Mark 1:1-8 - "Prepare Which Way?" (12-7-08)

John the Baptist is screaming for people to prepare! There he is out at the Jordan dressed in camel hair with a belt around his waste. His Christmas dinner is locust and wild honey. I don’t think we can market that for Christmas food. Yet the first marketing agency of the celebration of the presence of Christ isn’t trying to sell us stuff but calls out to the people to prepare for the presence of God. Their response is one of confession and repentance in light of that which is coming. The people come out to John to confess their sins as they await the one who will lead them home.

These words of John the Baptist call out to us with the words of Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight his path. John is quoting Isaiah 40: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every 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.” This map shows that the people were living in exile along the Tigris and Euphrates River. The way there was up north through Israel and northeast through modern day Syria and then southwest toward modern day Baghdad. They viewed this exile as punishment and Isaiah said that “they have served their term” and the Lord will make a way home to the promise land. God is going to run a highway through the desert of Jordan because nothing shall stand in their way of returning. Prepare the way!

This is a season of preparation. We are preparing for Christmas. Perhaps in some ways, John the Baptist is preparing us again for Christmas the way Saint Nicolas is preparing us! The main difference is John the Baptist will confront the forces that defy God and have his head cut off. Yet our focus on Santa Claus begins to prepare us for Christmas. Yet yesterday was the day we remember the birth of Saint Nicholas. December 6^th is the day we remember the birth of Saint Nicholas, who was born in 270AD and died in 346AD. He was known as Nicholas of Myra in Modern Day Turkey. He became a priest and bishop, serving the poor and providing for the basic needs. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him.[1]

Saint in the Latin in Santus, which of course led to Santa and the Nicholas turned into Nick or Claus, we have eventually Santa Claus. Well Nathan shared that the Danish tradition is to leave a boot out for Saint Nicolas. So after the Eagle Scout ceremony on Friday, Nathan and I did such a thing. I told him that Saint Nicholas usually brought food or left money for the food pantry. Lo and behold on Saturday morning, there was a can of soup and $5 in their boots for the food pantry.

We are all preparing for Christmas. One thing we do to prepare for Christmas in our family is to make cookies. Well Tammy does the baking. Yet I decided to make oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies with the kids on Monday as a way to prepare. They were up on the chair and I had the kitchen aid mixer. Put that in my hands and it turned into a power tool. I cranked it up to ten and the kids were watching the dough spin and spin. It was cool. Yet I wasn’t prepared well because I added a tablespoon of baking soda instead of a teaspoon – bad after taste. I asked the kids if they wanted a taste of the dough and Nathan said, “You don’t eat it with uncooked eggs”. And I said, “You are right young man, don’t ever do that!” Also, with the batter being so whipped, the cookies came out flat. “They don’t look like Oma’s cookies.”

There are so many things to prepare to celebrate Christmas. We all have different things we do to prepare for Christ. There are many different ways to prepare. You have to pull out the lights, the tree, decorations, cookies, shop and plan for parties and gifts. How do you prepare for Christmas? What are some of the things you do to prepare? Often some of these vary things we do to prepare have to do with the way we prepared and celebrated Christmas in the past. Putting up the tree with the kids this year I was able to share the stories of many of the ornaments. We went shopping for gift certificates for Tammy and the kids told her we shopped. They didn’t say what we got her but they told her we went shopping. Lot’s of preparation.

Yet the preparation puts so much pressure on us to have a joy-filled Christmas when things just don’t seem very joyful. Yet today, let’s prepare by going back to the beginning of what Christmas is all about. Let’s prepare for Christmas by looking to the past. We go back to the beginning of the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ. John tells us of the coming of Christ and the people prepare to receive Christ by confessing and repenting of their sins. Even if we are not yet prepared or ready, Christ comes to us; catching us unprepared and unrepentant. Even if we are not prepared to be filled with so much joy this season, Christ comes to us and surprises us with a joy found in struggle. Nothing shall stand in the way! Make straight a highway!

Let us pray: Gracious God, you catch us busy and unprepared to receive Christ today. You come to us and bear the price of our sin upon the cross. The exile is over and a way has been made for us through Christ. Guide us in this way until that final way is made clear. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

---

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas