Repent! It’s Advent

Matthew 3:1-12

A couple traveled to England to adopt a child. They had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Now their dreams were coming true.

The day of adoption arrived. They were there in the waiting room when they heard someone weeping on the other side of the room. The law did not allow them to know the biological mother or father. After a while, they entered the room where the lady in charge was waiting with a six-week-old baby. She also had brown bag of baby diapers and some clothes. She handed them two letters, without signatures. One of them was addressed to the new parents of the baby. It was thank you letter to the new couple for becoming the parents of this child. A request came along with the second letter. The mother asked the new parents that this letter be opened when the child became eighteen. The letter was addressed to the child. The mother also assured the parents that there was nothing written about herself.

I wonder what was written in that letter. I wonder how the new parents felt when they took these two letters and the child. They had to wait for eighteen years to know the contents of the second letter.

We are in the season of Advent. We are waiting for the “new letter” to be opened and read. A letter that is written for all humanity. A letter of salvation is on its way to come. A letter that we read about throughout the Old Testament in prophecies, the Psalms and so on... Last Sunday, I stressed that we need to be awake and ready to welcome the newborn.

This Sunday my topic of advent is taken from the Gospel of Matthew. It is about John the Baptist. The strange evangelist, who wore strange clothes, ate wild stuff and lived in the wilderness. John knew that time is close and running out. It is not time to play games; it is a serious period of preparation for the coming of Jesus.

The people asked him, “Who are you?” His answer was, “I am not the Christ”

“Are you Elijah?” “No,” would be his answer.

His message was clear: “REPENT” “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (8). All kinds of people came for repentance and baptism. Remember Israel did not have any prophets for almost 400 years. John was preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. Also Pharisees and Sadducees were coming for repentance. John was very tough with these people. He told them, “And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (9-10) There is no guarantee for your salvation just because you are “sons of Abraham.” You need to repent. Same with us, just because we are members of CACC or any other church, does not mean we do not need repentance.

Someone said John the Baptist ruins the Christmas atmosphere. You know we do not picture advent and Christmas time with repentance, an ax, sin, fruits of spirit… and so on. Where are the red and green colors? Where are the shiny decorations and lights? How about trees? I love them too, but I do not want to miss the point.

1. Open the way by preparation.

John the Baptist is the prophet that Isaiah predicted a long time ago:

This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
   "A voice of one calling in the desert,
   'Prepare the way for the Lord,
      make straight paths for him.' "

Prepare the way for the Lord. How do we prepare? It reminds me of the Middle East. Whenever an important person would arrive to our neighborhood, the roads would be clean, or paved, just for that occasion. This quotation is from Isaiah 40. Every valley shall be raised, every mountain and hill made low, the rough grounds shall become level. This cleaning process. What does it mean spiritually?

Few chapters earlier we read in Isaiah 26:7 “The path of the righteous is level;
O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.” In order to prepare the way for the Lord to come we must be righteous. This means sins that are blocking the way need to be removed. That’s why John the Baptist has one message: REPENT. No, listen the King is coming, you like it or not. But the King will come into your life when you prepare the way.

We will continue in English.