The Bible calls John the Baptist the "voice of one crying in the wilderness."  Some listened to his voice, but most did not.  He came to prepare the way for the Son of God, but some will argue he didn't do a very good job of it.  A messenger may have an important message, but still not be heard.  It's not the content of the message that makes it hard to hear, but often the resistance of the hearers and the distractions through which he must speak.

          Today is the 62nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  In a little known but true story, Rev. E. Stanley Jones, one of the great American preachers and leaders at the time, tried from August, 1941 until December 6, the day before Pearl Harbor, to persuade President Roosevelt to cable Japan's Emperor with a plan for peace.  FDR finally sent the message to Japan, but it reached the Emperor one day too late.  Dr. Jones wrote his autobiography called An Adventure in Failure, and in it he asked, "What would have happened [if the message had gotten through]?  Would lives have been saved, lives altered [if the message had been heard]?"

          We never know the importance or the impact of one voice, one message, or one messenger, until time has passed and we can look back.  And that one voice or one message can be especially important if they are preparing us for something bigger than ourselves, something more important than the moment in which we live.  We modern people are so tuned to living in the present that we often miss the big picture.  The present is surely important, but if we're so worried and busy with only the present, we may miss the future entirely.

          We're into the second week of Advent now, the week we remember John the Baptist.  Jesus called His cousin John the Second Elijah, the great forerunner promised by the prophet Malachi.  Malachi is an unknown prophet and the most we tend to know of him is that his book comes at the end of the Old Testament.

          His name, Malachi, means "my messenger."  From his message, we find the people of his day must have been frequently asking the question, "Where is God these days?"  The Babylonian captivity was over, but the people wanted to know if God was still with them.  It's almost as if they were calling God to account for His deeds, which is ironic because for centuries God had been calling them to account for their evil deeds -- and no one had been listening.  And it was because they ignored God and "did what was right in their own eyes" (Isaiah 5:21) that He let them be captured, first by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians.

          But after returning from foreign soil, the people wanted to know if God was on their side or the enemy's side.  They knew the story of God's love and mighty deeds in the past.  But sometimes knowing God's love and goodness in the past only makes present suffering more bitter.  Suffering always contradicts what we want from God.  "God," we say, "You should treat us better.  What have we done to deserve this?"

          Israel in Malachi's time was weary of captivity and tired of waiting for the promised Messiah.  They were tired of obeying, at least the limited amount of obeying they had done.  And now they were beginning to question if they really were God's Chosen People.  And in their questioning, they didn't realize they were treading on thin ice.  To question God after their miserable history of disobedience was arrogance.  They were so occupied with the present that no one had learned from the past.

          Malachi had a message for them.  God is not absent from the world, he said.  He will balance the scales.  The tables will be turned.  The Lord of the Covenant will justice to the world when the Messiah comes.  But you'd better be ready.  His coming had better find you faithful, because it you're not ready, your suffering will have just started.

          Now move forward four hundred years.  John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness.  He was a well-known prophet in his day.  His message of repentance was the way to prepare for the coming of God.  Advent for us is the season of repentance and preparing.  It is also a season of listening to God.  You and I today no longer listen or wait with fear as did God's people 2000 years ago.  We are not in bondage to Babylon or Rome.  Today, rather, we wait with faith.  Dr. Achtemeier writes in the commentary on Malachi:

          "Faith consists in waiting for God to act, and waiting with the expectation that He will act.  Faith is acting with the assurance that God will keep His word.  It is trusting that the future will indeed bring that which God has promised.  Faith is going out, like Abraham, not knowing where you're going, but only knowing God has promised you a new land.  It is entering battle against an overwhelming foe because God has guaranteed you victory.  Faith is obeying a command because you have been told that obedience leads to life."

          Faith is following God's promises.  It is going where He sends us, and doing what He tells us.  It is following God even when the world tells us we're fools for doing it.  It's my observation that Christians are being called fools a lot more these days.  Twenty, thirty or forty years ago, Christians enjoyed a privileged place in America.  God's name was honored, in law and in fact.  Today, though, God's name is in disrepute.  Christians are lectured, mocked and vilified by the secular world.  We wince at how God is dishonored and feel persecuted when Christianity is blamed for America's ills.

          But instead of bemoaning our condition, instead of thinking we have it so bad, we should rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for His name.  As James the Just, half brother of our Lord, once wrote, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4)

          This is the time of the year that we recall with joy how God came to the world in the form of a baby.  This season is filled with joy because of God's love.  But in many ways, we have made this season a time for people to act like children.  We get and spend and party, hoping to feel happy, hoping to buy the perfect gift so others will be happy.  And when it's all over, then comes the letdown.  Christmas wasn't perfect again.  We are so like Dennis the Menace who, in his classic Christmas cartoon, opens gift after gift, tossing paper and presents everywhere, and when the last one is opened, he tosses it into the pile and says, "IS THAT ALL?"

          The baby Jesus is the best gift of all.  He came once and He promises to come again, first to be born in us by faith, and then to return in the last days for judgment at the end of all time.  And those last days may be upon us sooner than we think.  Meanwhile, we live, trying to understand life as best we can, wondering why there is suffering, why disease, why war, why evil doesn't go away, and why people never seem to learn from our mistakes.

          Few of us, if any, grow wise enough to understand the "whys" of life:  Why this happens to some and does not happen to others; Why we made that turn in our life; Why we picked that profession, position, or person; Why that door opened; Why we started or ended that relationship.  Some say it's just fate or destiny; others say it's chance or coincidence.  But life is too complex, even with the best insight and education, to know why things happen one way and not the other.  All we can do is trust God will bring us through and show us the reason later.  No matter who we are, we need to accept our life with gratitude to God, in faith He will one day show us the answers.

          We Christians often spend our days listening for "voices" to help us make decisions.  We read the Bible, pray and seek God's direction, hoping for a sign that will help us go this way or that.  That's the way it should be.  Jesus told His disciples to read the signs.  Just as they knew spring or a storm was coming, they should be ready for the Son of God by the signs around them.

          Both Malachi and John called this "preparing the way for God."  Someone prepared the way for you and me when we were born.  If you are going for a Christmas visit, someone is preparing the way for you with food and gifts and housecleaning.  And so we prepare for God to come, with gifts and housecleaning.

          There's a true story of a Salvation Army woman in a town on the East Coast who was informed by some "bah-humbug!" policeman that a local ordinance prevented her from ringing her bells to invite contributions.  "No noisy bells at Christmas!" he said.  No bells at Christmas - imagine such a law!  But that didn't stop her.  The next day she did a better business than ever as she waved two signs in the air.  One said "ding" and the other said "dong."

          There is so much noise in the world, especially in the days that lead up to Christmas -- music blaring, customers arguing, horns honking.  If you really want to be heard in the midst of all this noise, you are probably going to have to shout, which is what John the Baptizer did.  "Get ready!  Prepare the way for God!"  May we all do so by faith in Jesus.  Amen

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.