“The Good News Starts Here”

Mark 1:1-8

During a Bible Study at the home of one of our member families a brief timeout was taken so that we could bid their teenager goodnight. Smart aleck that I am I said, “Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t bite any bed bugs.” The teen’s reaction: “Eeyew!”

Recently I learned again one of those sad, hard truths of life: what goes around comes around. Responding to the airing of my ongoing struggle with losing weight, a colleague in California pointed me to the lectionary texts for this Sunday and next and suggested that I adopt the diet of John the Baptist. The honey half of it sounds okay, but my response to eating locusts – to eating bugs – was, “Eeyew.”

John the Baptist may be a great hero of the Bible and the cousin of our Savior but I wouldn’t want him to be my dietician. I’d lose weight, I’m sure, but again, “Eeyew.” Although I think camel hair blazers and overcoats are pretty spiffy, I wouldn’t want John the Baptist to be my tailor. My hunch is that his camel’s hair garment was pretty scratchy.

John the Baptist: neither his diet nor his wardrobe appeal to me; nor does the thought of my head ending up on a platter as his did. He’s just not the kind of guy whose lifestyle or ministry I wish to emulate. Living on bugs, wearing itchy clothes, and constantly offending people with my sermons are not my cup of tea.

At this point in history it’s pretty easy to avoid the buggy diet and itchy clothes. But as an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament I have no guarantee that my preaching and teaching will never offend anyone. Reality is that there will be times when my preaching and teaching are supposed to offend people. I am a pastor. As one who seeks to faithfully proclaim the Gospel I am also a prophet. That’s what a prophet does; he or she proclaims the truth of God’s Word, always in love but sometimes with a twist of righteous anger thrown into the mix.

One of the ironies is that the Good News has a way of sounding like bad news to those who first hear it. For all of its wondrous words of grace there are also words of judgment. One cannot faithfully respond to the Gospel without some form of confession and repentance. Honest confession is hard. It involves a plunge into the righteous fire of God’s judgment, an honest confrontation of our dark side, bringing our hidden awfulness to light, and the painful acknowledgment of our sinfulness. “Eeyew!”

And that’s just the beginning. True confession must be followed by repentance. Repentance involves a radical redirection and reorientation of our lives; quite literally a 180 degree turn away from whatever it is that is coming between us and the righteousness of God: a behavior, a habit, an addiction, an attitude, and sometimes even an entire belief system. When we repent we turn away from our sins no matter how personally pleasing, socially acceptable, or financially rewarding they may be.

We Christians just love to hear the sins of others condemned, to be able to sit in our pews or in front of our televisions and oh so smugly and self righteously think to ourselves what those long ago Pharisee said out loud, “Thank God that I’m not like those sinners.” But when the preacher or teacher steps on our toes the reaction is not so joyful. We get defensive. If we’re pastors we haul out our commentaries and theology texts looking for an escape clause. All of us take a quick riffle through the Bible looking for proof texts that, no matter how far out of context they may be, seem to uphold our innocence. We so much prefer rationalization to repentance.

Another thing we Christians do all too well is compare our sins to the sins of others in a way that makes us look less sinful. “He does this. She does that. They do the other. Although we may be guilty of this, that, or the other our sins are so much less scandalous than are theirs.” To be a bit more specific, “Maybe I am selfish, bigoted, and greedy, and maybe I cut corners on contracts, stretch the truth on my tax returns, love to gossip, and belittle my spouse and children in front of others, but I’m not a drunkard, drug addict, bank robber, or prostitute. Yes, I know that I’m self-righteous but I never killed anybody.” And on and on and on it goes. The sins of others are always worse than mine. I can admit that but I really don’t think I need to repent.

Think again. Listen once more to the words of the Shorter Catechism: “What is sin? Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God.” If our actions and attitudes are out of conformity with God’s law, they’re sinful and we’re sinners. If our words, thoughts, and deeds in any way break God’s law or put us at cross purposes with his will, they are sinful and we are sinners.

Sins, no matter how terrible, are forgivable. That’s the essence of the Good News. But first we have to confess them, not just blithely admit that they exist, but bring them to the light of day and confront their horribleness. Then we have to turn away from them and walk the other way.

John the Baptist came preaching repentance, especially for those who thought they were above reproach. His delivery of the bad news paved the way for Jesus and his message of Good News. He pointed out the darkest depths of the human heart in order to prepare humanity for the coming of the One who would be the light of life. He said those things people didn’t want to hear. He spoke of coming judgment as a prelude to the coming of God’s grace made incarnate in Jesus. He was the prophet who preceded the Messiah.

The harsh truth is that we are each and every one of us sinners. We cannot escape judgment apart from God’s grace. We cannot accept grace until we realize that we need it. We cannot be saved until we admit that we are lost. We are called to face our sins, name them, and confess them. We are further called to repent of them. Thus we admit our lostness and open ourselves to salvation. Through honest confession and repentance we open ourselves to God’s grace and humbly submit ourselves to his will. Then when that day of ultimate judgment arrives we are prepared to face our God without fear.

As this Advent progresses may we face up to our sins, confess them, and turn to face the Lord. May we drop all our self-righteous and silly assumptions of inherent our goodness. As we approach the Table of our Lord may we face the truth of his judgment so that we can accept the reality of his grace. Amen.