God Equips the Called

Luke 3:1-6

The Bible is filled with a variety of characters.  Lots of them have their own downfalls.  They make bad decisions.  They are unlikely characters.  They are not maybe the type of people that you would expect God to use.  Maybe you have heard this list before:        

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses has a stuttering problem
Samson has long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David has an affair and was a murderer
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Lazarus was dead!

Today we hear about another such character.  John.  John the Baptist.  Our text says, “the word of God game to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”  Luke does a great job of setting up this story by preceding the entrance of John with seven big deal people of the 1^st century.  In comparison it would seem that John wasn’t as big of a deal.  He was less than those big names before him.  But there is one really important detail in this story that begins the ministry of John the Baptist – the word of God.  This makes him a big deal.  John didn’t go around proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins on his own.  He wasn’t some street preacher with no credibility.  The word of God had come to him.  He had credibility.  He had God.

So, what does John the Baptist have in common with that long list of biblical characters with downfalls of their own.  He wasn’t equipped.  He was just John the son of Zechariah.  He was in the wilderness.  He ate bugs.  He wore clothes of camel’s hair.  God called to John and equipped him with the word of God.  God doesn’t call the equipped.  God equips the called.

God works through the weak and the small.  God works through the barren women and the unwed teenagers.  God works through the educated and the uneducated.  God works through those living in large homes and those living in hotels.  God works through the poor and the rich.  God works through those living in the middle of nowhere and those living in large cities.  God works through you and me.  Just like God came to nobody John in the nowhere wilderness.  God comes to us.  Maybe that seems impossible to you.  Maybe you feel too insignificant for such a large task.  God still comes to you.  And even when we think that might seem impossible, the word of God comes to us and equips us for the work of ministry, to share the good news of God’s love.  God comes to you.

This Advent season we are preparing for Christmas and the coming of Jesus as a small baby in a manger in Bethlehem.  We are trimming our trees, putting lights on our houses, making Christmas goodies, wrapping presents, and sending cards to our friends and families.  I hope and pray that we do not get too caught up in those preparations that we miss the real point.  There is something more important than all of this, the Son of Man is coming in the midst of it all, in little and big ways.  The reality is that God always shows up.  God is always there.

I remember a skit that we used to do when I worked at Bible camp.  It was called “Jesus is coming to dinner.”  A visitor comes and knocks on the host’s door and asks for food.  The host turns the visitor away without any food.  Another visitor comes and knocks on the host’s door and asks to use the bathroom.  The host says no and shuts the door.  The next visitor to knock on the door asks to use the phone.  But the host again closes the door providing no help to the visitor.  The host was too busy preparing for Jesus to come to dinner, to assist the visitors with their needs.  Lo and behold, Jesus never comes, or at least Jesus doesn’t come in the form that the host was expecting.  Actually it had been Jesus that had come asking for food, a bathroom, and to use the phone.  Jesus had come, but the host was too busy preparing for Jesus’ arrival to even take time to extend hospitality to the one at the door.

            I encourage us, this Advent season, to prepare for Christ in the here and now, to recognize the presence of God in our midst.  “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.”  How are we making the hills into plains?  How is the word of God coming to us this day?  How are we preparing the way of the Lord this Advent season?  The crux of the matter is not to get too caught up in our preparations that we do not take time to recognize the word of God coming to us.  I encourage us to care for the poor in our community.  I encourage us to find time for prayer in our busy lives.  I encourage us to spend time in community with other people.  I encourage us to take time to listen, watch, and experience the world around us.  I encourage us to live into the waiting and expectation of this season, rather than rushing toward Christmas.  I encourage us to think about our “presence” and not just about the “presents” under the tree.  In and through these activities, Christ is coming to us.  God is showing up.  God’s word is equipping us, however unequipped we may feel, to share the good news of the babe born in Bethlehem.  Amen.