Someone Had to Tell Them

Text: Luke 3:1-20

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

             Have you ever been walking down the street and noticed the person wearing the beautiful new sweater? And then realized that the price tag was still sticking out of the collar in the back. My first thought when I see that is, “Someone has to tell them.” Or the guy walking out of the men’s room with the toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his show. “Someone has to tell him.” Or maybe it’s bald spot shaved into the back of the head from a terrible haircut that seems to have gone unnoticed. He needs to know. “Someone has to tell him.” These are all minor problems in the grand scheme of things, but still all things we wish someone would tell if we were the ones they were happening to. Before we’re caused even greater embarrassment from walking around not knowing. Today’s Gospel tells of a gracious man who told the crowd what they needed to hear. Not necessarily what they wanted to hear. Not to save them embarrassment, but for a much greater purpose. So that they might flee from sin and cling to the promise of life in the One for whom John was preparing the way. John’s message probably sounded harsh, but

SOMEONE HAD TO TELL THEM.

          The same is true today. Think of all the people who simply don’t know that the road they’re travelling is leading to a place far from the glorious promises believers have in Christ. They’re spiritually wandering around with terrible haircuts, toilet paper stuck to their shoes, and price tags still on their clothes. And someone has to tell them. There are days when I wish that it didn’t have to be me preaching that message. I’m sure you feel the same way. Most people do. Which is why the message doesn’t always get shared. And it’s why so many flock to the feel-good messages and messengers who just aren’t willing to tell people that their lives are going in the wrong direction. And that their ultimate destination is not going to be where they think it might be. The message of repentance simply isn’t a popular one. Even so, it would be totally unloving not to preach it.

Because the Gospel isn’t so sweet when we haven’t first heard the full sternness of the Law. Without an understanding of our weakness and our fallen nature, we’d have no reason to need the grace and mercy of a God who loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son into the world. It’s generally not popular to be the preacher of the Law, but it’s necessary to prepare people for the Gospel. Which is exactly why the world needed John the Baptist in order to be ready for Jesus. And he certainly proclaimed a message that would grab the attention of everyone. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance … Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” John pulled no punches. He preached the message that needed to be heard. He was loud and in your face, and his words were the sounds that every person needs to continue to hear today.

But they’re quite different than the sounds we might expect to be hearing during this Advent season. As we decorated the church yesterday, we had Advent and Christmas music playing. The sounds of peace and joy that we expect from this season. But that’s not the sound of our Gospel message today. Instead, we have the sound of one pleading for people to turn from their wicked ways. And we also have words that conjure up images of a giant construction project. Isaiah’s words about John the Baptist might make us think of construction trucks, earth movers, and pavers. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight. And the rough places shall become level ways.” John is just the one to take on this task prophesied by Isaiah. He’s the one to help this road take shape. He’s the one sent to pave the way.

This is the miraculous child born to Zechariah and Elizabeth. He was the answer to years of prayer that the two had offered up to God. And in a way John the Baptist is the last of the Old Testament prophets. Nearly 400 years separates him from the Old Testament Book of Malachi, but now suddenly the time is fulfilled. John’s birth comes with a purpose. And that purpose is that God is preparing a path to salvation.

Jesus tells us that John is Elijah. Not a reincarnation of the Old Testament prophet, but in spirit and power he’s the one who prepares the way. And the method of preparation that’s necessary for the people is a clear call to repentance and confession. This isn’t the type of preaching that the people would have heard in the temple. That’s not where John’s service was performed. He preached in the desert along the banks of the Jordan River. A different message in a different place. And the people took notice. So much so that “the people were in expectation, and all were questioning whether he might be the Christ.” When God’s message is preached in it’s truth and purity, even when it’s a tough message to hear, people will sit up and take notice. And that’s what was happening with John. Which gave him the opportunity to proclaim to people that he was not the Messiah, but that God was about to reveal the Messiah to them.

And it became clear that this way that John was preparing was nothing like any other these people had experienced. And that it really had nothing to do with the depth of the valleys, the height of the mountains, or the straightness of the roads they travelled. Isaiah’s prophecy about filling the valleys, making low the mountains, smoothing out the rough spots, and making the crooked ways straight had nothing to do with a massive earth moving construction project. It had everything to do with the hearts of God’s people. When our hearts are prepared, the way is made clear. And the way has nothing to do with some earthly journey from here to there. Jesus is The Way. The long-awaited Messiah is what John is preparing hearts and minds for. The One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. People needed to know that the one who was “mightier than [John] was coming, the strap of whose sandals he was not worthy to untie.” They needed to know that there was no other way to salvation but by Jesus Christ. It might have seemed like a harsh message, than and now, but someone has to proclaim it.

And we need to hear it. Over and over again. Because we’re constantly bombarded by messages that would suggest something other than our need to repent and receive God’s gracious forgiveness. Make your own way. Create your own truth. Live your best life. These are the popular messages of the world around us. And they begin to seep into our thinking as well. They sound good, but where are they focused? Squarely on ourselves. Not on the Lord. John’s message is so powerful because he doesn’t make it about himself. It’s not about him. It’s about the One whose way he’s preparing. It’s about the straight path of salvation that will soon be revealed to them. And not just in Jesus’ arrival to carry out His three-year ministry. But in the destination at which Jesus will eventually arrive. The cross. The path of salvation was always going to lead to the cross. The world would have us believe that there are many ways to salvation, but the cross teaches us that there is but one, and His name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Way, and this is the message the church is here to proclaim. Because someone has to tell them. Acts 9 tells us that that Christianity in the first century was called the Way, even by those who persecuted the early church. It was called the Way because it proclaimed loudly, and for all to hear, the one true Way to salvation. The church still proclaims the Way to people by remaining faithful to the Lord. It won’t always be the most popular message, but the call to repent, to turn from our wicked ways, is the message that opens the door for the sweet truth of the Gospel. That sinners are forgiven, and a path to salvation is found in the One who gave His life for you and me. Even within our reading for today we hear that John’s message was not only Law, but Gospel as well. “So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.” It’s all Good News when we’re standing steadfast in the Word and shining Christ’s light to light the way for ourselves and the people around us.

As members of the Way (the church) we, too, have been called in our faith and Baptism to proclaim Christ to the world. Despite hostility, suffering, or even rejection, the message is as needed and relevant today as at any other time in history. Someone has to tell them. Let it be us.

          Not out of pride or selfish ambition. But because the world needs to know. They need to hear. The picture that best represents our world today is the typical male driver who, though thoroughly lost, will not stop to ask for directions. Pride would have one forever driving in circles of man-made theories, goals, and visions. These all fail to show us the way. What our world needs is the voice of John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord.” That voice is heard when the church and its people proclaim it with boldness and conviction. It’s heard when the one who has ears to hear, listens. The message of the Way. Hear it. Live it. Speak it. Someone has to tell them. Let it be you. It might not save them the embarrassment of this world, but it just might be the voice that saves them from eternal separation from their Lord and Savior, a fate far worse than worldly embarrassment. May God grant you the strength and courage to be His voice in the wilderness of our world. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.