Here I Come to Pave the Way

Here I Come to Pave the Way

Matthew 3:1-12

When I was in 7th Grade, many, many years ago, I discovered that I had a position of leadership that was essential for the social development of my fellow class mates. It was not a leadership position that I would had chosen. And, if you were to ask my class mates, I am pretty sure that they would not have been able to identify me as their leader.

I was not the kind of person who got chosen for leadership positions. I found this out because our junior high school held elections frequently, in an effort to have us learn about democracy through experience. And while my memory may be a bit fuzzy about this, I think I ran during every single election that was offered, whether it was for class president or room representative or special committee member. It didn’t matter to me what the position was – I just wanted to be affirmed by my peers as someone who could lead them.

While I don’t remember all of the positions I ran for, what I am certain of is this: I lost every single time. Not even once did the majority of my class mates think I was the best person for the job. I tried taking some comfort in knowing that I usually came in second, though often that only meant that the other person was elected.

In addition to the academic goals of junior highs, the administration was interested in having us learn appropriate social skills when dealing with each other. Towards that end, one of the things the school offered was what we then called “mixers.” A mixer was a dance held in the gymnasium immediately after school. It was not as formal as an official dance that might require getting dressed up and asking someone on a date. You just showed up, talked with your friends, ate popcorn while a DJ played records, and maybe, eventually, asked a girl to dance.

On the occasion of the third mixer, I had stayed after class to help a teacher with setting up a project for the next day. So, I was about 10 minutes late getting down to the gymnasium. I was surprised when I got there to see that everyone was still standing along the walls, even though the music was playing. I asked one of the girls still by the door why everyone was just standing around. Her reply was a pivotal moment in my life: “No one wants to be the first one out on the dance floor.”

I understood that fear of being first. No one wants to look foolish in front of their peers. No one wants to be the focus of unwanted attention. But it was then that I knew that I had been given an opportunity for leadership. By stepping forward, there was a good chance that my class mates would follow where I was going to lead them. So, filled with the confidence that comes with knowing that this was my moment, I grabbed her hand and said, “It’s time to get this party started.”

Every eye was on us as we walked out to the middle of the floor. Using moves only slightly less jumpy than water on a hot griddle, I began to dance. And before the song was over, the room was filled with gyrating 7th graders.

It didn’t have to be me, of course, to be the first one on the floor. It could have been anyone, but – and this is important – there had to be someone to take that first step. Anyone could have, but until someone did, nothing would have changed.

The importance of being the first to step out was a lesson I learned again in Boy Scouts, and again in college. The crowds are always watching for someone to be first, to take the lead, to step out in faith, and do what needs to be done. Even if the crowd is ready and wants to do something, they are waiting for that first person to act, for that first person to start the looting, for that first person to offer help.

Conversely, the opposite is true. If you want to stop a crowd, you have to stop that first person. Stop the leader, and the crowd will stay in the stands. Stop the leader, and you can prevent the looting. Stop the leader, and you can keep a movement from taking off.

The people in our reading knew the oppression of being first. The Romans were an occupying presence, always on the outlook for that first someone stepping out of line, always ready to stop them by whatever means necessary. The consequences for being first were very high and harsh, and it changed the ways people lived out their faith.

Because of this fear of being first, the Pharisees made faith a strictly personal matter, so that it did not require confronting systemic evils. Faith was about how well you kept the laws, and how well you avoided sin, and nothing more. If your neighbor’s life was hard, it wasn’t your fault or your responsibility – it wasn’t even the fault of the Romans. Their problems were God’s judgment on them for their personal sins.

Because of this fear of being first, the Sadducees made being Jewish a matter of identity, and not a witness to the world. You were born Jewish, and that was a matter of heritage, not faith. Like today, it doesn’t matter so much if our heritage is Scottish or German or English or Italian or Slavic anything else. What matters is blending in, fitting in, and accommodating the common culture.

One of the problems with this, as St. Augustine pointed out, is that our hearts are restless unless they rest in God. We can’t find peace with God if we can’t see in our neighbors the image of God. We have a need to live out our relationship with God. So the Romans, and the Pharisees, and the Sadducees implicitly conspired together to continue a system that was so much less than the kingdom of God.

Controlled by the fear of being first, no one wanted to step out and show the others what it means to be faithful when confronted by evil and apathy. They knew the risk to being first is two-fold – they could look foolish in front of everyone if no one follows, and they could attract the unwanted attention of the Romans who might respond by taking down the leader.

John the Baptizer wasn’t worried about looking foolish. He lived in in the wilderness, where the demons were reported to live. He wasn’t anyone’s choice for a leader, what with his peculiar eating habits and odd choice in clothing. But John wanted to be involved; John needed to be faithful. John couldn’t wait any longer on the sidelines, hoping that someone else would take the first step. And John knew that this was his moment to lead them.

So John came to the edge of the wilderness and shouted, “Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.” I think that statement loses a lot of its impact in the translation. Today, someone standing on a street corner crying “repent” would be a caricature, someone seen as being perhaps a little mentally unstable. Our likely response to this person would be to keep a safe distance as we walked by, careful to avoid making eye contact.

The gospel writer Matthew made a comment about John, to help explain the impact and importance of what John was doing. The prophet Isaiah pointed to someone “crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” But this comment about the impact of John taking this first step makes me think of the theme song of a long ago cartoon character. I see John standing on the edge of the wilderness singing, “Here I come to pave the way! That means the Son is on his way! Here I come to pave the way! Make sure your path to God is straight today!” That is taking the first step that will lead others to also step forward!

Like students at a 7th Grade Mixer, we have to show up if we want to grow up into this new life. But if we are just standing along the walls, waiting for someone else to take that first step, no one grows. Part of what identifies a disciple of Jesus Christ is that willingness to help pave the way for others to become part of the kingdom of God.

John knew that life in the kingdom requires a fresh start. Our past, with all of our sins and failures, has to be washed away by our baptism of repentance. But even that won’t be enough for the kingdom to come. It’s not enough to say we are sorry for our past, if we simply continue doing the same things in our future.

There were many people who followed John out onto this new dance floor. But John suspected that the Pharisees wanted to continue to be Pharisees. He suspected that the Sadducees wanted to continue to be Sadducees.

John called them on this when he asked, “Who told you to flee from the wrath to come?” In other words, John was asking them, “Why does fear move you, when God’s love does not?” Fear is what put them on the sidelines. Fear is what kept them from loving their neighbors. Replacing their old fear with a new fear was not going to keep them out on the dance floor of God’s kingdom.

Well, they argued, at least we are descendants of Abraham. Unlike the Romans, Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Assyrians, we are family, and that has to count for something.

But John takes that away from them, as well. He calls them “a brood of vipers;” which, for the poetically impaired, is a nest of snakes. John connects them, not to Abraham, but to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Before we were descendants of Abraham and Sarah, we are descendants of Adam and Eve. We are the descendants of those who chose to crawl away from God, seeking what they thought was good, rather than being humble before God, who is good. John reminds us that this is the choice that is always before us – either we “serpent” or we “repent.”

Repentance means we have to change our relationships – with God and with each other. Godly repentance means we have to change our relationships with the poor and the oppressed, with the sick and the imprisoned, with the stranger and the orphaned. Repentance means we accept the call to the righteousness of holiness, a right relationship that reveals that God is our God, and that everyone is our brother and sister. Repentance means we are always moving closer to God, and closer to our neighbors.

For John, this new life of holiness is so radically different that the only way forward is for us to pave the way for others by taking that first step of repentance. We miss this word from God because we are afraid to take that first step.

We are afraid to repent, especially if we are already part of the church. We are afraid because we know that praise is easier than repentance. We know that celebration is easier than service. We know that worship is easier than working for the kingdom. We know that proclamation is easier than confession.

John makes it clear that there is a choice to be made, and we reveal our choice by the fruit we bear. If we chose to “serpent,” we will continue to walk on paths that will not lead us to the kingdom. If we “repent,” then we take those first steps to declare to the world that “here we come to pave the way.”

We may have come late to the dance, but the world is waiting, watching for someone to step out in faith. The world is waiting, watching for someone to be the first to show them how to live in hope. The world is waiting, watching for someone to be the first to show them repentance is the way to God’s kingdom. People really don’t want to wait along the walls, but they are afraid to take that first step.

This is our calling today, to be the people who step out in faith to lead the world to Christ! We are standing on Jordan’s stormy banks, and John is calling us to step out into the water so that we can pave the way for Jesus to come into every heart!

#724 “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand”