It was a very
rough time, a time in which every path contained many obstacles: high mountains
that had to be crossed, deep valleys that had to be traversed, on paths that
wound around in circles going nowhere.
Luke begins this section of his gospel account
by mentioning those who were in positions of power, starting with Emperor
Tiberius. Although this is an Advent
scripture, here in Luke chapter 3 Jesus is already an adult, and the Emperor
Tiberius had succeeded Augustus some fifteen years earlier, when Jesus was a
teenager.
If we had read the first two chapters of Luke
this morning, which present Luke’s version of Jesus’ birth, we would have heard
Luke begin the story with the words, “In the days of King Herod of Judea…”
It’s obviously very important to Luke that
his presentation of the gospel is set in its historical context. Luke very deliberately and intentionally
describes who’s in positions of power when the story takes place.
“In the days of King Herod of Judea, the
angel Gabriel came to Elizabeth and Mary, bringing good news… In the days of
Emperor Augustus, the time came for Mary to deliver her child… In the 15th
year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of
Judea, and Herod’s two sons – Herod Antipas, and his brother Philip – were
tetrarchs (or, governors)… the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah…”
Now, who do you think it is who placed those
obstacles on the pathway, the high mountains and deep valleys? Who do you think make the paths crooked? Who
made them rough and impossible to travel over?
Luke mentions all these people in charge, all
these people of power and might. And in
the midst of this, we have…
…Well, we have Mary’s song, the
Magnificat. The words of Mary’s song are
actually borrowed from Hannah’s song, which appears in the first book of
Samuel. Luke takes this old song and
places it into his story of Jesus’ birth, to add meaning, and to emphasize the
point Luke is trying to make.
In Hannah’s song, God is praised because “the
bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble dress themselves with power! Those who were full now sell themselves for
bread, but the ones who were starving are now fat from food.”
Do you see the reversal of fortunes here?
In Mary’s version that we have in Luke, God is
praised because “he has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted
up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away
empty.”
Again, a reversal of fortune: the rich and powerful are brought down, and
the poor are lifted up.
Then we come to today’s reading from the
third chapter of Luke. Jesus is an
adult, and John the Baptizer is baptizing.
And here, Luke quotes another old scripture – this time from the book of
Isaiah – which says that every mountain, every hill, every thing and every one
that is high and lofty will be brought down and made low … and every valley,
everything lowly and humble, will be lifted up.
And everything will be level and smooth. All will be equal. No longer will the high and lofty gaze out
from their mountaintops and say, “we can see everything! We can see God and God’s salvation!” while
those down in the deep valleys and shadowy canyons are unable to see. No longer will those down below be forced to
rely on those at the top to describe salvation for them or even to decide what salvation is … because now, all
flesh, all people, shall see the
salvation of God.
Later on, Luke has Jesus begin his ministry
in Nazareth, Jesus’s hometown. And the
first thing Jesus does is read another passage from the book of Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
God has anointed me to bring good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let those
who are oppressed find their freedom.”
And don’t forget, Luke wants to make sure you
are aware that all this took place 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, when Lysanias was ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of
Annas and Caiaphas.
It doesn’t take much effort to realize that,
for all those people of power, things are not going to end well, at least not
in Luke’s version of the story. And we
already know that, even at the end of Jesus’s life – even when those in power
do succeed in executing the one who would turn things upside down, the one who would
dare proclaim good news to the poor and power to the people – even at the
moment he is crucified, Luke makes it clear that victory does not belong to
those with power. Because God, as Luke
so clearly demonstrates, is on the side of the poor, the weak, and the
oppressed.
And all the obstacles placed in their way,
all the high mountains, and all the deep valleys that keep the masses from
their journey to liberation, God will remove.
All the crooked paths that keep them going in circles will be made straight. All the rough places that impede their
progress will be made smooth. And the
path to salvation – the path to healing and wholeness – will be opened up, and all people will be able to travel that
path, no matter what those with power say!
All flesh shall see the
salvation of God.
How will this happen? Is it even something that can be believed in
the midst of Roman occupation? In his
two volumes – the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts – Luke tries to convince
his readers that, yes, it is possible,
it can be believed,… and Luke shows
ways that it is already happening,
examples of the poor being lifted up, and salvation coming to all flesh, even those who you would
least expect to find salvation.
For example, salvation comes to all flesh
when Jesus insists to his hometown that he is also called to people who are not
his own, people in other lands and regions, even people who worship God
differently.
Salvation comes when he brings healing to
people who others would prefer to simply cast aside.
Salvation comes when even sinners are
welcomed into the presence of God, and given a chance at a new life.
Salvation comes when the Son of Man
pronounces blessings on those who are poor, those who are hungry, and those who
weep.
Salvation comes when a Samaritan enemy is
looked upon as a neighbor.
Salvation comes when a soldier working for
the Emperor himself discovers faith.
Salvation comes when a foreigner from
Ethiopia whose sexuality is considered abnormal and defective by society is
welcomed into Christian fellowship.
Every single one of these incidents that I
just mentioned is a part of Luke’s story.
Every single one of these incidents is a part of Luke’s good news. Every single one of these incidents shows how
the path to the salvation of God is made straight, smooth, and level, so that all flesh may see it and experience
it: the salvation of God.
And as we’ve learned in recent weeks, the
work of making this happen belongs to all of us. God’s kingdom is not something for which we
wait with idleness. God’s kingdom is
participatory. We are called to help make God’s kingdom come on earth. We
are called to bring salvation to all flesh, to prepare the way of the Lord our
God by making the rough pathways smooth and accessible to all.
Luke makes it clear that God’s kingdom and
salvation will not come about by violence or force. The power of violence and might is the power
of Herod, Augustus, and Tiberius, the power of Herod Antipas who killed John,
and the power of Pontius Pilate who killed Jesus.
But the kingdom of God comes about through
love of
one’s
neighbor. The kingdom of God comes about
when all are welcomed at the table of fellowship. The kingdom of God comes about when enemies
are loved, when equality is achieved, and when people study peace instead of
war.
Luke wrote his story a generation
or two after the time of Jesus. But even
then, the message it proclaimed was a dangerous one. It turned society upside-down, and took the
titles used for the most powerful person in the world, the emperor himself –
titles such as Son of God, Savior, Lord, and Prince of Peace – and applied
those titles to Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, Luke says, is the real Son of God, the real Savior of the people, the real Lord and the real Prince of Peace. And
Jesus is the one who is inaugurating a new
kingdom, a kingdom of God.
This is a deliberate
turning-upside-down of society, in which the rich and mighty are brought low,
and the lowly and humble are lifted up.
To speak of anyone other than the emperor in these ways was treason, a
crime punishable by crucifixion.
The second Sunday of Advent is
the Sunday of peace. The Emperor
achieved peace through victory, through might, through violence and warfare and
intimidation. The cross was the tool
used by the Emperor to maintain peace.
The peace of Christ, on the other
hand, is achieved through justice and equality.
It is achieved through the love of one’s neighbor. It is a peace that does not intimidate, but
instead empowers and liberates.
It is a peace that makes the
crooked path straight, and the rough places smooth, so that every person – all
flesh might be welcomed into God’s presence, and see the salvation of God.
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