A Voice in the Wilderness

A meditation on Luke 3:7-18 for the Third Sunday of Advent
for the community of St. David of Wales Episcopal Church, Shelton, WA

John the Baptist lives outside of societal conventions
 
Outside the protection of city walls.
Outside livelihood and belonging in community.
Outside a home filled with generations of family.
 
John lives in a wilderness
foraging for food, making his own clothes
free from the trappings of society
which can in themselves become a trap.

And having let go of so much
we often think of as necessary
John devotes himself to God
becoming a literal voice in the wilderness
calling out to prepare the way of the Lord.
 
And in today’s gospel crowds of people
gather around John
among them pharisees, and Sadducees,
soldiers and tax collectors.
 
People who possess all the things John has given up
leave their own security and comfort for a time
to seek out John to be baptized by him.
 
---
 
What brings them to this prophet in the wilderness?
 
How have they heard about him?
 
And what have they heard?
 
What are they hoping for?
 
Why do they want to be baptized?

Are they there for the novelty?

Is John just one more stop on their entertainment circuit?

Or is this more than curiosity?
 
Is something missing in their lives?
 
What change are they seeking?
 
Or as John not so bluntly asks the Pharisees,
what judgment are they trying to escape?

And I wonder:
 
Will John’s words change the people?
 
Will being submerged in the river
reorient their priorities?
 
Will this be a pivotal moment of choosing a new path?
 
Will they be on the lookout
for the one John says is yet to come?

Or will the day be relegated to some obscure vault of memory
a vague recollection of something they did once?
 
--
I don’t know the answers to any of the questions
and I’m sure the answers are different for each person
gathered in the wilderness.

As varied as our own answers to those questions might be.

Questions about what we’re seeking in the deepest most vulnerable parts of ourselves.

Questions about what words we’ve heard while wandering in the wilderness.

Questions about why we’re gathered here this morning
and not at home watching football
or out Christmas shopping.
--
Thankfully, amid all the questions John has answers.
 
He says tradition and inheritance don’t matter.
When it comes to following the way of God,
no one is “grandfathered” in –
 
The desire, and the choice, he says, must come
from each of us individually.

And the way, he says, is available to everyone who chooses it
even the tax collectors, and soldiers
working in service of the empire and oppressor.
 
When those gathered around John ask what they should do,
his answer is deceptively simple:
 
Let your life show that you’ve changed.
Give to those in need.
Don’t take more than your share.
Don’t abuse your power.
 
--
Two thousand years later it’s clear
that though John’s directives are simple
they’re easier said than done.
 
And we are still waiting
waiting for the coming of Christ once again
waiting for God’s promises of justice
and reconciliation to be fulfilled
waiting in the beautiful and terrifying not yet.


And as we wait, may we find hope
in the words and actions of God’s messengers
reaching back to ancient texts and psalms to guide us
and remind us that God is with us always.

As we wait may we take comfort in hymns old and new
that spur us to remember and rejoice
in God’s plan to bring peace.

As we wait may we see the path that has led us to where
we are now mirrored in the lives of the faithful who have shaped us.
 
And may the way forward be illuminated by those gathered
alongside us here and now and in the days and years to come.
 
And finally, in the words of Paul:
 
“May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” 


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