Today on the 2nd Sunday of Advent, we are putting our focus on the theme of “Peace,” because the second Advent candle stands for “Peace.”
Jesus, of course, was known as the Prince of Peace. That’s what the people of Jesus’s day were hoping the Messiah would bring them: peace.
The time in which Jesus was born was a time of great injustice and unrest. People were looking for a Savior who would bring them peace: Peace from an oppressive political empire; peace from repressive religious authorities; peace from an unjust societal structure, which designated who was clean and who was unclean.
That was the way of the world into which Jesus was born, but Jesus came to usher in a new way: “The Way of the Lord.”
And, that’s what today’s gospel reading is all about. The lectionary reading for the 2nd Sunday of Advent is all John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the Way of the Lord.”
You all know the song from the musical, Godspell, right? Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord!
That’s what we’re doing during the Season of Advent. But, what is the “Way of Lord” that we’re preparing for?
Well, the Way of the Lord is the Way of peace. The Way of hope. The Way of joy. The Way of Love.
That’s what our 4 Advent candles stand for: the Way of the Lord.
Before Jesus even came on the scene and began his ministry at the age of 30, John the Baptist, was already out there preparing for the Way of the Lord.
Now, John the Baptist, himself, was someone who was so full of peace, love, joy, and hope that many thought that he was the Messiah, but he assured them that someone even greater was on the way. Someone who was already in their midst (in their group): Jesus.
Jesus was a follower of John the Baptist. Jesus was one of John’s students. They were both around the same age and, in fact, John and Jesus were cousins.
You may remember the story from Luke’s Gospel of what’s known as “the Visitation,” where Mary, Jesus’s mother, receives a visit from her cousin, Elizabeth.
And, both women are pregnant at the same time! Mary was pregnant with Jesus, and Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist.
And, both of those their pregnancies were miraculous ones!
Mary (we’re told) was a virgin, and Elizabeth was an old woman, well past child-bearing years. Some say she was in her 90’s!
Now, all that may sound a little hard to believe, but remember, the stories in Scripture are not meant to be understood literally, but symbolically.
In the ancient world, stories of miraculous births were not uncommon, and they were meant to signify a person’s divinity or prophetic nature.
The gospel writers were letting readers know that both Jesus and John the Baptist were divinely-appointed by God to “make way” for the Way of the Lord.
John and Jesus were both men of peace, and yet, sadly, John the Baptist was beheaded for it and Jesus was crucified for it.
And here we are 2,000 years later, and we’re still living in a world of great injustice and unrest.
Throughout our lifetimes, it seems, as if, there’s always been a conflict or a war somewhere on the globe.
That’s why (each and every year during Advent) we light a candle for “Peace,” because God is calling us (followers of John and Jesus) to continue their work of “making way” for the Way of the Lord.
We (as Christians) are called be Peacemakers.
Now, I know you may thinking: Pastor Sal, what can I (as one person) do to end all the wars in world?
Well, the Dalia Lama once said, “We can never obtain peace in the OUTER world, until we make peace with the INNER world.”
Peace begins with us.
As we often sing in that beautiful Christian song: “Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with ME.”
If we’re really serious about preparing for the Way of the Lord, then we must not only be about the OUTER work of justice, but about the INNER work of peace.
One of my greatest spiritual teachers was a woman known as the Peace Pilgrim, and she said something similar. She said, “World peace will never be stable until enough of us find INNER PEACE to stabilize it.”
If you don’t know the story the Peace Pilgrim: She was a middle-aged woman (who in the 1950s) said she was going to sell everything she owned and walk across the country for peace.
Her friends and family members were very concerned and, rightfully so, because Peace Pilgrim said she wasn’t going to take anything with her: no backpack, no money, no food.
She told them, “When it is time for me to eat, someone will offer me food. And when it’s time for me to sleep, someone will offer me shelter.”
And she was right. She walked across the country and back. And every single time she was hungry, she was offered food. And every single time she needed shelter, she was offered a place to sleep.
She was demonstrating the GOODNESS (the GOD-ness) in people, and she discovered that PEACE is our TRUE NATURE.
Our “default setting,” if you will.
Advent is a time for us to return to that setting: to that place of peace, love, hope, and joy that is within us.
It’s a time for us to “make way” and to “prepare room” for the Christ Light to be born in us.
In a world filled with conflict and division, we can give birth to the Prince of Peace. In a world filled we darkness, we can bring Light. It begins with us.
And, so, my friends, let us continue to make way for the Way of the Lord
And, this Advent season, let every heart prepare him room.
May it be so. Amen.