The Other Way
“The Other Way” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! On this December Sunday when we may have visions of sugarplums — or at least sugar cookies — dancing in our heads, I want to invite us to consider a less-emphasized aspect of Advent preparation. If you’ve hung around church, at least Creekside Church for any amount of time in the month of December, you are probably aware of preparation which is happening or has happened: ordering devotionals, decorating the lamp posts along the driveway, lighting the tree in the Prayer Garden, putting up lights and trees and glass ornaments and candles indoors. Not to mention baking cookies, setting up tables, and helping guests and friends select cookies, etc. etc. You no doubt have a parallel set of preparations going on in your home — whether it’s preparing to invite guests or to travel to someone else’s home. I have no quarrel with any of these preparations, although they can feel overwhelming at times. They are wonderful ways for our families and our church family to come together in the Advent season.
Although I am grateful for these preparations and the folks who make them happen, this is not the kind of preparation I want to talk about this morning. The kind of preparation I want to talk about is not sweet or sparkly; nothing you’re likely to put in the family Christmas letter. It’s something which belongs in our worship space, but usually isn’t very pretty. I am talking about repentance, or in the words of a favorite carol, how “every heart prepares Him room.” Him being Jesus Christ.
I want to put some biblical characters in dialog about repentance this morning — two men and an angel. The first character is mentioned in all four of the gospels, but Betty shared with us from the gospel of Mark. That character is John the baptizer. Creepy John, for you fans of the Chosen. Regardless of your references, the man is a prophet — he comes out of the wilderness quoting the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight!” Our Advent devotional for yesterday had a lovely reflection about what straightening paths might look like. This turns out to be all about repentance, and not about Christmas at all. There’s a reason there’s not a market for John the Baptist ornaments, and he never shows up in anyone’s nativity set, because repentance is kind of a buzz-kill for Christmas cheer.
The other man I want to invite into this conversation is one you heard referenced in the children’s story. Most of what we know about him in reference to the birth of Jesus comes from the gospel of Matthew. His name is Joseph, and he is Jesus’ father — sort of. Not to take anything away from men who raise or are role models for sons who are not their biological offspring, but part of what follows Joseph throughout the biblical narrative and throughout Christian history is the qualifier that he is Jesus’ earthly Father, because Jesus had a heavenly Father in a way which is unique to him. That is a different story which we’ll get to next week.
John the baptizer, or John the Baptist comes around in the lectionary reading every year on the second Sunday of Advent. And frankly, he’s not that much fun. He doesn’t have any good songs, like the angels or the shepherds or the wise men, and he’s uncomfortably direct, like the family member at Christmas dinner who notes that you’ve gained weight over the past year, and maybe you should consider exercising more, and stop serving all this rich food. But John keeps showing up. Partly because he’s Jesus’ cousin, and you can’t not invite family members even when they make you uncomfortable, but mostly because the things he’s saying are things we need to hear. Darn it.
Our preparations for Jesus’ Advent — his birth — must take into account things which are wrong and need to change. Because if nothing needs to change, there is no reason for Jesus to come to us as Emmanuel, God-with-Us. Jesus did not come so that churches could be filled on Christmas Eve, or to give us a reason to plan celebrations with family, or to boost retail sales in December. Jesus came because when we are left to our own devices, things go from bad to worse. Personal things, for sure, but also our religious practices and our government. John’s harshest words were for the Jewish leaders of his day, and John was executed because he called out a Jewish civic governor for flaunting expectations about marriage and fidelity. Telling people how they need to change will not only make you unpopular, it can get you killed.
Joseph was the rare man — rare person, but I’m going to stay with rare man — who followed directions and was willing to change the course he assumed was correct. This was not on the way to Bethlehem when Mary pointed out that he had missed a turn, it was a change which affected the course of the Christmas story — perhaps the course of history. You’ll remember that the first chapter of Matthew tells us that Joseph was engaged to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and when he found out that she was pregnant and knew that the child was not his, he planned to end the engagement quietly, rather than expose her to public disgrace. That is not what happened — do you remember what changed Joseph’s course of action? An angel appeared to him in a dream, and said “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Matthew’s gospel does not tell us what it cost Joseph emotionally to accept Mary as his wife and Jesus as his child, but I think we do Joseph an injustice if we assume that those things happened without struggle. Matthew notes that Joseph was a righteous man, and sometimes it is our sense of our own righteousness which keeps us from listening to our better angels. Joseph was entitled to feel hurt and humiliated, and no one would have blamed him for retaliating against Mary. In fact, he was showing restraint by resolving to do it privately. Joseph’s choice — the angel didn’t force him to do anything — Joseph’s choice to go another way took humility and courage. We can’t know how Jesus’ story would have been different if Joseph had stuck to his guns and dismissed Mary as he was planning; he was entirely within his rights and the expectations of his society to do.
John the Baptist was a voice crying in the wilderness that his people — the Jewish people — were going in the wrong direction and needed to repent, and go a different way. As I mentioned earlier, voices which speak to their society in that way are never popular. A group of about 15 of us went to see the movie Bonhoeffer a couple weeks ago. Not as much fun as The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, but a movie with an important message. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was German pastor and seminary teacher during the rise of the Nazi regime in the 1930’s. At a time when much of the German church was uncritical of Adolph Hitler and turned a blind eye to the deportation of Jews, Bonhoeffer spoke and taught according to his Christian beliefs and his understanding of the example of Jesus Christ. One of his best-known statements is, “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.” We know from history that it took a world war and a terrible cost of human life to de-rail the Nazi train. Many people riding that train would have described themselves as Christians. Changing direction can have a heavy cost, but continuing in the wrong direction is ultimately worse.
Considering our own need for repentance is a difficult assignment. It certainly doesn’t have to play out in public, but this Sunday gives me an opportunity to acknowledge that the need for repentance is something we all need to reckon with. I would not suggest that you do something which I am unwilling to do myself. Repentance is something which I must do if I am going to be a leader from an authentic place, and especially if I want my leadership will give honor and glory to Jesus Christ. Repentance is, quite simply, the way to clear my heart of the clutter and the filth of self-righteousness, false allegiance and passivity in the face of evil. If we want to prepare our hearts to make room for the birth of Jesus, we have to do some cleaning before we put up the Christmas lights. We may have to clean again when we take the lights down at the end of the season. That’s how repentance works — it’s not a one-and-done, it is a regular turning toward Christ, listening for angels, and the willingness and humility to go another way.