Advent 2 December 5, 2010 - Matthew 3:1-12

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A favorite childhood game of virtually every child is the game of hide and seek. I imagine you know how the game is played. It begins when someone is chosen to be "it". As soon as that decision is made, that child closes her eyes and begins to count. And while she is counting, with her eyes closed, every other contestant to run like mad to find a hiding place. Meanwhile the child who is it is counting out loud to the predetermined number, getting closer and closer to the moment of anticipation... 17, 18, 19, 20! and then, when she reaches 20, she cries out that dread proclamation, "Ready or not, here I come!"
Well, according to our Gospel text for today, Jesus is coming. And just like the game of hide and seek requires a cry of warning when the seeker is coming to chase you down and make you it, that same cry comes, but not by him who is coming. The crying, the proclamation is given to another, a prophet, a herald, "Jesus is here, the Kingdom of Heaven is here. (17, 18, 19, 20...) Ready or not here He comes!" You'd better make certain you are prepared.
To get yourself ready in the game of hide and seek, what you have to do is hide. Its always the kids who are best at hiding who win. If you can fit yourself into some tight space so that you are completely concealed, so that the kid who is "IT" can't find you, if you have some super special secret spot, then you can win the game every time. It's when you are found that you get into trouble. Once you are found your only hope is to be faster than the one chasing you.
The rules of the game change a bit when it's Jesus who comes, when it's Jesus who seeks. How does the saying go? "You can run but you can't hide." When it's Jesus who comes, it doesn't matter how super secret your hiding spot, there is no hiding. It doesn't matter how far or how fast you can run, because there is no escape. When Jesus comes, you can't run and you can't hide. He will find you and he will catch you. The only thing to do is to be ready. So God, in his mercy, sends John the Baptist to ensure that everyone is ready.
Isaiah put it best when he identified John as "the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'"
And so how did John get that job done? What did he do? What did he say? What message did he proclaim?
"Repent..." "Repent" was the message, "for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." So what does it mean to repent?
The term implies a change of mind or a change of heart. To turn around, to go a different direction. Not a minor change, not a make-it-fit-into-what-you-already-believe (which is popular today) It is, instead, a complete change, a total transformation. Change your allegiance, you entire frame of reference. Something on par with, "Stop being a Buckeye and become a Spartan, or worse, a Wolverine." It's that sort of a change, but bigger. More important and significant. More meaningful and not so trivial as allegiance to a sports team. This is a complete turn around of belief and worldview and self understanding and religion and faith.
This becomes even more striking, even more offensive when we remember who John was talking to - he was talking to Jews. He was talking to people who were regulars at the temple, people who went to church. People who, at least on the surface might not have been too different from you or me. We would think them to be believers, but John says they are not. They need to change what they believe to accommodate for the one who is to come. They need to change their belief to make room for Jesus.
But then came the Pharisees and Saducees. Religious superstars. Guys who people thought were sure to make God's starting team. They were into it and knew a lot about it. They spent time living it and practicing it. Especially the Pharisees were looked up to as religious examples.
So these guys came to see what was going on down by the Jordan River and when John saw them standing there he laid in to them. Ripped them apart. Called them children of snakes. a brood of vipers. Calls to mind the words God spoke to that old snake, the Devil, back in the Garden of Eden, Enmity between Eve's offspring and his. John might as well be saying, "You are children of the devil." No middle ground there.
So John says repent. be converted, change your heart, your mind, and preserve yourself from the coming judgment. That same message needs to be proclaimed today.
The book of Revelation identified Jesus as "the One who was who is and who is to come". Jesus who came is coming again and is coming soon. If we were counting down, who knows where we would be; 17? 18? Maybe 19 1/2? Who knows, only God knows for sure, but he is coming soon. That same message of preparation and repentance needs to be preached today.
John was talking to unbelievers. Stop being unbelievers, turn to Jesus. You and I live in an unbelieving world. John's message needs to be preached today.
Think back to your days of playing hide and seek. It seemed like there was always that kid who couldn't find a good place to hide, usually a younger kid, a kid who probably wouldn't be able to run as fast or as far. You would be in your hiding spot, listening to the countdown watching that kid run around looking for a good place to hide. When the time was up, he was a sitting duck. Easy prey for the seeker. We live in a world filled with people who don't know how to hide.
Oh they think they do, they believe themselves to be well hidden. After all, they spend most of their lives hiding... from each other, from the public eye, or even at hiding from themselves. But they can't hide from God.
Of course we are not talking about literal hiding, we are talking about hiding from sin, from the devil, we are talking about making that sin go away. We are talking about justification.
After all, every one of us is a sinner. We all have sins that we seek to cover up, to hide from or hide away, to keep concealed and to keep hidden. And so people try hide them, to cover them up and keep them as secrets so that nobody finds out. We are fully engaged in our own private game of hide and seek. It's a game we play in our conscience. We commit a sin. We know we are wrong. We are convicted in our conscience, but we try to pretend we have done nothing wrong. We hide from our guilt. We hide from God's law. We hide from those we would offend. And we think we have pulled it off.
But we are fools. Have you ever played hide and seek with a toddler? They know enough to understand the rules of the game, the basic concept, but they don't quite know how to hide. They assume "If I can't see you, you can't see me." And so when she hides her eyes are concealed, but most of her body is sticking out in plain sight. Usually when we hide from God and even from each other we hide like a toddler. We cover our own eyes to our sin, but it is only all too obvious to everyone else. We have only fooled ourselves.
So our problem is that we need to learn how to hide. In order for the world to be ready and prepared, in order for true repentance to take place so that sinners are hidden from the wrath to come, so that no piece of us is sticking out when the fires of judgment start to burn, the world needs to learn how to hide.
And the ironic thing is that if we are truly going to hide, if we are truly going to be covered and concealed, before we can hide, we need to learn to be found.
The first time that Jesus came, he came to find sinners. He looked for them, sought them out. Think the woman at the well, Mary Magdalene, Matthew the tax collector, the thief on the cross, all examples of sinners who Jesus came to seek... who Jesus came to seek and to save.
When Jesus came to seek, he came seeking those who were exposed, those who couldn't find a place to hide, those who were vulnerable to be destroyed in the coming judgment.
This Advent Season we are reminded that there is a second coming, a second Advent, when he who first came to seek and to save will come to judge. Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. At that coming there will be no more hiding. To be found it to be found in sin. And to be found in sin is to be dead. There is no hope of escape from this coming judgment. The only hope is Jesus.
When Jesus comes today to seek out those who are hiding, he comes bringing with him repentance and faith. He sends out his Spirit to find those who are hiding away, frightened sinners, unsure of where to go or what to do with their problem of sin. Jesus comes to take it from them, to find them in their sin so that they hide in him.
At his first Advent Jesus came to provide salvation. He came to provide forgiveness and a solution for that problem of sin. He came to be the one who received the judgment. He was found innocent but chose to be killed as a sinner, he was found with no guilty but chose to be counted among the guilty. So he died. And his death was for us, so that when we are found, discovered by his Spirit of grace and mercy and peace and love we might find forgiveness. To be found by Jesus is to be hidden from judgment. There is no other way. There is no other salvation. There is only Jesus.
Sinners need Jesus. The world needs repentance. All those years ago, John the Baptist came preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. Get ready. Get yourself prepared, because the kingdom of heaven has come. "Ready or not..."
Today that same call needs to be made, to a world that is hiding, yet still exposed. To a world that believes its sins have been covered but are in for a rude awakening. Christ is coming. He is coming soon. 17. 18, 19, 20! Ready or not here he comes! The only preparation is to be found by Jesus.
Amen.