How many times have we seen a public figure make a dogmatic promise only to later go back on their word? The most obvious examples are politicians who find the challenge of governing requires a lot more compromise than the vitriol of campaigning. But we may also experience the heartbreak of broken promises in other venues of life. Sadly, it’s an experience persons share in common sometimes in the workplace, too often in marriage today, and even between friends. Maybe that’s what makes it noteworthy when a promise is kept.
One of the gifts of Christmas we share in common is the gift of God’s promise kept. This may not be the verbiage found in the Christmas story, but I believe it’s an underlying foundation for all that transpired at Bethlehem. God had long promised to love and care for creation, including humanity as the trusted stewards of the world. Despite humankind’s repetitive breaking of the covenant relationship with God, we do not find God going back on God’s word. Again and again the promise is reiterated to redeem the people, to love the people, and to send One in the Messiah who would restore the people with the Creator.
It’s always been interesting to me that the early Advent stories and texts so often begin, not with Jesus, but with his cousin John. John the Baptist is an intriguing figure who appears on the banks of the Jordan river. Both his diet and his wardrobe are noteworthy, but perhaps not as much as his message. He, in the tradition of Elijah, raises a clarion call of repentance. But whereas Elijah’s was mostly directed to Ahab and Jezebel, John’s is directed to everyone.
John has been called many things – the forerunner, the prophet who prepares the way, the voice of one calling out in the wilderness – but how about we think of John as a promise kept? After 400 years of prophetic silence, John makes his entrance into history echoing and fulfilling the words of Isaiah. He sets about lifting up valleys and flattening hillsides to make straight a highway in the desert for our God. The tools of his landscaping and excavation work are his words, his voice, and even his person. He’s not deterred by the skepticism of the religious leaders, who’s cozy world he threatens; nor is he swept away in populism by the crowds of people who flock out to hear him. John is fulfilling a calling. John is preparing the way.
He will one day, upon seeing Jesus in the queue for baptism, proclaim: “Behold the Lamb of God!”. He will further state that he, John, is unworthy even to tie the sandals of the Messiah – God’s anointed. His life’s call is to point others to Jesus. And, yes, while imprisoned he expresses questions, through his disciples to Jesus, as to his timing, method and purpose; in the end John loses his very life as a martyr to the burgeoning movement we’ve come to know as the Christian faith.
John is God’s promise kept. He’s God’s promise kept to his parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, given through Gabriel to Zechariah as he burns incense and offers prayers in the Temple. He’s also part of the promise kept to the people of Judah and Jerusalem; a messenger making way for the Christ to come. And in this respect, John is a promise kept to each one of us. As we revisit his story and attune our ears to his words again this season, let us be mindful that they are not just words for history. John’s words are words for today as well. We are called to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. This is work we are asked to do each year, each Advent and Christmas.
What are the crooked places within you that need to be made straight? What are the valleys – the low places of your life – that might be “lifted up” by the hope of a coming Savior? What are the high points – maybe the places where you’ve ascended a bit too far on your own, leaving God behind? How can you heed John’s call and join his mission to make straight and smooth a highway for our God?
This is the opportunity of Advent. This is the preparation for Christmas. This is the gift of a promise kept.
danielcash 