CMLC 2024-12-08 Sermon (Traditional)

Well, howdy. Now, I have some really bad news to give you all. Did you know that not everybody

loves the song Last Christmas by Wham? Can you believe that? All right? George Michael

singing Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away? All

right. Some people actually don't like that song, and I don't understand those people.

I think they're communists, but the thing with it is that this whole music video ends

up going through this whole time where George Michael and this one lady are over there trying

to like avoid each other the whole time that they're skiing with friends because you find

out that apparently they had some failed romance the year before. And then finally at the end

of the music video, they're able to hug and be friends again, and then they finish off

the music video. But I swear they're probably still cursing under their breath whenever they

walk away. And that's the thing though, is that oftentimes we end up seeing in the midst

of peace and calm is that oftentimes under the surface, we still end up finding out

that there is turmoil and strife. And the thing is, is that as much as it would be lovely

if these were just limited to music videos and silly things that we enjoy, at the same

time, we end up discovering that this happens in real life as well. The year is 1914. The

world had been at war for a few months and many of the soldiers were tired of the fighting.

During the lulls in the fighting, they would sometimes yell across to each other news of

the day and songs to one another across enemy lines. And many in the German army had spent

time in England, so they actually knew English and were able to share what had happened with

their recent favorite sports teams. And it was soon time for Christmas. And the soldiers

wanted to celebrate. Many soldiers throughout Europe ended up putting down their weapons,

walking through the no man's land to eat, drink and sing with people who had just been

trying to kill them. They spent time exchanging souvenirs, even while they also exchanged prisoners

and bodies. The truth is that the people wanted to live and let live. But sadly, it wouldn't

fly for very long. The following year, there were specific orders from people forbidding

the soldiers from having any level of a truce, even to enjoy Christmas. And the war waged

on for four years, being called the greatest of all wars. But as much as there was a desire

for peace, the underlying issues were still there, even to the point where the war to

end all wars would start again two decades later. There have been various times whenever

peace has been on the surface, but it's just covering a hurt and frustration that has been

under the surface and has led to warfare in the past. In our gospel passage, there is

a background of what is called the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. It was the idea that throughout

the Roman Empire, they made sure that there was peace everywhere, only at the point of

a spear to make sure that no one caused any issues, including the Jewish people. There

are a few characters you need to make sure that you are aware of Tiberius Caesar in our

passage, the second Roman Emperor. He reigned during a pivotal period of Christianity from

14 to 37 AD, including the ministry of Christ Jesus, as well as his crucifixion. He was

born in 42 BC, and the only reason he became emperor was because his mother had divorced

his father to marry Octavian, who would become Emperor Augustus. When he died in 1814, Tiberius

reluctantly ascended to the throne. Under his reign, there was a substantial degree

of stability and order that everyone was expected to maintain. Pontius Pilate, he was the Roman

governor of Judea, and he was under the authority of Tiberius, and Tiberius maintaining stability

across the empire, chose Pilate probably because he saw him as capable of maintaining the volatile

region of Judea, this place that had been known as rebelling against its overseers. Though

Pilate was marked by political and social challenges, he was fraught with difficulties, including

the complexities of ruling over Judea, and his interactions with the people were oftentimes

tense and heavy-handed in quelling dissent. These actions aggravated local unrest, and

the harsh measures were required to maintain the peace. Even Pilate's later actions could

be viewed as an attempt to navigate this balance as he allowed Christ Jesus to be crucified.

You also need to know who Herod was because there are a bunch of Herods in Scripture. This

one was Herod Antipas, oftentimes called King Herod. He was the tetrarch of Galilee, tetrarch

meaning the ruler of one-fourth of the area, and his brother Philip was a tetrarch, and

Lasanius was a tetrarch, and the king wasn't necessarily king of everything, but it was

a term of politeness or even a local custom. But something you might also be confused about

is who the high priest was. Anas and Caiaphas are two high priests that are mentioned, but

how could you have two high priests at the same time? In that period of history, high

priests were installed and removed not by the people, but by Roman rulers. Anas was

high priest by Quirinius, the governor of Syria from 7 to 15 AD. While it's not recorded

in Scripture, the tradition is that the Romans deposed Anas because they couldn't control

him well enough, and they put his son-in-law Caiaphas in the same place. So while Caiaphas

was the official high priest, when Jesus was ministering, he was a Sadducee over the Sanhedrin,

Anas was still seen as high priest by many of the people. So he held significant sway,

and when Jesus was arrested, he was first brought to Anas before he was brought to Caiaphas.

See as you can see, the world in which we see the story of Jesus, it may have looked

peaceful on the surface, but it was filled with unease and turmoil underneath, ripped

tides that are deceptively calm on the surface, but underneath can sweep you away if you're

not careful. Peace where people are forced to follow what's expected is not really peace.

It just means that people are better at hiding the things that are most concerning. With

all these manipulations that were happening, there were some people who just could not

hide the issues any longer, and John the Baptist was one of those. John the Baptist was not

about hiding anything. He was there to drive the point home for all the people. He was

there to proclaim and prepare the way of the Lord, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness

of sins. Here's the thing about that is that you have to actually be willing to admit that

you need forgiveness in the first place. And not everybody was willing or ready to deal

with that. That's the thing about this is that preparing the way of the Lord, making

his path straight, the mountains are made low and the valleys are filled. This isn't

because mountains and valleys are terrible things. I've had a chance to see plenty of

mountains and plenty of valleys. The first time I actually went out to California and

I saw giant mountains covered in snow and valleys deeper than I could imagine, and I

was flocking all over the bus looking around in my mid-twenties acting like a child of

five. They are beautiful. They are gorgeous. But it's not the circumstances that were the

issue. It was that we need to make sure that nothing can come between us and the Lord.

It's more like there is no mountain high enough. There ain't no river wide enough. There

ain't no valley deep enough to keep me from getting to you, babe. See, in reality, John

was there for to speak to the crowds. But what does he come out with? Well, apparently

he's going to make friends and influence people. You brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee

the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance and the trees that don't bear

good fruit will be cut down. See, people were there with John, not necessarily because they

actually wanted to learn anything, but because it was almost like some fancy event to happen.

To make sure that everybody had a chance to celebrate. I'm sure we've never known as time

or a season where people went to church just because it was the thing to do and everything

was pretty, right? As we look around and we wonder how many people will be coming for

their twice a year church appearance in the next few weeks. But imagine that there were

an apple tree in your backyard and that every time it's supposed to bud and grow apples

that instead the apples come out dry, wrinkled brown and pulpy. And after several years,

you're like, you know, it's silly to have an apple tree that never has good fruit. So

you decide you're going to fix it. But how do you end up fixing it? Do you end up up

rooting that tree and putting in a good one? Oh, no, you go out there with two bushels

of red delicious apples and a staple gun. And you start stapling the apples to each

of the branches and you look out and you say, look, I fixed my apple tree. Isn't it beautiful?

Only to realize, have you actually done anything to that tree? Because those apples are not

connected to the roots of that tree. They are not actually growing from anything within

that tree itself. But isn't that the same thing that we oftentimes do with the sin in

our hearts? Is that we'd rather make sure that we look really good on the surface and

we behave the way we're supposed to? But then somehow, whether we like it or not, those

bad apples still come back out and haven't been dealt with. Was this the dilemma that

John was looking at? Were the people going to actually change? Imagine he goes up to

them and says, if you've got two tunics, share with those who have none and whoever has food

do the same. But let's get deeper. The tax collectors of the time don't collect more

than you're authorized to do so. No, this is not an attempt at attacking the accountants

in the IRS of the crowd. At the time, that genuinely was an issue that would happen

with tax collectors in that time period. Or even more, the soldiers who would come along

and to be able to say, stop extorting money from anyone by threats and false accusations.

Be content with your wages. Could you imagine that? Going up to people and just telling

them exactly what it is that they've done and not hiding it. Could you imagine? Have

you had people in your life ask you questions that you don't actually really want answered,

right? You come up and you don't really want to actually hear it. Am I making life too

difficult for myself? Why do people push me away or ignore me? Do these pants make my

butt look big? There are some questions that people don't really want the answers to in

all honesty. Why? Because they're not actually ready for it. Sometimes we ask questions because

we want a specific answer, or we just want to hear that we still matter. We're not so

terrible. We want to find a sense of peace that we're not actually willing to work for

or respond in a way to make sure that we keep the peace. Maybe the answer really is you're

a hoarder. Maybe the answer really is you're manipulating laws to take from people who

are truly in need. Maybe the answer is the pants really do make your butt look big. Apparently

this all does that to me. So I'm not turning around. But are we really looking for something

simple that brings a sense of peace? Or are we actually willing to do something to work

for change for true transformation that is needed to bring actual peace through actual

change? The sociologist and author, Brene Brown put it this way, courage starts with

showing up and letting ourselves be seen. It's not just the good parts. It's the struggles

as well. But even more than that doesn't stop with the sense of you need to change. See,

that's the thing about this. John the Baptist wasn't the answer. He was just identifying

the problem. We still need the grace to deal with what is underneath without falling into

despair. It's more about who is with us than what we do. Because what we do is just a reflection

of what's happening inside. What changes inside is only because of the Messiah who is with

us. It's about the true Messiah who changes us and brings us actual peace. See, we're

in a world where people think that solutions are about simple phrases and simple decisions.

But peace only comes through the struggle, the struggle that looks at the actual issues

that we're facing, that admits that we are all in need of forgiveness and is willing

to admit that we need to change. Without that, all we keep doing is trying to staple good

apples onto a bad tree. See, it isn't peace that comes from a simple solution. We're just

trying to get people to calm down and be nice about things. We already went through Thanksgiving.

We're already done with just being nice. We have to be honest with what's actually happening

inside and be willing to let go of what's actually pulled us into the mire. We must,

in actuality, lose our peace to find actual peace. We oftentimes have to lose our peace

to find actual peace. See, that's the thing about this. The Messiah doesn't come and

make everything peaceful. The Messiah is not here to somehow make everything calm and beautiful

and bright. The Messiah is here to look exactly where you are. See what's actually happening

inside of you and to say, I see you and I know you and I love you because that's the

thing about the Messiah is that he doesn't bring peace in the midst of the calm. He brings

peace by going to the cross. He brings peace by bringing grace. That's the thing about

what we see this season. This is not a season where we just look to the calm and hope that

we can somehow manage through the cold and the dark, but rather is that this is the time

to pause and to look and to say, I know that I need to change. But it's not going to be

easy. We're not going to have easy hallmark moments where we look and just say, now everything

is done. We're going to come to the new year and we're still going to have struggles and

issues and things we're going to have to face. But that is still the path that we are expected

to follow because the path of grace is not one of ease and calm. The path of grace is

one of honesty and truth. So wherever you may be at this time, I cannot promise you

that Jesus will bring you calm or bring you everything of ease, but I can promise you

that he has brought you salvation because of his death and his resurrection. So whatever

path that may bring you on, it will truly bring you to a place of peace because of forgiveness

and mercy and the grace to change and become who God has called us to be and to know that

wherever we may find ourselves, no matter how much struggle there may be, there will

always be grace for tomorrow. Thanks be to God.