One of the things a good Biblical scholar is supposed to do when studying the Scriptures is to look at a given text from a variety of perspectives. One of the things you quickly realize is that the Bible is indeed a living document. Living in the sense that its meaning grows and changes over time. What was written for people four thousand years ago does not mean the same thing for a people who read it two thousand years later and also means something else for us today.

An excellent example of this very dynamic at work can be found in our lessons today. Mark, the evangelist, begins his version of Jesus’ life story with a quotation from the prophet Isaiah. The passage that he quotes from Isaiah is our first lesson today. Just by looking at the two texts in modern English, you can see differences. A lot of that is language issues between Greek and Hebrew. Mark likely only had access to the Greek language Old Testament, while we have been blessed to have it in the original Hebrew.

Some Christians get very nervous when you start digging into the nuts and bolts of Scripture in this way. They worry that their long held theologies and beliefs will be challenged by both ancient interpretations and new ones. But for me and many others, this is an opportunity to explore the full richness of the Word of God.

Again, these texts are a great example of that. Mark intends this passage in Isaiah as a prediction of the coming of John the Baptizer, the herald and harbinger of the coming Messiah. It fits his purposes well. John is certainly a voice in the wilderness, a man of almost barbaric accoutrements, living in the hinterlands, and calling God’s people to a life of justice and repentance. Prepare the way of the Lord.

Is that what Isaiah’s passage means? Is it indeed a prediction of the coming of a man who would precede the Messiah? Yes, it is. Did it mean that to the people who first read Isaiah’s prophecies? No, there it meant something different. There it was a call to celebration, for God had liberated his people from bondage. Look at the actual words of the text. Zion, raise up your voice. Jerusalem, say “Here is God.” Jerusalem and Zion are not individuals like John, they are places and cities that symbolize the whole of God’s people. In other words, the herald of God’s coming in the original interpretation of Isaiah is all of God’s people.

I wonder in this season of Advent, this time of preparation for the coming of Christ, if that is not the more appropriate message from God to us here and now in the year 2008? Think about it. We are not John the Baptizer, calling the people to prepare for the coming of Christ. Or are we? Are we not called to invite the world into our preparation and celebration for what God is doing?

Our situation is not so different from that of the people of God. God’s people had been in bondage in Babylon for generations. Are not the people around us also in bondage? Think about this community. How many within it are in bondage to alcohol and substance abuse? How many are in bondage to poverty and lack of means? How many in this country are in bondage to fear, fear of the economic situation, fear of the terrorists, fear of the future?

Are we not Jerusalem, calling to the people of America and to the world “Do not fear, God is at work. God is coming, Make ready?”

I believe we are. I believe this is at the heart of what we Christians are called to do and be. It’s no coincidence that I’ve been talking evangelism these past many weeks. This is where God’s word is leading us. It is calling us to proclaim the mighty acts of God in this world and in this time.

And those things God has done? We know that story well, because it’s our story. Think about the one we are being called to model, John the Baptizer. Who was he really? Raised and taught the story of God, of the covenant of Abraham, of Moses and the liberation from Egypt, of Isaiah and the prophets. He’s also a man with his eyes open, seeing the difference between the world of these stories and the world he lives in and then doing his part to narrow that gap.

There’s nothing in his life that we cannot do ourselves. We too know the story of God’s actions. Even if our background was not in the church, we are here now. You listen to me and other pastors every Sunday and by doing so hopefully have gotten some sense as to what God’s been up to since the beginning of time. Of how God sent his son Jesus to live, die, and rise again for the sake of the world. You know that story. You’ve heard it. You’ve lived it.

You also have eyes open and you see the world in which we live. Faith is not about putting blinders on to the ugliness of the world. It’s about seeing that ugliness and then struggling to bring beauty, peace, love, and joy there.

We are the new John. We are the new voice of the wilderness. We are called to proclaim Christ, to proclaim his peace, his love, and his salvation to all the world. This is our calling. Proclaim his coming. Amen.