Sermon for 2nd Sunday of Advent
God Chooses Nobodies
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
You have to love how St. Luke introduces a story!
Of the four Gospel writers, Luke is the one who identifies most self-consciously as a historian. Of course, Luke is not a twenty-first century historian, he is a first century one. However, Luke is a historian nonetheless. And, as a historian, Luke writes the rather formal introduction to his introduction of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel lesson, the only one of the four Gospel writers to do so.
And, because of this, Luke feels the need to name various political leaders as he did earlier in his Gospel when he wrote the story of Jesus’ birth, those famous Christmas verses which begin “In those days, a decree went out from Emperor Augustus….
As a historian, Luke wants to anchor the events he describes in the larger political and historical scene of the world, so Luke begins this text with these words, “In the fifteenth year of the region of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and Herod’s brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanius ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
Just think how audacious Luke is in using this introduction. Most other historians would probably question Luke’s sense of history since the story Luke is introducing in today’s Gospel lesson, the story of John the Baptist, is hardly a major historical event, or, at least, would not have been viewed as a major historical event by others in the first century.
John the Baptist is an itinerant preacher doing his ministry out in the wilderness – you know, the desert, the place nobody goes, at least not by choice. And we know from other Gospel writers that John the Baptist is a bit of a hermit, clothed in animal skins and eating insects, hardly the ideal of a major historical figure.
Thus, the “event” Luke describes would hardly count as an event at all to other historians.
So, what is John the Baptist doing among Luke’s veritable list of “who’s who” in ancient Palestine? Well, according to Luke, John the Baptist – a “nobody” by all other historical accounts – this ordinary person, John the Baptist, just happens to be the one to whom the Word of the Lord came. John the Baptist. Not the Emperor, or governor, or various rulers, or even the high priests of the day, but John the Baptist.
In other words, God chose a nobody to prepare the way for God’s own Son to come among us.
All through Luke’s Gospel, Luke states that God regularly chooses people whom the world sees as insignificant through whom God does marvelous things. Think of John the Baptist, or Mary, the illiterate unwed mom and teenager, or the no account shepherds at the very bottom of the economic ladder who serve as the audience for the heavenly choir.
Again and again, Luke states that God chooses people the world can easily ignore to participate in God’s world-changing, world-saving activities.
I do not have to tell you that we live today in a celebrity obsessed culture. And, here in the Los Angeles area, we live in the epicenter of this culture.
Here is just a small example: Kevin Hart’s turning down the hosting of this year’s Academy Awards made the national television news last week. Not just the entertainment news, which, of course, did focus on this tiny bit of news, but the evening television national news on the major television networks. Now, nothing against Kevin Hart, but I cannot think of a better recent example to show the ridiculousness of our celebrity-obsessed culture! The culture appears to worship celebrities. And ignore ordinary people like you and me.
But, God not only does not ignore people like you and me, God uses ordinary people like you and me to do God’s work in this world. And that is the wonderful irony of the story of God, the history of God and God’s people. God continually uses people the world would consider as nobodies to do wonderful, amazing things in this world. Not celebrities like Kevin Hart and others, but ordinary people like you and me.
Thus, we, all of us hearing and reading this sermon, all of us, even if we are not celebrities or rulers or among the rich and powerful, all of us can be used by God, or, perhaps, especially if we are not celebrities or rulers or among the rich and powerful, all of us can be used for good by God.
God is eager to use our talents and abilities and gifts to change the world, even in what seems like very small ways that are, of course, not small at all to those who receive such gifts. God is at work through our relationships, jobs, family and civic life and more to make this world a place which is more trustworthy and good.
Thus, I believe that we, you and I, are each called to be audacious historians, just like St. Luke. We are each called to remind each other that God is at work in and through our lives for the sake of this world that God loves so much.
God is in the habit of using ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
St. Luke might write this words this way today:
In the eighteenth year of the twenty-first century, when Donald Trump was President of the United States, and Jerry Brown was governor of California, and Ted Winterer mayor of Santa Monica, during the time when Elizabeth Eaton was presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Guy Erwin bishop of the ELCA’s Southwest California Synod, the word of the Lord came to Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Santa Monica.
God is present in our everyday lives, at work, at school, at home and at church. And, because of this, each of us has the potential to be a local “John the Baptist,” a veritable nobody to whom the Word of the Lord still comes and through whom God will prepare the way for the coming Christ so that, indeed, all people might see and receive God’s salvation.
What we do in our daily lives, no matter our age or race or sex or economic status, what we do for others and for God is vitally important for this world. That is the message of today’s Gospel lesson. We, you and I, are as important to God as John the Baptist, because we, you and I, have the daily opportunity to show the love of God to others in all we do in this world. Today and every day.
Today, God has come again to the people of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. God has come again with the simple word that we, you and I, are important to God, loved by God, saved by God. And, that we, you and I, are called to be God’s John the Baptists in all that we do in this world.
God is at work through our relationships, jobs, family and civic life and more to make this world a place which is more trustworthy and good. Today.
Amen.
(Thanks to the Rev. Dr. David Lose)
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, December 9, 2018
