Gospel
THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO LUKE
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, -as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: '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 be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; -and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
LUKE 3:1-6
Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor
Peace is a ribbon that circles the earth, giving a promise of safety and worth.
Psychology Today describes peace as something that “deep down… most of us long for. [This is n]ot a peace inside that ignores pain in oneself or others, or is acquired by shutting down. This is a durable peace, a peace you can come home to even if it’s been covered over by fear, frustration, or heartache. When you’re at peace – when you are engaged with life while also feeling relatively relaxed, calm, and safe – you are protected from stress, your immune system grows stronger, and you become more resilient. Your outlook brightens, and you see more opportunities.”
Do you know this feeling of peace? This relaxed, calm, safe feeling that endures despite the fear, frustration, and heartache in your life?
I’ve been reflecting on this a lot, and I wonder how many people have experienced this state of peace. For me, it is not my reality. Many people think being a priest means I spend my time writing sermons, thinking about God, and being all holy and stuff. But this is not accurate. There’s the constant stress, always asking myself: “Am I doing enough? Did my sermon make a difference? Do I really have to attend this meeting? How can I help this church grow? What have I done that has caused this person leave or be upset?” There doesn’t seem to be any space for peace.
Even though your lives are different from mine, I think you can relate. For young people, there’s the pressure to fit in, to pass tests, to live up to expectations. For those in the workforce, the demands of deadlines, job insecurity, and people problems. In retirement, family pressures, ailing bodies, and the challenge of trying to be everything to everyone. No matter your age or life situation, there just doesn’t seem to be any space for peace.
But I really believe that God wants us to experience peace…God wants us to know a deep sense of calm and happiness, God wants our lives to be good. So, God offers this peace to us…but with all that is going on in our lives, it is hard for us to accept and experience it.
And this is where today’s Gospel comes in.
Luke begins with history: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee…” These details may mean nothing to us today, but to Luke’s audience, they were reminders of the challenges they faced daily. They lived under Roman rule, worrying about taxes, feeding their families, keeping their land…like us, they struggled to experience peace because they had so many things going on in their lives.
But then Luke shifts the narrative. He moves away from imperial power to the wilderness. In both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the wilderness is where encounters with God happen. It is a place of transformation, where God finds people in chaos and uncertainty.
And it is in the wilderness that we find John the Baptist. Earlier in the Gospel, Luke told us about John’s miraculous birth…his elderly parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, had been unable to have children. When John was born, his father, who had become mute, regained his voice and named him John, the name chosen by an angel. From that moment, John’s life was set apart.
Now, as an adult, John becomes the voice crying out in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke connects John’s ministry to the words of the prophet Isaiah: "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 be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."
Valleys, mountains, crooked roads, and rough paths are metaphors for the barriers we must clear to prepare a way for the Lord. It is about the steps we must take to get our hearts and minds ready to receive what the Lord holds out to us, to receive God’s peace.
While we don’t live under Roman occupation, there are many "emperors" in our lives…the things that dominate our time and energy, such as all the stuff I named earlier…the demands of work, school, life. These are the valleys, mountains, hills, and rough ways that stand between us and experiencing God’s peace.
So to prepare the way for the Lord, we must step away from these empires and enter the wilderness. The wilderness can be as simple as moment of quiet in our day, a place where we create space to meet God. It’s about setting aside time to pray, reflect, and listen. When we do this, we begin to remove all the obstacles, we begin to quiet the noise and the distractions that rule our lives and we make a straight path for God’s peace to enter in. We have to be deliberate about doing this, I know this is true for me, I often put work before making time in the wilderness…but if we try to do this, peace will fill our lives, transforming us and those around us.
The peace we receive from God calls us to be peacemakers in our families, our communities, and our world. When we are kind people, who support those who are struggling, when we lend a helping hand to a neighbor in need. When we work to bridge divides in our community, seeking understanding and reconciliation. When we pray for peace in our own lives, in our relationships, and in the world. When we allow God’s peace to shape how we live, it becomes like the ribbon we sung about in today’s Advent hymn.
Imagine a ribbon connecting each of us…going out from our church family into the world, where it wraps around different people, being woven through acts of kindness and love. This peace spreads around the earth and reminds us that every human being is valued, every person is worthy of experiencing God’s promise of safety and worth.
Together, let us prepare the way for the Lord. Let us clear the obstacles that block us from experiencing God’s peace…those mountains, valleys, hills, and crooked paths. And let us become the ribbons of peace that circle the earth, carrying God’s promise of safety and worth to all. Amen.
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