Sermon Dec. 7, 1997 Text: Luke 3:1-6 "A Prepared Heart" Growing up in the Kettle-Moraine region of Wisconsin, I got used to the ups and downs of the old highways. This part of Eastern Wisconsin has lots of hills shaped like kettles. The old highways, before there were interstates, would just follow the contour of these hills. No road was level for more than a few hundred feet, for it was up and down these steep slopes. I used to get carsick a lot, because driving on these roads was like going for a carnival ride. Then in the 70s came modern highway construction. They would move tremendous amounts of earth. They literally filled in the valleys and scraped the hills level. Well, this must be hard to visualize living in this part of Minnesota, where the highway creators had to have a good excuse to artificially put a turn or hill in the highways. That which made the highways better has also moved into agriculture. Some farmers I noticed are interested in leveling the little hills and filling in the little valleys in their fields. The earth movers and levelers have been at work. I have even seen some additional earth moving going on which I assume is a result of the extra snow and flooding of last Winter and Spring . Usually this work involves making the valleys deeper and the hills higher. Our Gospel reading today speaks of the opposite: making the hills more level and filling in the valleys. As if preparing a modern highway, or smoothing out a farm field, John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Lord. John the Baptist is introduced by way of contrast. He is compared to the several political and religious leaders of the area. "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene--during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas." This abundant listing of leaders is to be compared to simple John, which the text introduces with these words, "the word of God came to John." John was not an important figure in man's eyes. He was just a simple desert dweller. Surely these government leaders are more important? Would not God choose to come to the priests of the Jews? Instead He came to John. Rather than picking the ones who were prominent and proud, God picked the one who lived humbly. Nor did God choose the places of prominence to come. He did not come to the palaces or capital cities. Instead He came to John in the desert. "The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert." 1 God came with His word to John. He gave John a message to share, something which had to be preached and proclaimed. God's word was not something which John could keep to himself. So he shared it with people all around. "He went into all the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." John preached, and the people saw their need. They saw their need to repent, that is to turn from their life without God, and turn to God and His forgiveness. John carried the message God gave him, that word which came to him, to these people, and their response was faith. In faith, they would request to be baptized by John. Baptism as a word just means "washing." They were washed in recognition of their faith and repentance. This baptism of John was a symbolic act, unlike the baptism Jesus gave us. The baptism Jesus gave carries with it the promise and command of God. In it He promises to wash away our sins. For John, the baptisms which he performed were combined with the repentance, and that repentance was a turning away from sin and a turning in faith to God, and that brought forgiveness with it. The text from the Scriptures identifies John as the same one that Isaiah wrote of more than 700 years earlier. John is the "voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.'" John is calling for the way of the Lord to be prepared. He wants the Savior to have straight and level paths upon which to travel. The valleys should be filled in so that there are no drops. The mountains and hills are made low, so there is no need to go over them. The crooked and jagged roads are to be made straight. Bumpy, rough roads should be replaced with smooth pavement. John is calling for the people to prepare the way. They must prepare themselves. John is not the one to prepare the way, but the one telling people to prepare the way. Make the coming of the Lord easier and more direct. Allow Him to cruise into your hearts. We indeed need to prepare the way this Advent. We must prepare our hearts to receive our salvation. Our hearts provide many obstacles to our Lord's coming. We have valleys in our dedication to our God. The valleys have been carved out because our fear, love and trust is going to other gods. We find the god of materialism high on people's lists of other gods at this time of year. We also find the god of entertainment. We find the god of comfort and pleasure. These other gods have dug out the valley and taken us away from our heavenly Father. These valleys must be filled-in. The word used in the text for "filling in" the valleys also has the meaning of "becoming complete." What we lack in devotion to the Lord must be made 2 complete by filling in the valleys of worship of other gods with worship of the true God. Our mountains and hills of pride also get in the way of the Lord's coming. We are prideful over our sins. We are comfortable with our lack of obedience to God. We have made a mountain of pride because we think we are doing just fine in our following of the Law. These mountains and hills must be made low. And the word for "made low" also means to "be humbled." We must be humbled to see our true condition before the ruler and judge of the world. We are made low when we realize our sad sinful state. We are made low when our pride is exchanged for confession of our sinfulness. John's call for people to repent was a call to be humbled before the Lord. When humbled, we then see the need for a savior. If we are unprepared, we are going to have a rough time of it when the Lord returns. The reading from Malachi said ""See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?" First the messenger comes to warn us and prepare the way. This could well be John. Then, when Jesus Christ returns, those who are unprepared will not endure. They will not stand when He appears. The Lord, who will come suddenly will judge all those who reject Him. They will be judged guilty of their sins and condemned to eternal punishment. They will not endure in the day of His coming. They will not stand when He appears. The unprepared will be caught in the trap. This preparation of the way for the Lord, however, is seldom a pleasant activity. The rewards are well worth it, however. The preparation may be painful but the result is remarkable. Or as our Psalm put it, "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." Though we sow in tears of confession, we reap with songs of joy at forgiveness and salvation. The promise of Isaiah, the promise which John put into action, was that with our valleys filled in, our mountains and hills made low, our crooked roads made straight and the rough ones made smooth, with the way prepared--- we would see salvation. All mankind, who are thus prepared, will see salvation. In our Collect today we asked God to prepare us. The Collect is that prayer between the Hymn of Praise and the Scripture readings where we gather, or collect the thoughts related to the theme of the day's divine 3 service. Today, we asked God to "Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of your only-begotten Son that at His second coming we may worship Him in purity." We prayed that God would stir up our hearts. This He does through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit stirs our hearts when He creates faith in us. This person of the Triune God fills in our valleys, levels our hills and mountains, makes our crooked hearts straight and our rough places smooth. The Holy Spirit works through the Word of God. As the word of God came to John in the desert, the word of God comes to us. It both convicts us of our sin and assures us of our Father's forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We pray that you are allowing this Word to work in your heart. The more we are exposed to God's Word, the more the Holy Spirit can work on us and prepare us. The Holy Spirit prepares our hearts to receive our Savior. As the way is prepared for the coming of the Savior, we are blessed with the Savior's gifts. We are given the same gift which those who John baptized were the forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness gives us life and --- given salvation. Truely, "The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy," as the Psalm said. How great it is for us that our Father has taken the punishment due us and placed it upon our holy substitute, Jesus Christ, upon the cross. The Son, Jesus Christ died for you and shed His blood for you. This you know from receiving His body and blood today in the Sacrament. The very body and blood given on the cross are given you today as a pledge. In this sacrament today we are prepared as the Holy Spirit leads us to see in a personal way the forgiveness we have been granted and to remember and proclaim what was done to earn that forgiveness. The Holy Spirit continues to prepare us to receive our Savior. As the reading from Philippians said, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." We are made more and more prepared, or sanctified by the Holy Spirit who is ever at work in our hearts, filling in the valleys and making low the hills. In this earthly life, our preparation is always ongoing. We are ever a work-in-progress. Our highway, like many highways, is always under-construction. More and more the way is made level and smooth. In our trust of this work, we know that we will be brought to a joyous completion in the day of Christ Jesus. Amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 4 5