On the Power of One Calling for Change
December 7, 2025
Rev. Traceymay Kalvaitis
Isaiah 11: 1-3
A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear.
Luke 1: 13-15
But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 3: 1-6
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing
their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
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Today’s sermon is titled On the Power of One Calling for Change.
What a character we find in John the Baptist! Leonardo da Vinci’s final painting before his death features John the Baptist. I was not familiar with this painting until I discovered it just this week in my research. The smile of the Mona Lisa is legendary, but I think the expression on da Vinci’s John the Baptist is, at least, as difficult to interpret. John is painted as if he is emerging from the dark of night, holding close to his chest a cross made of reeds in his left hand, and with his right arm crossed over his chest, his hand is pointing to the sky in a most unusual gesture. There are those who theorize that this painting may be depicting John as appearing after his imprisonment, after his death for daring to criticize the king. That would explain the knowing smile and the gesture of John’s hand, pointing to the source of All that is.
Other than John’s second cousin, Jesus, I think we know more about John the Baptist than any other figure in Biblical literature. We heard the story last week of John’s father, the priest Zechariah, who is visited by the angel Gabriel as he is alone, offering incense, in the temple. Gabriel announces that Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth will conceive a son and they should name him John. Gabriel said, “Even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” When Zechariah doubts the truth of what the angel is saying, his power of speech is taken away until the day of the baby’s bris, when both mother and father insist he be named John, as the angel instructed. Only then did Zechariah regain his power of speech.
When we meet John today in our scriptures, he is a prophet, living in the wilderness, wearing clothing of camel hair and surviving on honey and wild locusts. He is using the ancient Jewish practice of ritual immersion in new and radical ways and we read that “the people of Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region along the Jordan were going out to him.” John is preaching a fiery message, calling for the people to repent. Three times in our passage today, John speaks of repentance. We generally don’t carry a clear understanding of this word, but if we refer to the original Greek, the original language of this text, we find the word that was metanoia, which means to change. John is living fully into the prophecy the angel Gabriel spoke before his birth, turning “the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” John is vehemently demanding that the people change their ways. He challenged all people to share what they have with those who have not; he challenged the tax collectors to be honest in all dealings, and the soldiers to deal fairly and not abuse their power. John has a special message for the religious authorities and he is not holding back in the presence of the religious authorities who come to hear him; he calls them “vipers” in one breath and in the next breath threatens that if they are not “bearing good fruit” they will be like the trees that are cut down and thrown into the fire. Yikes!
John has grown into a formidable force that is reshaping the cultural landscape of his place and time. John is operating far outside the existing power structure of the temple in Jerusalem. John is ministering in the wilderness and people are flocking to him in droves. Theologian Matthew Myers Bolton writes of John, “He is out and beyond the co-ordinates and control of the empire.” He is demonstrating that “God is on the move and the dawn of a new era of redemption has arrived.”
John is using the ancient Jewish practice of ritual immersion in water in a new and radical way. He is offering baptism as an affirmation of one’s willingness to change, one’s willingness to move into closer alignment with the love that is God. Theologian Matt Laney describes it as follows: Baptism is a sign that we are not our own; we are under new management as the dwelling place of the divine. Baptism doesn’t make us God’s address; it reminds us that we have been so all along.”
Today, on this second Sunday of Advent, we are offered this example of the power of one voice. One voice calling for social change. One voice calling for honesty, fairness, kindness and care of one another. One voice preparing the way for something even more wonderful to break in to the world. Today, as we prepare to share in the ritual of Communion, we should remember that John’s willingness to speak truth to power cost him his life. He was imprisoned and executed by the powers that sought to silence him and to disappear him. As we gather around the Communion table we are invited to remember that the same powers sought to silence and disappear John’s second cousin, Jesus, as well. As we gather around the table, we are invited to remember all those, down through the ages, who have been silenced and disappeared. We are invited to remember those who today, in this great nation, are being silenced and disappeared without due process, out from under the rule of law. But above all, Friends, we are invited to prepare the way here and now for the coming of Christ. Prepare the way with our words, our prayers, our way of being in the world that fosters care, concern, kindness and justice for all, with no exceptions. May we prepare the way for Christ. May we become the way for Christ to enter in. So be it. Amen.
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. Help us in this time, especially, to be mindful of our words and how they can hurt and how they can heal. 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 open us 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. In service to your divine love, I pray. 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.”