On Preparing the Way
December 8, 2024
Traceymay Kalvaitis
Malachi 3:1-3
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.
Luke 3: 2-6
…during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
Today’s sermon is titled On Preparing the Way.
Mother Teresa is quoted as saying, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” It is easy to forget that we belong to each other because our brains are wired to detect and respond to differences. Similarities give the message of safety; differences give the message of danger. Today I want to tell you about two men who, on the surface of things, had many more differences than similarities. Both were soldiers who participated in acts of violence; one is Palestinian and one is Israeli. Sulaiman Kathib grew up in a Palestinian neighborhood seven miles from the Old City of Jerusalem. At age 14, he injured an Israeli soldier and he was sentenced and served 10 years in prison. During the decade in prison, Sulaiman learned Hebrew and studied Jewish history. He participated in hunger strikes as a way to protest the daily tear gassing and frequent beatings. Sulaiman studied about Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. He saw how they all used non-violence as a way to stand up and overcome violence and injustice. Sulaiman was 25 when he finished his sentence.
Chen Alon served four years in the Israeli Defense Force and another 11 years as a reservist near Bethlehem. His pivotal moment came when he was on detail at a roadblock. A car with several Palestinian children needing medical care pulled up to the barricade. It was up to Chen whether or not to let them through at the risk that they might be part of a terrorist plot. He was torn about whether or not to let them pass and then his phone rang. It was his wife saying she was having trouble picking up their three-year-old from kindergarten. Chen, so deeply concerned about his own child, turned towards the car with the sickly children waiting and he asked himself the question, “Were these children nothing more than potential terrorists?” Chen writes, “My children were human, and yet we had dehumanized the Palestinian children entirely. I began to realize that in the dehumanizing of the other, you begin to dehumanize yourself.”
Chen resigned from military service and shortly after he was contacted by Sulaiman, representing a group of former Palestinian soldiers. Despite their differences, they realized a common vision, “… a future where all people live in peace with dignity, justice, and liberty.” In 2006 they formed Combatants for Peace. Here is how they describe their mission: “Combatants for Peace is a joint Palestinian-Israeli community working in solidarity to end the occupation, discrimination, and oppression of all people living on this land. Guided by the values of nonviolent resistance, we are showing the world that there is another way.” In 2017 and 2018, Combatants for Peace was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Their graphic is printed in your bulletins; it features two figures casting away guns with one hand and extending their other hand in peace. Chen, Sulaiman and countless numbers of others are preparing the way…preparing the way for peace.
We go back in time now, almost two thousand years, to the same lands that Chen and Sulaiman call home. Two thousand years ago, it was home to John. In our scriptures for today, we find John on the banks of the Jordan river. He is often referred to as John the Baptist. John is the son of Zechariah, the priest we heard about last week, who was struck dumb in the temple for talking back to the angel Gabriel. Remember? The angel appeared and told Zechariah that even in his advanced age, he would soon father a son and the son’s name should be John. For doubting the angel, Zechariah was unable to speak for ten months. It was the day of his baby boy’s circumcision ceremony, when Zechariah agreed to name the baby John, that he was suddenly able to speak once more.
It was just three months later that Jesus was born into the same family. John was Jesus’s first cousin once removed (I had to look that up). I like to imagine that John and Jesus grew up with one another. What we know about John is that he was raised the only son of the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. John would have been educated in the priestly caste even though their district, Abijah, was the poorest in all the land. Some scholars theorize that John joined the Essene Community but grew disillusioned with the inward focus of the Essenes. The Essenes were focused on preparing for the coming of the Messiah, so much so that they became reclusive. This was not John’s style at all. John was all about preparing the way for the Messiah but he felt like the people were not ready. Listen to what is written in the very next verse that follows our reading for today (verse 7-8). “John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none and whoever has food must do likewise…[you tax collectors] collect no more than the amount prescribed for you…[you soldiers] do not extort money by threats or false accusations.”
John was telling the people to get it together. He was offering the ritual of baptism as a chance for the people to renew their commitment to righteous living, to love and care for their neighbors, and to seek justice for all people. John was preparing the way for a new paradigm to take shape. John was preparing the way for Jesus, the light of the world.
Two thousand years later, in the same lands of what is now Palestine and Israel, Solaiman and Chen are preparing the way, too. They are preparing the way for others to join in their non-violent resistance to war; they are preparing the way for peace.
Friends, we have a long way to go to fully realize world peace, but there are countless numbers dedicating their lives to that dream. We have a long way to go to fully realize the kindom of God that both John and Jesus imagined for their people. The question for us, here and now, is this: How are we preparing the way? What do we see lacking in our culture and what are we doing in our own lives, and in our own relationships, to fill that lack? How are we preparing the way for something wonderful to happen?
In closing, as we enter the second week of Advent, carrying the themes of hope and peace, I leave you with this: to maintain hope and to achieve real and lasting peace, we must be engaged in some struggle to bring it about and, as Mother Teresa reminds us, we must remember that we belong to each other. So, Friends, I urge you to consider either taking up work on an issue you care about or taking the next step in work you are already doing. It can be work in the care of self, it can be taking steps to mend a strained or broken relationship, it can be participating in community organizing around social issues that you care the most about. It can be as focused as refusing to engage in gossip, or refusing to pass along negativity. Start small and dream big, Friends. We are all preparing the way for something; let’s make sure we’re preparing the way for something wonderful and beneficial for humankind. It begins one person at a time…one Palestinian, one Israeli, one John, one Jesus, one me, and one you. May all our efforts be blessed. So be it. Amen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulaiman_Khatib
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Alon
Prayer Requests and Pastoral Prayer
God of Love and Light, I thank you for filling so many of our needs. Help us to be grateful for the ways we are fulfilled and strengthen us to attend to the aspects of our lives that need healing and care. If there are those we need to forgive, please give us the words we need; if we are desiring forgiveness, empower us to ask and especially to receive. For those who are ailing, Lord, we pray for comfort. For those facing death we pray for peace and assurance. As individuals, teach us to care for ourselves so that we are making choices from a foundation of fullness. As communities, teach us to extend ourselves to those who we tend to avoid. As a nation, teach us that our greatness is most accurately measured by our kindness to the least among us, as Jesus Christ so humbly exemplified. If ever we are in need of direction, turn our minds to this prayer, that Jesus gave his disciples so long ago…Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and ever. Amen.
Benediction: I leave you with these words from the book of Philippians, chapter one. “This is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best.”