i can learn to see with a partial view

i can learn to be easy

The holy Gospel according to St. Luke the 3rd chapter!

Bypassing all the usual lackeys, the Word of God goes right up the line. Past the governor, and finally even over the head of the Emperor himself! In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius the word of God comes to not a single one of those men in power… 

Neither, though, does the word of God come to the High Priest in the temple. Instead, the word of God comes to John. 

John, the son of a priest. John, who apparently has nothing to do with the priesthood, though. John who’s doing ministry outside the temple, in the wilderness. 

Yet, it is him, of all people, that the word of God comes! And the word of God comes to him, no less, while he’s out there in the wilderness. 

Whatever else it is, the wilderness is the opposite of civilization. The wilderness is what lies on the other side of our tamed world. And it is there that the word of God comes every time.

John and the crowds that go out to meet him intuit that for as much as civilization affords us, there is also much it cannot. They sense there’s more to life than the comfort and security of civilized life. 

And, like the crowds, we get this, too. At least on some level. 

After all, when the hustle and bustle of life get to be too much, we might get in our car and drive out to Starr’s Cave for a hike. 

The thing, though, is that when it comes time to go home, we always know the parking lot isn’t too far away. And true wilderness, such as the kind the word of God comes, is not so easily tamed. 

You only get to the wilderness through a journey. And once you’re there, you’re likely to encounter the prophet who’s not so interested in soothing you, as exposing you. 

Then, the only way to come out the other side of the wilderness is through a dramatic experience, death and life—like baptism.

…Now I know everything I’m describing seems far-flung. After all, you’re getting this sermon from the comfort of your own home. BUT I want to suggest that the wilderness is not so far away after all. 

For instance, the very reason you’re getting the sermon from home is because of another wilderness. Isn’t it? The wilderness of life in the time of COVID. And that’s not all, either. Our own country, which many consider the pinnacle of civilization, has descended into chaos and bedlam just this week. 

The truth, though, is it doesn’t take anything so extraordinary for us to find ourselves on the wrong side of the wilderness. No one is free from the wilderness of divorce, disease, and death. All our lives have been touched by those usual forms of estrangement. The all too common experiences that transform our prepared little lives into a vast and terrible wilderness.

The winds of the wilderness have reached all our doors. We’ve all found ourselves worn down and roughed up by the wilderness life can be. 

Which means you are right where the word of God comes every time! You are on the very ground Isaiah prophesied is fertile for the way of the Lord!

Yes, you are in the wilderness. That is what’s going on. Go ahead and take a little comfort from the fact that where you’ve found yourself isn’t an abnormality. It’s just a part of being human. 

But, here’s the bad news; You. Can’t. Change. That. Allow me to me repeat that, you can’t change that.

What makes the wilderness the wilderness is that it’s the one place where all our machinations come to nothing. The wildness of the wilderness cannot be tamed. It will be forever beyond our control. 

Of course, the temptation is to try and flee. And life, such as it is, offers no shortage of escapes. But now that you’ve found yourself in the wilderness, you’ve got to ask yourself, why would you want to leave?!?

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,” the word of God came to not a single one of them!  And “during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,” the word of God didn’t show up in the temple, either. Instead, the Word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness! The wilderness. 

Life itself has brought you to the rough and tumble place where the word of God comes every time! And this incredible experience of God’s presence in the last place you expected is just one more affirmation of every promise made to you in your baptism! This life-altering experience will bring you out to the other side of the wilderness, too! 

Here’s how: not by giving you an escape route, but by coming to you in the middle of the wilderness! By making a way out of no way! By preparing you for the way of the Lord right where all your preparations come to nothing! 

Have you been worn down and roughed up? Good, that just means you’re ready for the way of the Lord at long last!

Now that you’ve seen for yourself the futility of all your efforts, the mountain of your pride has been laid low, as Isaiah rightly prophesied. And now you’re finally ready to be lifted! To have the valley of this wilderness filled with the life, love, and power of Jesus’ holy Spirit! 

So get ready, for you shall see salvation! This wilderness is not beyond the reach of your Lord’s redemption! In fact, because your savior has tamed even that last wilderness of death, all these forces now work, in a paradoxical way, to deliver salvation to you! 

You may not be able to see this, but this is why we say we as yet walk by faith. So walk that path. Through the wild wilderness. Yes, its howling has reached your door. But the one who stands and knocks is not put off by a little wind! And once you’ve found yourself in his embrace all over again, those howling winds will turn into a chorus of hymns of thankfulness and praise once more!