They Came Confessing their Sins

Scripture Lessons: Isaiah 11: 1-9 and Mark 1: 1-8 Sermon Title: They Came Confessing their Sins Preached on December 6, 2020 Every year at about this time we turn our attention to John the Baptist, and this year, what amazes me about John the Baptist are the crowds. According to our Second Scripture Lesson from the Gospel of Mark, the city and the countryside emptied out and lined up to be in his presence, which this time of year, sounds something like the kind of audience only the likes of Santa Clause would be able to command. But notice how it’s not lines of parents with children who are lining up to see him. Lining up to see John the Baptist are grown men and women. I believe that’s an important detail to pay attention to, because in our culture, what adults are willing to go out of their way to do often seems to have a lot more to do with what their kids want or need than what they themselves want or need. For example, I don’t know many adults who frequent McDonald’s for their own benefit. In fact, if I were given the choice, I’d rather eat about anything than a chicken nugget shaped like a cowboy boot. However, if I had a granddaughter who wanted a happy meal I’d gladly suffer through. Maybe that’s just how it is. Something that may be true about our culture is that we will just do all kinds of things to make kids happy, and so, maybe you, like me, are wondering who in their right mind would travel out into the desert to confess? Who even has time in their schedule for that? Yet, they swarmed him. They made it a priority to go and see him it seems, though he was way out there. I don’t know how far they all had to travel. Surely it wasn’t on a paved road. They likely had to diverge from the paths of their daily routine to walk through the sand and scrub of the wilderness to get to the river, which is something that I know people are willing to do, but not often for themselves. Think about what we’ll do for our kids. I showed up outside the Marietta Center for Advanced Academics at 4:00 AM to make sure that our daughter got in. It was raining, and the man at the front of the line was in his camo coveralls. He had one of those pop-up tents and one of those nice folding chairs that reclines. When they opened the doors, he had fallen asleep and we all just walked right passed him. I said to the guy next to me, “shouldn’t we wake him up?” It turns out, someone else was looking out for him. His kid got in too, but my point is that we’ll do almost anything for our kids, while the grown-ups in our Second Scripture Lessons didn’t go out into the desert on behalf of their child’s education. When I was a kid in little league, my parents paid for me to have a private batting instructor. Imagine that. I was so well cared for. My dad would come home from work having already sat in traffic, then he’d get right back in it to drive me out to this special lesson, but those crowds didn’t go out into the desert to see John so that their kid would have a leg up on the baseball field. They went for themselves. These people went out to the river Jordan to see John, who was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, but it wasn’t for their kids. It was for them to confess. We need to think about that. Especially these days, we need to think about what we will travel long distances for and for whom we will make sacrifices, because so many among us will go through hardship and will take risk to make sure that the kids they love have the chance to stand before a certain man with a long beard wearing a strange outfit, but it’s not John the Baptist and it’s not for them. As a culture, we don’t have any problem teaching our kids that it’s OK to want something for Christmas, but what do you want? What do I want? I remember how long the lines were when I was a kid. We’d first have a special breakfast, then we’d ride the Pink Pig, before standing in the longest line to sit on Santa’s lap, laying before him all our Christmas wishes. This year many will still go see him because it’s important. It’s not wrong to be able to say what it is that you want. That’s a skill kids need to have. It’s OK to want things, so we encourage our kids to write it all down. Even if they can only just slip their list into a slot rather than place it in Santa’s hand. Did you hear that pandemic Santa smiles from within this sanitary snow globe like enclosure so no germs are exchanged? Things are different this year. Still, we want to make sure that our kids can make their wishes known. Our girls have made their lists. Lily turned hers into a power point presentation. With music. I’m serious. The slides have different color backgrounds, purple if she really wants it. Blue if she just sort of does. There’s a picture of the item on each slide, a link for her grandparents to click on, which makes buying for her very convenient, and I’ve been there encouraging her through each draft of this presentation that she started back on October, because I want our daughters to be able to stand up and tell the world what they want. I want them to be honest and clear about what they need. On the other hand, we don’t really encourage adults to do that sort of thing. “What do you want to have for dinner,” a husband asked his wife. “I don’t care,” she responded. It’s hard for some adults to put stuff on a Christmas list because they’re used to paying attention to what other people want and need, and maybe we shouldn’t be spending time on Christmas lists, but all those grown-ups went out of their way to see John the Baptist. Why? What does he have to offer? Some kids have their list, all typed up: - Nintendo switch - Baby Alive - Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage But what about their parents? Some dad will ask for a nice bottle of scotch, only what will really give him some real true peace? I can image a mother who can’t think of anything to ask for, so her kids will probably just get her another scarf. Who needs another scarf? What if instead, she doesn’t think about Santa this year and instead imagines herself lining up to see John. What if we were all to imagine ourselves lining up at the river to ask for the number one thing that every mother and father really wants and needs? I don’t even remember where I heard this. It might not be based on a study or any real data, still, it rings true: that what every father wants more than anything else is just to be appreciated by his family and what every mother so truly wants is to be forgiven. Does that sound right? There’s a comedian who has this bit about how no one ever gives dad credit for anything. Polite sons know to thank their mothers for dinners made and stuff like that, but none of them ever say, “Hey Dad, I sure to appreciate how you worked so hard to keep on the lights in this house. I just want to thank you for paying the mortgage Dad.” Can you imagine that? Dad’s want to be appreciated. That’s maybe what’s on their Christmas list. Could that be true. That way of thinking is based on a generalization. One that’s not always true for most families, as so many women are now the bread winners, but maybe it sounds close enough and maybe this does too: that so many mothers live with the fear of what their children are telling a therapist about them. If any of this regarding mothers and fathers really just wanting appreciation and forgiveness rings true, then think about John the Baptist as some kind of Santa Clause for grown-ups, because instead of a wish list of presents, people voice to him all their mistakes, regrets, and second guessing. Then, on Christmas morning they look under the tree to find God’s grace. That’s nice to think about, isn’t it? But that’s what this is all about. John called people to be honest about the desires of their heart, so what heavy burden do you want to lay down? What mistake did you make that you need to be forgiven for? What did you say that you wish you never would have said? What did you do that you wish you never would have done? Speak now and know that one is coming who has healing in his wings. What we see here in the Gospel of Mark is just the tip of the iceberg of the great miracle of Christianity, the true center of our faith. The real focal point, the chief creed, the unique and defining attribute of what is required to follow Jesus, namely: opening ourselves up to receive the grace he brings. My world religions teacher said it like that in college. Someone asked him, “what is unique about Christianity?” There are so many commonalities between the great world religions, what makes Christianity different? He said it was grace. That in all the world’s great religions, all those faiths that call people to higher ideals of love and hope, it is Christianity which most boldly proclaims among them all: your imperfection is no hinderance. You don’t need to be ashamed or afraid. Be honest before God about what you wished you’d done and just start again. It’s not too late. Today is a new day. That feels to me like an especially important message this year, because who among us really feels like right now, this year, they’re being their best self? You know what our girls told me? They said, “Daddy, you’ve gotten a lot meaner since you turned 40.” I don’t think that’s true, but things do grate on me more now than they used to. I am shorter with them than I want to be but being on Zoom calls for hours at a time is just doing something to my head, so when they leave their lunch boxes on the floor in the kitchen or yell at each other in the living room, it pushes me over the edge a lot sooner than it did a year ago. Maybe we’re all stretched a little too thin. Maybe we’re wearing down in ways we’re not used to. But let me tell you this too: That world religions professor from college: I walked into his classroom on the day of the test, only I didn’t know it was the day of the test. He could tell I was surprised and unprepared, and so he offered me grace. He said, “you can come to my office in two days to take the test then.” Well, I did that, only I wasn’t prepared two days later either. Why? Because grace without repentance is wasted grace. Admitting that there’s something not quite right is the perfect place for our grown-up Christmas lists to start. Why? Because Grace is coming, but to receive it, we must first get OK with the truth, that we all need it.