Setting the Table

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday December 9, 2012, the 2nd Sunday of Advent.

Malachi 3:1-4

Luke 1:68-79

Philippians 1:3-11

Luke 3:1-6

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.

In 1916, the Federal Road Act provided $75 million dollars over five years to begin building a nation wide network of roads across America. On an impromptu basis, the states provided matching funds to qualify for a piece of the Federal Road Act pie. When the 1916 law expired, the Federal Road Act of 1921 was instituted. This legislation had some additional benefits and additional requirements.

Like the 1916 law, it was a five year program to provide matching funds to the states for building highways. As the 1916 law provided $75 million over five years, the 1921 law provided $75 million dollars each year. Also, this law provided a greater partnership between the states and the federal government in road planning. One of the goals of this law was to begin to create a national highway grid. In 1922 General John J. Pershing, head of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I, was asked to submit a proposal to create a highway system based on national defense needs. He submitted a detailed network of 200,000 miles of interconnected primary highways—the so-called Pershing Map.

With additional state and federal road projects throughout the ‘20’s and ‘30’s, the table was set for the next major stage or road projects in America. In 1939, Bureau of Public Roads Division of Information chief Herbert S. Fairbank wrote a report called “Toll Roads and Free Roads,” the first formal description of what became the interstate highway system, and in 1944 the similarly themed “Interregional Highways.” The project gained an even more important ally when General Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected President.

After his 1919 experience moving with military assets across the country on what is known as the Lincoln Highway, the ever first series of highways connecting Lincoln Park in San Francisco to Times Square in New York City, Eisenhower recognized that a system of national highways would be able to provide key ground transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments in case of an emergency or foreign invasion. On June 29, 1956 the Interstate Highway System was authorized under the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956—some of you may remember it as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956.

Beginning during the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson, the program was in its embryonic stages during the Harding administration. Coolidge, Hoover, and FDR had their roles in this great expansion, but they also had issues on their own plates including the Great Depression and World War II. After Truman, as I have noted, it was Eisenhower who spearheaded the connection of this great roads project.

There were even two generals, Pershing and Eisenhower, who championed these projects while they were still in the service. All told, this program set the table for not only national defense, but for significant commercial growth and development.

I did that last part intentionally because one of the great ways of measuring time is by the leaders of the day. Our reading begins with a list of the political leaders. Luke isn’t shy either, he begins at the top, we are in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of Iturea, Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene and Traconitis was tetrarch over something or other. That pretty much does it, doesn’t it? In the day this would have set the stage not only in the time of the story, but the listener would also get a handle on the political climate too.

This isn’t so different from the books of the prophets either. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Zechariah all begin the same way, “In the days of…” The books of Kings and Chronicles do the same thing. When the Kings of Israel are mentioned, the reign of the King of Judah is used as a reference date and vice versa. Using the names of the leader is a common way of marking dates, both civil and biblical.

Speaking of the biblical, in these days the leaders of the church were the heads of the state. “Separation of church and state” as we know it was unheard of until the 1700’s. When the leaders of Israel and Judah were mentioned, they were not just civil leaders but spiritual leaders as well. So it is no surprise that we are told these events happen during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.

Our scripture begins by listing all of the important people of the day, from the leaders of the empire to the leaders of the temple, and then there was John, poor lowly John. Who is he among all these powerful movers and shakers? He was nobody—and he was the prophet of the Lord. He came from the wilderness, the desert. He was a desert aesthetic, possibly an Essene, and he “went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

There is a lot of talk about what that means, “repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Since it is always best to let scripture interpret scripture Luke uses the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.

Every valley shall be filled in,

every mountain and hill made low.

The crooked roads shall become straight,

the rough ways smooth.

And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

The original Interstate Highway system wasn’t proclaimed completed until October 14, 1992, some 35 years after its conception, with the opening of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado. This section is considered an engineering marvel with a 12-mile span featuring 40 bridges and numerous tunnels. It is also one of the most expensive rural highways per mile built in the United States.

Isaiah tells us that to prepare for the Lord by making straight paths for him. He tells us every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. He says the crooked roads shall become straight and the rough ways smooth. This was common for the coming of a king to the hinterlands of his kingdom. The way would be made straight so bandits would not have a place to ambush the convoy. It is also easier for a convoy to travel straight, level paths than rough terrain. It was a costly undertaking, but that’s just the cost of doing business in the empire.

In our way, was the completion of that last twelve miles of I-70 not unlike Isaiah’s prophecy? In the mountains of Colorado, bridges and tunnels are a modern way of filling in valleys and making mountains and hills low. It’s thinking out of the box; it’s not the way we would usually envision a scriptural way of preparing Isaiah’s road. Now, I’m not saying the completion of the interstate system is a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. What I am saying is that when it comes time to make straight the ways of the Lord, there’s more than one way to make the rough ways smooth.

Know though John’s prophecy was about a different kind of king’s entry into the arenas of church and state. John’s prophecy wasn’t about some human king; John spoke of the one who would bring salvation. Not only would he bring salvation, but all with eyes to see would see that he brings salvation.

Instead of “mankind” most other translations say “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” This was intentional; not just the Jews but the gentiles will see the salvation. Not just the Israelites, but the Romans, Greeks, and all other nations will see the salvation of God. Everyone will see the salvation of God.

So we are called to prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. I’m not one to usually talk about personal piety. I believe that it is important for us to consider the entire community. Beginning with the family, moving to the congregation, into the workplace and other places where relationships bloom, I want us to think about the community, but I want us to consider John’s plea to prepare the way within our own lives.

I have talked about the many ways we need to make the ways straight in our community. Just a few weeks ago I mentioned six ways including reading scripture, committing to worship, and (of course) financial giving. Yet if our internal ways are filled with hills that need to be made low and valleys that need to be filled, we need help.

I’m getting more than a little wordy here, but we find the prescription in Luke’s description of John’s ministry. He came proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. This is one place where we need to remember that John was talking about what we need to do personally. We need to begin by individually confessing our sins. We need to begin by individually repenting, turning away from our sin.

This is where we must beware (and while I am definitely talking about me and the mouse in my pocket, I believe this is real for more folks than just me and the mouse) we must beware that we are not called to confess anybody else’s sin. In our time when people put their worst sins on TV for ratings from the Maury Show to MTV, it is not for us to judge their sins. Yes, let’s judge some behavior and say, “By the grace of God may me and mine never behave like that,” but let’s leave eternal judgment to the one true judge.

Again, we must beware, it’s so easy to repent of someone else’s sins; and it is even easier to repent of sin we are not tempted to commit. But these are not the sins mentioned in John’s baptism.

John was concerned with the community, absolutely he was, but he knew this baptism was for the individual. In Presbyterian theology, we believe that the waters of our baptism represent the waters of the womb, the isolation of the tomb, and the waters of cleansing. We also believe that infant baptism is the sign that the Lord adopts us before we can choose to be adopted on our own. Shoot, in adoption what child ever gets to pick a family? The choice is made by our heavenly Father. In total, the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sin must begin with the individual before it can move into the community.

It’s gotta happen in the private and public realm, and this is why we make confession of sin so that we may receive the assurance of pardon. In this we should rejoice loudly as we say “Friends, believe the Good News! In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!”

We have to make the way straight, and in our lives it’s not always as easy as those last 12 miles of Interstate Highway. Like plowing down mountains to fill valleys or bridges and tunnels, there’s more than one way to make the way straight. We have to do this for our Lord, ourselves, and others. We have to do this for all God’s good creation.

So John sets the table, with thanks and praise it isn’t John who invites us to the table. Like in our celebration of the Lord’s Supper, it is the Lord who invites those to share the meal which he has prepared. We are called to prepare the way of the Lord. We are called to prepare the way so that not only can the Lord travel the path, but so that we can travel that path too. We are called to prepare the path so that not only can we travel the path, but so that others may follow.

The Lord prepares the feast. John sets the table, the only question is are we going to take, eat, and see that the Lord is good.