behind the scenes. It is at this point in fixed history that a man is in the wilderness waiting. John the Baptist is from the tribe of Levi. His father, Zacharias, was a priest that served in the Temple, a descendant of Levi and his mother, Elizabeth, is also a descendant of Levi. This meant that John should have been a priest serving in the Temple but he is called by God for a different task.

V3 John was guided by God to go to the region by the Jordan River that had been the crossing of the people when they had first entered the land in the book of Joshua. Here he was to proclaim “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”. The baptism (a new water crossing into Gods land where the former one had taken place) was an outward sign of an inner proclamation of repentance. Repentance was the turning away from the former way of thinking and relating to God to a new way of being in relationship with God and each other. The forgiveness of sins was not so much personal sin for the people, as they didn’t understand that they were fallen, only flawed, but a nation forgiveness of sin so they could return from their exile-(even though they had returned from exile in Babylon they had not ruled themselves, pagans had, and so they considered themselves still in exile - exiled in their own land). John is bypassing the Temple forgiveness system, the sin management system, and opening it up to everyone; the people no longer need to go to the Temple to receive God’s forgiveness. This is the start of a new rescue event (exodus) and the people are called by a priestly figure, John, to join in. Just as God had recued them from bondage in Egypt, he was about to rescue them again.

V4-6 The prophet Isaiah spoke these words around 540 B.C. Isaiah 40:3-5 is a text where the prophet is telling the people exiled in Babylon that their punishment is almost over, soon they will be going home. This will be a time of pardon, mercy, forgiveness and the restoration of Israel. God will lead them home, just as he had led them in the wilderness away from Egypt and into the land, through the Jordan River. A voice cries out “prepare the way of the Lord”. The Lord will make a straight highway in the desert for them to return on. The path will be flat, no valleys or mountains to climb over. Basically a super highway for them to ride in on with no effort made by them, led by God who would then take up residence in the Temple. The issue became that when they began to return from their exile this didn’t happen. The trip home wasn’t easy, they returned to a city of rubble not a Garden of Eden to which they had hoped and the Temple was in ruins. They had to start all over again rebuilding everything. Because these things had not taken place and when they returned they were still ruled by pagans (now Persians), they determine themselves to still be in some kind of exile. God wasn’t living in the Temple amongst them; He hadn’t even guided their return. But now with John using these verses maybe that time of exile was coming to an end. There is an excitement starting to grow. What’s going on out by the Jordan River? What does it mean? The symbolism is strong: John, a priestly figure who should be in the temple is out by the Jordan; baptism for Jews (Jews weren’t baptized only Gentiles when converting to Judaism), a new water crossing just like that of old; forgiveness of sins, which could only be done in the Temple is now offered out of it and by a human not God (only God could forgive sins in the temple); the recalling of the prophet Isaiah’s words about the return from exile which they assumed they were still in.

Could this mean a new rescue event (exodus) was about to happen finally, ending their exile? Was God going to return and take up residence with them? Was God going to again choose a new king, like King David of old, to rule them? Were they finally going to be free of the pagans, subdue them and rule the world with God? Was God going to forgive them of their national sins, which led them into exile, and restore them?

The tension is mounting. What is happening? They and we are waiting to see what will come. Is this the time?