Mark
1:1-8, Isaiah 40:1-11
In
the Wilderness
There is a technical, theological
term which often gets completely misapplied.
The term is “The Plain Sense of Scripture.” I promise that I won’t entrap you or embarrass
you, but I would like to ask you to consider what you believe this technical,
theological term means – “The Plain Sense of Scripture.”
The phrase is used to begin to
deliberate how the initial hears would have heard what scripture is
saying. Scripture surely says something
to us, in our day and time. And what it
says to us is not something completely different than what it might have said
to the Church two thousand years ago. But
there might be differences. So before we
teach or preach or proclaim “The Gospel of our Lord..” it serves us well to
deliberate how the writers anticipated the initial hearers hearing the same
words which we would hear two millennia later.
The people to who Isaiah spoke and
the persons for whom Mark wrote were likely to have heard in the words of both
an assurance that God had not abandoned them.
Both audiences were in the midst of difficult times. Both audiences were eager for an announcement
that things were going to be better, soon.
But their situations were different. Different enough that the words being uttered
needed to be rearranged and reapplied.
Mark’s first hearers needed to realize that the one they had gone out to
hear was not the Promised One they desired; Isaiah’s audience needed assurance
that God would clear a path which would allow them to return to their homes.
I asked Donna to underline the
parallel verse in March and Isaiah. Open
your bulletin so you can see both of them.
It was a bible study prepared by a pastor in Wisconsin which called to
my attention the subtle differences between what Isaiah had said and how Mark
makes use of the same promise.
Mark’s gospel
says this:
“[T]he
voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’” (Mark 1:3)
But
Isaiah said this:
“A voice
cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the
desert a highway for our God.’” (Isaiah 40:3)
Pastor Jay McDivitt asked: See the difference? Mark gives us a messenger from out in the
wilderness—as if John comes from some weird other place (hence the clothes) to
bring a message to the people about getting their house in order.
Isaiah
sends everyone out to the wilderness to see the good thing God is doing out
there. Or, more accurately, Isaiah knows that his listeners are already in the
wilderness, and—contrary to expectations—that is precisely where God is doing a
new thing. God has not abandoned God’s people—despite how desperate their
plight. Rather, God is in the wilderness, making a way out of no-way, carving
out a smooth path for the people of God to walk through the desert in style,
all the way home.
The folks who were going out to the
Jordan River to see John needed to know that the fiery preacher they admired
was not the promised messenger of God. The
message for them was to get ready for the one who is about to come. This is why we read this passage during the
season of Advent; we too need to be encouraged to get our house in order – to
prepare the way for Christ to enter.
Isaiah’s audience was in a
different place. They had experienced nearly
200 years of being captives in a foreign country. The invading Babylonian army had destroyed
their temple and carried them off into exile.
The word of the Lord came to them as a promise that a way would be
prepared for them. A way which would
allow them to make a grand entrance.
What is the plain sense of these
words for you, this morning? The miss
application of this technical, theological phrase is to believe that the words
plainly say one thing. But words are
only one part of the exchange. The impact
of those words also figures into what they are saying.
As I said earlier, a typical,
traditional interpretation is to hear words encouraging us to make those last
few minute adjustments. To strive to
prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight his path of entry.
No doubt, the activities of these
days and weeks encourage such a response.
Even as we worship this morning, some among us are anticipating the
preparations of this place for an entry to come. We are “hanging the greens” immediately after
the 11 am service. For me, when the
Chrismon Tree lights go on it is a signal to get my own decorations out of
attic and get my Christmas cards in the mail.
How does our experience of hearing
these words align with their Plain Sense? Do we hear them as folks heard John the
baptizer?
Or, might some of us be hearing
these words in the style uttered by Isaiah?
It is to those who may fall into
this latter category that I most want to share the Good News.
Isaiah’s promise was uttered to
folks who had no home into which they could welcome Messiah. Isaiah’s audience was discouraged and
disappointed and distraught. The word of
the Lord for these people was not a warning about what they needed to do. The word is a word of promise about that
which God is doing.
My hope and prayer is the people
who sit in darkness will see the great light which is dawning from on
high. My hope and prayer is that the tinsel
and twinkling lights will not inhibit the ability to admit that we are anxious
and worried and unsure.
There are far too many for whom
this is true. And far too few allowances
for an honest expression of such fears.
Those who hear the word of God do
not change the word of God. But the word
of God faithfully addresses those to whom it is uttered. It is an error in biblical interpretation to
claim that the words plainly mean this or clearly say that. We arrive at what God is saying by beginning
to ponder on how the first audiences were likely to have heard and understood
the words. From there, we can see how
these same words speak to us and to our lives.
Amen.
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