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Grace, mercy and peace be to you …
Over the past 10 years that my family and I have lived down the street, many of you have seen us walking our West highland terriers. Let me introduce you this Sunday to the eldest of the two currently at home. His name is Winston.
Why the name? Well, Winston is a Westie; and it’s been deemed appropriate in our family that all Westies bear a name that starts with a “W.” Our former pair, who have passed on, were Whiskers and Woody. Winston got his particular name because he was significantly more vocal than these former two … and so he was named after a big speaker: Winston Churchill.
And so our current pair is Winston and Willamina… Or Meanie, for short; a name which she answers to. But we’ll talk about her on another occasion.
After Whiskers and Woody had passed on, there was a time we had no dogs in the house. Truth was, their passing left a big hole … and grieving time was necessary. But a year or so later, Caron saw a picture of a Westie in the Dogs For Sale column in the Courier, and Winston came home as a small ball of white fur about two days later.
Then came the training up of Winston. Now training a dog requires proper use of the Law. Or in his vocabulary, the Law means treats or scolding; rewards or punishments.
Even so, what’s interesting about dogs is that they can seem almost human … They have the capability of showing human-esk emotions. They can be exuberantly happy… and likewise, they can tuck their tails between their legs and crawl on the ground with guilt.
Now, dogs can be trained to behave very well … but they are still operating on the level of the Law; rewards and punishments. Just count how many treats a dog handler gives their dog as he or she shows off their dog at a dog-show before the judges.
Now it’s true, I’ve seen dogs go off and hide when they’ve had an accident and know their owner is coming home. But they do so because they know how the owner has reacted to that behavior in the past … and so their reaction is simply driven by their fear of punishment.
Humans, for the most part, once out of childhood, are a bit more advanced and complicated in how they behave. Part of that is due to our human psyche having a conscience, a built in knowledge of right and wrong.
And so some of our behaviors will just automatically produce guilt … because they are sins against our conscience. And as we grow up, these sins will also include going against what we have been taught to be right or wrong.
So, guilt can be a demonstrated form of human behavior without necessarily any direct fear of punishment.
And in that … we humans also develop the capacity of hiding our guilt, especially when the authority we know we have offended is God. The problem is, then, when this kind of guilt is not dealt with, it accumulates.
In that case, a dog’s life is much better. Whatever behavior a dog might be guilty of is usually dealt with almost immediately … and life goes on, then, as if it never happened.
Not so with us humans. We’re not very good about cleaning our slates before God or before one another. We often carry grudges against others… as well as against God. What miserable, angry people that can make of us.
And God knows that. And so begins Mark’s Gospel… and with the first verse comes the dawn of new day of Human existence. Jesus was coming into the world. But first, as a fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus’ coming was to be heralded by John the Baptist.
“A voice of one calling in the desert… make straight paths for Him.”
We hear those words of Isaiah being repeated here in Mark. And we see though Mark’s eyes John baptizing a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
A baptism for the forgiveness of sins. And who only forgives sins? God himself. And so we see here, as elsewhere, that God is the actor in Baptism. It is not a symbolic rite, but an actual act of the Grace of God on behalf of the baptized individual.
And so, in John’s Baptism there’s another word we need to deal with … repentance. A Baptism of repentance. And when we start talking about repentance, we have really moved out of a Dog’s world.
A literal translation of that word repentance means to “think after” … to have regret. To consider my words and actions with the blessing of hind-sight and consider them in the light of my conscience.
Was I wrong in God’s eyes? Was I wrong in the eyes or in the perception of someone else? Do I need to seek forgiveness?
That’s the first step of repentance … the guilt test. Has God or another individual or my conscience laid guilt on my heart? If so, God has given us the cure for that malady. It’s called confession and absolution.
But before we go there, there’s something more we need to consider, to “think after” … in terms of our regret: What are we going confess other than to say: “I’m sorry?” Does just saying that make you entitled to hear, “I forgive you” from the one you have wronged?
We might think so. But in my growing up, how many times did I hear in my house with three younger brothers, “I apologized, but he won’t forgive me!!!”
Why the reluctance to forgive? Just meanness? In my brothers’ case that might have been a good part of it. But the real reason is that in that simple confession, “I’m Sorry”… the offender hasn’t said anything about what they plan to do… so that whatever hurt they have caused will not happen again in the future.
That’s what repentance is about. Having a heart change that leads to a behavior change. So, how’s this sound? “I’m sorry; I’ll never do it again!”
Well, that’s better than just saying I’m sorry … but it may sound a bit hollow since there’s no reason given that will prevent what-ever-it-was from happening again…
And that’s what the offended person wants to hear… not only that you’re sorry that this happened, but that, if possible, restitution will be made, and as much as it is up to you, you’ll take whatever steps are necessary to make sure it never happens again.
A classic example of this is found in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ encounter with the Chief Tax Collector named Zacchaeus.
First, Jesus tells Zacchaeus that He, Jesus, MUST, underline Must, eat at Zacchaeus’ house that day. This was a clear call to Zacchaeus to repent of his unscrupulous ways, since it was against the law for Jesus stay and eat where the house and the food were the fruit of tainted earnings.
And so then we hear Zacchaeus repent publically by saying, “Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus’ reply to this repentance? “Today salvation has come to this house.”
You see, Zacchaeus just didn’t say … “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.”
He promised restitution far beyond that necessary, which was an indication of His change of heart. There would be no question that as Zacchaeus did as he had said, his new heart would not allow him to go back to his old ways.
And, to be honest, that’s the kind of repentance that John the Baptist came to preach… calling for his hearers to make straight paths. To prepare the way for the Lord.
Repentance. Recognizing your sin for what it is… an offense against God and often against others as well … confessing it… and allowing God to change your heart in repentance.
And so Mark tells us, the crowds came to John the Baptist, confessing their sins and receiving a baptism of repentance for their forgiveness. This Baptism looked forward to what Jesus would accomplish by His death on the cross … the forgiveness of sins for all who would trust in Him as Lord.
Now today, you and I have been baptized, and so this baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins is at work in us… right now. What God did through that act was to reconcile us to Himself….
And so, now, we live as Christians by God’s grace in a state of repentance, as our sins, even those we are unaware of, are forgiven by Him for the sake of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection.
God has made peace with us … our path before Him has been made straight. But, what about our paths with our brothers and sisters around us?
We have been forgiven before God … but have we confessed and offered our repentance to those whom we have caused harm?
Remember our dogs? You ever come home and instead of being warmly greeted, you find your best friend in hiding? Or maybe showing other signs of guilt? Maybe because an upset stomach, or another emergency caused them to make a mess?
What do you do? Administer the punishment they’re fearing?… or do you forgive, and forgo it? It may depend on the transgression. But in either case, an hour later … what? … things are back to normal.
That behavior issue has been dealt with and is now a thing of the past. And the love that you have for each other has moved back to center court.
Wouldn’t it be great if we human beings could be so up front? Instead what do we do? Often, when we’re offended, instead of addressing it, we swallow it for the sake of a phony peace and hold a grudge, a grudge that now colors how we see everything else that that person who has offended us does from then on.
Wouldn’t it be better if we said, “You know, I felt hurt when this happened …” Like Jesus with Zacchaeus… no accusation, no guilt trip… just an honest statement about how you feel. That gives the other person the opportunity to apologize and repent freely, instead feeling like you have a gun at their head…
It gives you the opportunity to feely forgive, as well. And guess what then?... the way is made straight between the two of you.
Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight paths before Him. It’s not just our path with the Lord that God through Isaiah and John and Mark are talking to us about. It’s about all our paths … all of our relationships.
The message is that confession, repentance and forgiveness are the ways that the Peace on Earth that God sent Jesus to bring actually becomes our personal peace. Peace with God … peace with one another… straight paths everywhere … all to bring you… Christ’s Joy in this world.
In Him, Amen.
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