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Well, howdy. Now, I have some really bad news to give you all. Did you know that not everybody

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loves the song Last Christmas by Wham? Can you believe that? All right? George Michael

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singing Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away? All

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right. Some people actually don't like that song, and I don't understand those people.

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I think they're communists, but the thing with it is that this whole music video ends

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up going through this whole time where George Michael and this one lady are over there trying

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to like avoid each other the whole time that they're skiing with friends because you find

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out that apparently they had some failed romance the year before. And then finally at the end

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of the music video, they're able to hug and be friends again, and then they finish off

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the music video. But I swear they're probably still cursing under their breath whenever they

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walk away. And that's the thing though, is that oftentimes we end up seeing in the midst

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of peace and calm is that oftentimes under the surface, we still end up finding out

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that there is turmoil and strife. And the thing is, is that as much as it would be lovely

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if these were just limited to music videos and silly things that we enjoy, at the same

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time, we end up discovering that this happens in real life as well. The year is 1914. The

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world had been at war for a few months and many of the soldiers were tired of the fighting.

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During the lulls in the fighting, they would sometimes yell across to each other news of

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the day and songs to one another across enemy lines. And many in the German army had spent

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time in England, so they actually knew English and were able to share what had happened with

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their recent favorite sports teams. And it was soon time for Christmas. And the soldiers

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wanted to celebrate. Many soldiers throughout Europe ended up putting down their weapons,

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walking through the no man's land to eat, drink and sing with people who had just been

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trying to kill them. They spent time exchanging souvenirs, even while they also exchanged prisoners

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and bodies. The truth is that the people wanted to live and let live. But sadly, it wouldn't

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fly for very long. The following year, there were specific orders from people forbidding

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the soldiers from having any level of a truce, even to enjoy Christmas. And the war waged

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on for four years, being called the greatest of all wars. But as much as there was a desire

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for peace, the underlying issues were still there, even to the point where the war to

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end all wars would start again two decades later. There have been various times whenever

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peace has been on the surface, but it's just covering a hurt and frustration that has been

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under the surface and has led to warfare in the past. In our gospel passage, there is

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a background of what is called the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. It was the idea that throughout

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the Roman Empire, they made sure that there was peace everywhere, only at the point of

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a spear to make sure that no one caused any issues, including the Jewish people. There

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are a few characters you need to make sure that you are aware of Tiberius Caesar in our

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passage, the second Roman Emperor. He reigned during a pivotal period of Christianity from

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14 to 37 AD, including the ministry of Christ Jesus, as well as his crucifixion. He was

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born in 42 BC, and the only reason he became emperor was because his mother had divorced

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his father to marry Octavian, who would become Emperor Augustus. When he died in 1814, Tiberius

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reluctantly ascended to the throne. Under his reign, there was a substantial degree

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of stability and order that everyone was expected to maintain. Pontius Pilate, he was the Roman

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governor of Judea, and he was under the authority of Tiberius, and Tiberius maintaining stability

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across the empire, chose Pilate probably because he saw him as capable of maintaining the volatile

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region of Judea, this place that had been known as rebelling against its overseers. Though

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Pilate was marked by political and social challenges, he was fraught with difficulties, including

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the complexities of ruling over Judea, and his interactions with the people were oftentimes

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tense and heavy-handed in quelling dissent. These actions aggravated local unrest, and

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the harsh measures were required to maintain the peace. Even Pilate's later actions could

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be viewed as an attempt to navigate this balance as he allowed Christ Jesus to be crucified.

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You also need to know who Herod was because there are a bunch of Herods in Scripture. This

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one was Herod Antipas, oftentimes called King Herod. He was the tetrarch of Galilee, tetrarch

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meaning the ruler of one-fourth of the area, and his brother Philip was a tetrarch, and

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Lasanius was a tetrarch, and the king wasn't necessarily king of everything, but it was

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a term of politeness or even a local custom. But something you might also be confused about

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is who the high priest was. Anas and Caiaphas are two high priests that are mentioned, but

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how could you have two high priests at the same time? In that period of history, high

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priests were installed and removed not by the people, but by Roman rulers. Anas was

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high priest by Quirinius, the governor of Syria from 7 to 15 AD. While it's not recorded

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in Scripture, the tradition is that the Romans deposed Anas because they couldn't control

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him well enough, and they put his son-in-law Caiaphas in the same place. So while Caiaphas

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was the official high priest, when Jesus was ministering, he was a Sadducee over the Sanhedrin,

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Anas was still seen as high priest by many of the people. So he held significant sway,

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and when Jesus was arrested, he was first brought to Anas before he was brought to Caiaphas.

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See as you can see, the world in which we see the story of Jesus, it may have looked

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peaceful on the surface, but it was filled with unease and turmoil underneath, ripped

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tides that are deceptively calm on the surface, but underneath can sweep you away if you're

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not careful. Peace where people are forced to follow what's expected is not really peace.

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It just means that people are better at hiding the things that are most concerning. With

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all these manipulations that were happening, there were some people who just could not

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hide the issues any longer, and John the Baptist was one of those. John the Baptist was not

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about hiding anything. He was there to drive the point home for all the people. He was

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there to proclaim and prepare the way of the Lord, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness

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of sins. Here's the thing about that is that you have to actually be willing to admit that

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you need forgiveness in the first place. And not everybody was willing or ready to deal

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with that. That's the thing about this is that preparing the way of the Lord, making

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his path straight, the mountains are made low and the valleys are filled. This isn't

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because mountains and valleys are terrible things. I've had a chance to see plenty of

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mountains and plenty of valleys. The first time I actually went out to California and

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I saw giant mountains covered in snow and valleys deeper than I could imagine, and I

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was flocking all over the bus looking around in my mid-twenties acting like a child of

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five. They are beautiful. They are gorgeous. But it's not the circumstances that were the

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issue. It was that we need to make sure that nothing can come between us and the Lord.

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It's more like there is no mountain high enough. There ain't no river wide enough. There

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ain't no valley deep enough to keep me from getting to you, babe. See, in reality, John

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was there for to speak to the crowds. But what does he come out with? Well, apparently

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he's going to make friends and influence people. You brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee

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the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance and the trees that don't bear

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good fruit will be cut down. See, people were there with John, not necessarily because they

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actually wanted to learn anything, but because it was almost like some fancy event to happen.

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To make sure that everybody had a chance to celebrate. I'm sure we've never known as time

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or a season where people went to church just because it was the thing to do and everything

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was pretty, right? As we look around and we wonder how many people will be coming for

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their twice a year church appearance in the next few weeks. But imagine that there were

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an apple tree in your backyard and that every time it's supposed to bud and grow apples

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that instead the apples come out dry, wrinkled brown and pulpy. And after several years,

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you're like, you know, it's silly to have an apple tree that never has good fruit. So

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you decide you're going to fix it. But how do you end up fixing it? Do you end up up

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rooting that tree and putting in a good one? Oh, no, you go out there with two bushels

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of red delicious apples and a staple gun. And you start stapling the apples to each

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of the branches and you look out and you say, look, I fixed my apple tree. Isn't it beautiful?

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Only to realize, have you actually done anything to that tree? Because those apples are not

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connected to the roots of that tree. They are not actually growing from anything within

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that tree itself. But isn't that the same thing that we oftentimes do with the sin in

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our hearts? Is that we'd rather make sure that we look really good on the surface and

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we behave the way we're supposed to? But then somehow, whether we like it or not, those

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bad apples still come back out and haven't been dealt with. Was this the dilemma that

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John was looking at? Were the people going to actually change? Imagine he goes up to

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them and says, if you've got two tunics, share with those who have none and whoever has food

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do the same. But let's get deeper. The tax collectors of the time don't collect more

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than you're authorized to do so. No, this is not an attempt at attacking the accountants

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in the IRS of the crowd. At the time, that genuinely was an issue that would happen

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with tax collectors in that time period. Or even more, the soldiers who would come along

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and to be able to say, stop extorting money from anyone by threats and false accusations.

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Be content with your wages. Could you imagine that? Going up to people and just telling

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them exactly what it is that they've done and not hiding it. Could you imagine? Have

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you had people in your life ask you questions that you don't actually really want answered,

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right? You come up and you don't really want to actually hear it. Am I making life too

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difficult for myself? Why do people push me away or ignore me? Do these pants make my

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butt look big? There are some questions that people don't really want the answers to in

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all honesty. Why? Because they're not actually ready for it. Sometimes we ask questions because

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we want a specific answer, or we just want to hear that we still matter. We're not so

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terrible. We want to find a sense of peace that we're not actually willing to work for

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or respond in a way to make sure that we keep the peace. Maybe the answer really is you're

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a hoarder. Maybe the answer really is you're manipulating laws to take from people who

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are truly in need. Maybe the answer is the pants really do make your butt look big. Apparently

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this all does that to me. So I'm not turning around. But are we really looking for something

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simple that brings a sense of peace? Or are we actually willing to do something to work

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for change for true transformation that is needed to bring actual peace through actual

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change? The sociologist and author, Brene Brown put it this way, courage starts with

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showing up and letting ourselves be seen. It's not just the good parts. It's the struggles

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as well. But even more than that doesn't stop with the sense of you need to change. See,

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that's the thing about this. John the Baptist wasn't the answer. He was just identifying

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the problem. We still need the grace to deal with what is underneath without falling into

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despair. It's more about who is with us than what we do. Because what we do is just a reflection

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of what's happening inside. What changes inside is only because of the Messiah who is with

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us. It's about the true Messiah who changes us and brings us actual peace. See, we're

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in a world where people think that solutions are about simple phrases and simple decisions.

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But peace only comes through the struggle, the struggle that looks at the actual issues

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that we're facing, that admits that we are all in need of forgiveness and is willing

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to admit that we need to change. Without that, all we keep doing is trying to staple good

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apples onto a bad tree. See, it isn't peace that comes from a simple solution. We're just

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trying to get people to calm down and be nice about things. We already went through Thanksgiving.

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We're already done with just being nice. We have to be honest with what's actually happening

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inside and be willing to let go of what's actually pulled us into the mire. We must,

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in actuality, lose our peace to find actual peace. We oftentimes have to lose our peace

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to find actual peace. See, that's the thing about this. The Messiah doesn't come and

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make everything peaceful. The Messiah is not here to somehow make everything calm and beautiful

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and bright. The Messiah is here to look exactly where you are. See what's actually happening

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inside of you and to say, I see you and I know you and I love you because that's the

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thing about the Messiah is that he doesn't bring peace in the midst of the calm. He brings

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peace by going to the cross. He brings peace by bringing grace. That's the thing about

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what we see this season. This is not a season where we just look to the calm and hope that

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we can somehow manage through the cold and the dark, but rather is that this is the time

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to pause and to look and to say, I know that I need to change. But it's not going to be

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easy. We're not going to have easy hallmark moments where we look and just say, now everything

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is done. We're going to come to the new year and we're still going to have struggles and

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issues and things we're going to have to face. But that is still the path that we are expected

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to follow because the path of grace is not one of ease and calm. The path of grace is

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one of honesty and truth. So wherever you may be at this time, I cannot promise you

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that Jesus will bring you calm or bring you everything of ease, but I can promise you

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that he has brought you salvation because of his death and his resurrection. So whatever

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path that may bring you on, it will truly bring you to a place of peace because of forgiveness

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and mercy and the grace to change and become who God has called us to be and to know that

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wherever we may find ourselves, no matter how much struggle there may be, there will

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always be grace for tomorrow. Thanks be to God.