Do Not Fear: Change

Isaiah 40:3-5; Luke 3:2b-14

“If you do not change direction, you might end up where you are heading.” -Lao Tzu

I love this quote from Lao Tzu. So simple, yet poignant. And it causes us to address an oft overlooked question: where are we heading? Mindfully and periodically taking note of where we are and where we are heading protects us from falling subject to what I’m going to call, “Lemming Syndrome”—assuming we’re headed the right direction because it’s the same direction that everyone else is going. Mindfully and periodically taking note of where you are and where you’re heading is especially important for people of faith seeking to head in the direction of God’s call. This is the job of the prophet.

We talked last week about the Sabbath being one of the practices of the people of God in exile struggling to maintain their religious identity against the threat of assimilation within the Babylonian Empire. Sabbath was also an opportunity for them to be mindful of where they were and where they were heading—a way to remember that where they were was not where God intended them stay.

But could you blame any of these people for being tempted to assimilate? Their lives have been in chaos and the only order in their new environment seemed to be controlled by the might of the Babylonian Empire. The exiles actually stood a better chance of “prospering in commerce and trade than their kinsfolk who had remained on native soil. Whereas the Babylonians granted their captive guests considerable freedom to enter into business relationships, the people dwelling in Judah occupied a land that had been left in ruins by the original Babylonian destruction.”[1]

This is the second arm of a two-fold threat to the religious identity of Israel. On the one hand was the memory of destruction which carried with it the suggestion that maybe Israel’s God was not as powerful as they thought. On the other hand, was this potential to prosper in a new land. These two arms together provided a powerful and persuasive pull to lure the Israelites in a new direction—towards the life, and leadership, and gods, and sacred stories of the Babylonians.

It is around this time, during this period of exile, that the Jews begin telling the story of “in the beginning” when their God created the heavens and the earth. There was chaos, and then light; there was a firmament separating the heavens and the earth; then there was dry land, and in the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars; and at last comes the crowning achievement: human kind. Then, what comes next? (We talked about this last week.) All of the gods rested. Yes, that’s right…gods. Lots of them. I’m recounting the order of events from the Babylonian Creation epic, the Enuma Elish. If it sounds familiar, it’s because the story of creation from Genesis follows the EXACT same order…but with a few key differences.

The creation story told by the Jews was designed to actively oppose the culture of oppression, and domination, and violence endorsed by the story of the Babylonians. In the Enuma Elish, the creative force that brings order out of chaos was violence. For example: the firmament separating heaven and earth is crafted from the carcass of a goddess, split in two during battle; human beings are created from the blood of another slaughtered god; thus, humans are created in the image and through the act of violence. In the story told by the Jews, the creative force that brings order out of chaos is the word of God. God speaks, and there is light; God speaks, and creates a firmament between the heavens and the earth; God speaks and creates human beings in the likeness of God; thus, human beings are created in the image and through the act of God’s word. Not only does the Jewish story intentionally oppose the Babylonian story, but it also powerfully denies the claim that violence is a redemptive force for creation. In the story of Cain and Abel, violence is revealed as the power of sin which actively intends to thwart God’s victory over chaos by disrupting the order of God’s creation. The God of Israel and the gods of Babylon are headed in vastly different directions. One culture follows a story which calls them into a power-struggle, a kingdom ruled by might, a spiral of violence, the other follows a God who calls them to a world reordered, restored, and redeemed—a peaceable kingdom.

Enter Isaiah, who prophesies of this kingdom to a people tempted to turn and head in the way of the empire. “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD.” This preparation involves a wilderness bring brought to order, a wilderness being changed. Wilderness, here, brings to mind both the chaos of pre-creation and the wandering of Israel immediately following their exodus from Egypt. This is both a reminder of the God who called chaos into order with a word, the God who is their life-giver, and a reminder of the God who brought their ancestors to freedom from captivity within the empire. Scholar Paul Hanson emphasizes the importance of this, “In a chaotic situation in which people were tempted either to throw out all forms of the past or cling mindlessly to tradition out of fear of change, it was terribly important to maintain a comprehensive vision of reality ordered around one life-giving Center.”[2] In other words, it was terribly important for these people to be mindful where they were, and where they were headed…and where they were being called. Wilderness describes where the people are, chaos describes where they were headed, but redemption and order remind the people of where God is calling them…home. This journey home begins with the reentry of God into the life of a people struggling to find their way.

Now, jump forward a few centuries, the people escaped Babylon, returned home, reunited with old kin, rebuilt the temple, but once again struggle with the threat of cultural and economic assimilation within a new empire, the Empire of Rome. Luke tells of John the Baptist, literally in the wilderness, proclaiming these same words from the prophet Isaiah, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.” He is proclaiming a baptism of repentance. I like the way the Common English Bible translates this, “baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives.” John’s call to baptism is literally a call for people to change their hearts, and lives, to change direction. This leads me to wonder about the “wilderness” in this prophecy. Is this referring to a physical location of isolation…or if it serving more as a metaphor for the faith of a people struggling to find their way? Just like the Israelites in Babylon, the Jews living in the Roman empire were daily confronted with the power and might of the Roman military, the economic extortions of tax collectors, the Lordship of Emperor Caesar, and the “Pax Romana”, the so-called peace of the Roman Empire. This was a “peace” maintained through military might and violence and fear, the prime example of this is hanging on the wall behind me: the cross. A tool of public execution to strike fear into the hearts of any who might oppose the power of Rome. It’s understandable that life under such leadership might introduce a little chaos into the faith of a people who have sought to direct their life towards the kingdom of God’s peace, God’s shalom, the wholeness and completeness of God’s creation once again redeemed.

“In that wilderness,” says John, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” In the chaos of your faith, overcome the fear and change direction; instead of having faith in the Pax Romana, and trusting Lord Caesar, have faith in the Shalom Elohim, and trust the LORD your God.

In his book, “Everything Must Change”, Brian McClaren describes three interlocking systems that make up every human society: the prosperity system, the security system, and the equity system. “The prosperity system seeks to fulfill our desire for happiness [for joy]—our desire not just to survive, but to thrive….Of course, when some individuals or groups of people have a bigger share of desired products and services than others, jealousies arise. Sometimes those jealousies erupt into violent attempts to steal some of that prosperity, or at least to interrupt another’s monopoly on the means of achieving it….To protect a successful prosperity system from interference, a society develops a security system….Then, of course, it must recruit, train, and support infrastructure to manage these security subsystems. [This can get expensive,] so along with the desire to pursue greater happiness through the prosperity system, and then to guard all means of achieving that happiness through an expanding security system, a society must develop ways to equitably spread the rising cost of systems maintenance and development….The equity system seeks not only to fairly spread the expense of the security system, but also to support the expansion of the prosperity system in equitable ways.”[3] These three systems function dependently on one another. “Without the equity system, the prosperity system becomes riddled with corruption, violence, and other inefficiencies that ultimately undermine prosperity. Without the equity system, the security system won’t have policies to enforce and limits to observe, and then it may in their absence act against some or all of the people it is supposed to serve. And without taxes raised by the equity system, the security system won’t have sufficient funds to operate—or it may demand more funds than it actually needs.”[4] Violence is usually and indicator of a social machine in which equity is out of balance; violence replaces equity with fear. Look at the violence of the Enuma Elish and the Babylonian Empire, look at the violence of the Roman Empire, in what direction were those societies headed?

John invited people to be baptized to show that they were changing direction, changing their hearts and lives, re-aligning their faith towards God, and preparing the way of the Lord. When the crowds asked, “What then should we do?” John responded, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must to likewise.” He’s bringing the equity of God’s kingdom to bear on their personal prosperity. Then it says, “even the tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him ‘Teacher, what should we do?’” Even the agents of extortion serving the prosperity of the empire are changing their hearts and lives. John told them “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” He’s not preventing them from providing for the security system of the empire, he’s once again bring the equity of God’s kingdom to bear on the temptation to attain personal prosperity. Then it says, “Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’” For yet a third time, John brings the equity of God’s kingdom to bear against the temptation to abuse the security system.

Look at the radical equity of God’s kingdom: mountains are made low, valleys are lifted up such that ALL flesh can see the glory of God together. In other words, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord” translates to the process by which we bring the equity of God’s kingdom to bear on the social machine, and the temptation to abuse its systems for personal gain. In a system where equity has been abused, the equity of God’s kingdom comes as judgment, and can feel pretty terrifying. This is because most equity systems get manipulated by fear, and so we confuse equitable practices with something that is to be feared; this is also because the equity of God’s kingdom calls us to change, to change our hearts and lives, to change direction…and we’re afraid of change.

The Christmas story begins with a Census, that is, the Empire calling people home. In the midst of this, Christmas reminds us that God us calling us home, too. “Do not fear, for I will be with you.” Do not fear responding to God’s call. Do not fear Emmanuel. This is the only way we can embrace our Advent calling to “Prepare the way of the Lord,” and to live out our baptismal vows as a sign that we have changed our hearts and lives to head in the direction of God’s kingdom: without fear. “Do not fear,” prepares the way to a life of prosperity and security held in balance by the grace and justice of God. “Do not fear,” prepares the way for joy. Do not fear the threat of sin, do not fear command to rest, and do not fear changing direction: God is calling us home. Amen.

[1] Hanson, Paul D., “Isaiah 40-66” from Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. 1995, John Knox Press. Louisville, KY. Page 1.

[2] Ibid. 7.

[3] McClaren, Brian. Everything Must Change. 2007, Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN. Page 55-56.

[4] Ibid.