Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Luke 3:4

Luke gives us a wonderful story as a prologue to his Gospel. It is the story of John the Baptist. It is one of those stories that are worth reading time and again. Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father was getting on with his work in the temple. He and his wife were faithful Hebrew people. Like the story of Sarah and Hannah, Elizabeth was barren. Zechariah was chosen to enter the sanctuary and offer incense before the Lord. Zechariah encountered and angel who said he and Elizabeth would have a child. The child would have a very special ministry. Naturally Zechariah asked how he would know this is so. The angel told him he would not be able to speak. After the birth and naming of John, Zechariah began to speak again. That is the point at which our psalm for today comes in.
Go home today and reread these first few chapters of Luke. In them we see John is prepared even before his birth to be a prophet to the people of Israel. His story rings bells with other familiar stories Moses, Samuel, Jeremiah. Each time I prepare parents to bring their children for baptism I tell them that I believe God is working in each of us raising us up for a special ministry. In some ways we all share with John the Baptist that ministry to prepare the way for Jesus to point to Jesus.

Before we enter into this ministry with John the Baptist we respond to his invitation to be baptised. For many of us of coarse we were baptised as little children, but we respond to the invitation to live a baptism life, a life of repentance.

The people of Israel had a rite for welcoming non Jews into the Hebrew faith. It was a form of baptism. If you were born a Jew you did not need baptism. Baptism already symbolized being born and being cleansed of sin. It was only for Gentiles. John however, said to the people of Israel, you need to be baptised. They had wandered so far from their covenant relationship with God that they needed to see themselves as Gentiles. I think it is appropriate for many people today who were baptised as little children to totally renew their baptism. The Church has always held that once you have been baptised you can’t be rebaptised. So we invite people to be confirmed or to renew their baptismal vows.

There may be none of us here who need to renew our baptismal vows in a formal way but each of us need to renew our commitment to live a baptism life. Part of the reason for Advent and Lent is to give us seasons to reflect on our lives and repent of any ongoing sinfulness. I still believe the Anglo-Catholic tradition of confession is a very important practice which more of us could make use of. There is something very powerful in writing down the sins we are aware of and bringing them to another person to admit our sinfulness.

Having been nurtured by God even before our birth and having made a commitment to live a baptised life we are ready to share in John’s ministry. We are all called to bear witness to Jesus, to prepare the way of the Lord.

In what ways have we been prepared for this role? Many Anglicans feel inadequate to be witnesses of the Gospel. In a sense that is correct. We all ought to think of ourselves as inadequate to bear witness to Jesus. But God is able to use very ordinary earthen vessels to bear witness to Jesus. I think we underestimate the rich teaching we receive in Sunday School and are able to be apart of through home groups and the various courses that are available. The teaching is not merely in what we are able to learn academically. For many of us, our parents, our School Sunday teaches were the lesson. Their love and graciousness was as much the lesson as what they might have told us in words. Certainly here in our parish we are blessed with many people who live out their faith with such graciousness that it helps the rest of us to grow in our faith and our potential to witness to the Gospel. OK we have times when members of the Church are a good deal less than gracious, but even then the beauty of the Christian community shines through. We give that person space to be fully human, warts and all and space to grow over time into the holiness they are called to.

How do we live out our lives so that we bear witness to Jesus? With families bringing children for baptism I like to give them five words by which to remember the Gospel: love; freedom; life; courage and forgiveness. When ever these things are evident in your life you are already bearing witness to the Holy Spirit in your life. Yes of course it is great if you can verbalize what it is that makes you loving, that gives you freedom and courage, why it is that you live life to the full and what makes you generous with forgiveness. But even without words if we live the Gospel it will impact on other peoples lives.

Finally, Luke uses the historical figures to locate the story of John the Baptist and Jesus. In one sense Luke is a historian using the lives of the seven important figures as point to anchor the story of John. Both John the Baptist and Jesus will die, but their deaths and especially Jesus’ resurrection will “shake the foundations” of the world of these historical figures. By the time Luke is writing his Gospel all seven have died.

In his article on this passage David Lose puts it like this:
In this way, Luke moves beyond locating the story of John and Jesus in world history to actually locating – and reinterpreting – the history of the world in light of the story of John and Jesus. Further, Luke locates and reinterprets the history of the readers of his gospel in light of this story as well. Those drawn into this story, Luke proclaims, though perhaps beset by the powerful of the world, have nevertheless been joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection and so will also and eventually triumph. After all, John’s preaching will “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and guide our feet into the way of peace“ (1:79).

Conclusion:
Don’t underestimate the preparation God has done in you to be a voice in the wilderness. Each one of us is called to prepare the way for others to know Jesus. We do that by becoming like Jesus.

Our anchor that locates our story is not historical. It is our baptism into Jesus, our faith in him that locates us, which give us our bearings. The history of the world continues to change as we live the Gospel day by day.