Ok, so maybe this week’s title sounds more at home in a Country-Western song than a blog post. But, here we are. Sometimes a bracing splash of cold water is just’ what the Doctor ordered’.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
Mark 1:2-3 ESV
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
Why does Mark open with this? It’s a curious way to start an announcement of Good News. The Gospel writer goes on to narrate the words of John the Baptist inviting all who hear, to repent. John is urgently warning his hearers to change their ways. Mark is eagerly writing to get our attention that what is coming is some strong medicine!
Mark is not proposing that the Good News of Jesus needs a public works project in order for Jesus to be well received. He is plainly saying that where the Good News will be shared needs preparation in order for it to be received. The messenger of God does not need better pavement. He needs receptive hearts. People who know they are in need of a savior.
Your Crooked Little Heart Needs Straightening
It’s difficult to get real about our sin. Sure! We say. I know (in theory) that I’m a sinner in need of God’s mercy. I mean, that’s what we’re supposed to say, right? We all know that! But, am I (we), present to(aware of), the ongoing ways that we continue to need such a savior? Even to this very day?
It’s easy to see the sin of others. We’re all so aware of the faults of those around us. Especially those we can point to who have hurt or let us down in some way. But me? Little old me? And old story from an ancient Christian monastery comes to mind. There was a movement in the early centuries of the Christian Church and the writings from that movement came to be called, “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers.” During the third century, A.D. men (mostly) would flee to the desert of Northern Egypt to escape the corruption of the failing Roman Empire. There already was concern that the Church needed reforming. These men would flee to the dessert and form impromptu communities that became the template for Monasteries and Convents. They would live lives of quiet seclusion and devote themselves to prayer and fasting as they worked to reform their own crooked little hearts so that one day they might return to ‘the world’ and have something more substantial to offer by way of being more Christ-like. One such account from those days comes for a man known only as Abba Moses the Black who was connected to a community called, Scetis in Norther Egypt. It goes like this:
“A brother at Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which Abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to say to him, ‘Come, for everyone is waiting for you.’ So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug, filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said to him, ‘What is this, Father?’ The old man said to them, ‘My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another.’ When they heard that they said no more to the brother but forgave him.”
Yes, Our Crooked Little Hearts Need Straightening.
Mark knows that the Good News of Jesus is received by some as good news…for others. We often lack an imagination for how we need straightening. Sometimes, the very fact that we have been wronged is used as a sad, sanctimonious justification for naming and noticing the sins of others, while we quite happily skip over the water pouring out of the jug behind us.
Mark is sharing Good News. The remedy for our pain and disappointments in life has arrived. But first, we need a mirror so that we can see what really needs to be seen. May this Advent be a season of revelation and a profound softening of your heart as you prepare to receive the Good News of Jesus.
Pastor Mark
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