Howdy. Now I've got some terrible news for y'all. Alright. I know, I know. Can you believe it? Not everybody in the world loves Last Christmas by Wham.
I know, I know. How dare they? I mean, Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away. This year to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special.
How could somebody not love that song all the time? There are even groups that deliberately try to avoid it in the stores and they have to like confess to each other when they failed and they heard it.
And I'm like, y'all, I'm trying to play it the first chance I get. Okay. It's like, you see poor George Michael over there. He's in the video and he goes along to hang out with friends and the woman who broke his heart last year and they have to spend that time together.
Oh, it's so heartbreaking, but you know, they're, they're finally able to, to come to some peace with each other and they give each other a hug and they finally walk away for the sake of their friends and everything else.
I'm pretty sure deep down inside, he's like, if I could get that brooch back that I gave her, I could probably pawn it for half that price. That would probably be good.
Oh, poor George Michael, but somehow I think he made it through. But the thing with this is that oftentimes whenever we see music and celebration and everything, we can oftentimes end up seeing a sense of peace or the attempt at peace,
covering over a warfare that may be happening underneath. Let me paint you a picture. The year was 1914.
The world had been at war for a few months. This was the great war, the war that was supposed to end all wars. Many of the soldiers, though, they were tired of the fighting.
They didn't want to be there. So many of these people that they did not know why they were even fighting them in the first place.
During lulls in the fighting, they would sometimes even yell across to the enemy across the lines to give them news or sometimes sing songs with each other.
Even that there were people in the German army who knew English because they'd spent time in England.
And there were even times where they were yelling across sports scores to let them know about what had happened with their favorite team.
And it was soon time for Christmas. And the soldiers wanted to celebrate. And so many of them in many places put down their weapons.
And they walked through the no man's land in between their trenches to eat, drink and sing with people that they had just been trying to kill who were trying to kill them in return.
They spent time exchanging souvenirs, even as they were exchanging prisoners and bodies.
The people themselves who were in that fight, they wanted to live and to let live and to just go back to life together.
But that wasn't going to fly for very long.
Before the following year, when Christmas came again, there were specific orders forbidding all of the soldiers from ever calling a truce ever again.
And the war had waged on for four more years with so much death and so much destruction.
See, as much as there was a desire for peace, the issues that were still under the surface, they hadn't gone away.
Even to the point where the war to end all wars restarted again two decades later, even worse.
There have been many times in the history of the world where peace has just been on the surface and underneath has been hurt and frustration.
That is what we see with what is called the pox romana, the peace of Rome.
That is the setting that we see when we come to Luke 3.
It was the idea that everyone and everything in the Roman Empire had to be kept in line.
They had to make sure that they were following what was expected, including the Jews at the point of a spear.
That they were meant to all keep the peace or else.
That was what was understood at that time as the peace of Rome.
Let me make sure I at least let you know who some of the characters are in this story by the way.
Tiberius Caesar, he was a second Roman emperor.
He reigned at the same time during 14 to 37 AD.
That was when Jesus was doing his ministry and went to the cross.
He had only ended up becoming the emperor because his mother had divorced his father to marry Octavian, who later became emperor Augustus.
When he died in 14 AD, Tiberius reluctantly ascended to the throne.
Tiberius was actually known for keeping a lot of stability and administrative order in that land.
How did he do that?
He had people like Pontius Pilate.
The Roman governor of Judea, he operated under the authority of Tiberius.
Maintaining stability across the empire is probably why he wanted Pilate there.
He perceived that Pilate had the capability to manage a volatile region like Judea.
A place where people had wanted to rebel and had done so in the past against whoever was occupying them.
They wanted to make sure that they were able to overcome the political and social challenges that Pilate faced at the time.
His governance was fraught with difficulties.
The complexities of Roman rule in Judea, he was constantly having tense and frustrating interactions with the people.
There were records that he was heavy handed and quelled any dissent that happened in his place.
He was asserting Roman authority, but how?
By continuing to suppress the people, but every time it happened, there was still unrest.
His actions would later end up making an appearance when we see Jesus going to the cross.
By the way, you may be wondering about the person Herod in this text.
There are a bunch of people that come up whose name was Herod.
This is Herod Antipas.
Herod Antipas was called King Herod.
He was a tetrarch.
His brother Philip was a tetrarch.
Lesanias was a tetrarch.
A tetrarch was somebody who oversaw one fourth of the empire, tetrarch.
He was a ruler over this main part of the Roman empire.
They didn't call him king because that was his official title.
They did it because it was polite and because people in Judea were used to calling somebody their king.
But then you may be wondering, why did it say that there are two high priests, Anas and Caiaphas?
How can two people both be the high priest?
Well, it turns out that the high priests were actually installed by the Roman rulers.
So Anas, he was made the high priest by Quirinius in 7 AD, but then in 15 AD, he got taken out of that role.
Why? Because the Roman government couldn't keep him under control enough.
So they ended up putting his son-in-law, Caiaphas, into the role.
But the thing is that the people themselves still saw Anas as being their high priest.
So when Jesus ended up being arrested, they took him first to Anas before he went to Caiaphas.
Because Caiaphas may have been the official one, but Anas was still the high priest in the eyes of the people.
As you can see, the world in which we see the story of Jesus, it might have been peaceful on the surface,
but it was filled with unease and turmoil underneath, like a rip current where you look out at the sea
and you end up seeing a lot of calm in one area, but if you were to get into it, it could sweep you out into the ocean.
Even so, the currents of what was happening at the time were beginning to bubble up.
The peace there, it was where people were forced to follow what was expected. That wasn't true peace.
It just means that people were getting better at hiding the things that concerned them most.
See, that's the thing is that all of the manipulations that were happening,
all of these things that were going up throughout the area though, not everyone was okay with that.
And not everyone just sat down and abided by the status quo.
And that's where we end up seeing John the Baptist.
He was tired of letting things be hidden. He was not about that.
He was there to drive the point home for the people, is that he was there to baptize people to repentance.
They needed to repent. They needed to be forgiven because of the things that he saw them doing constantly.
But the thing is, is that in order to get to that point, you have to be willing to admit that you need forgiveness in the first place.
And not everybody was ready and willing to deal with that just yet.
Prepare the way of the Lord. John the Baptist was there.
And he says to make his path straight, you know, every mountain would be made low, every valley would be filled, all of these things that were happening.
And yet the thing is, is that it's not because mountains and valleys are these terrible things. I think they're rather pretty.
I was visiting in California and for the first time, and I end up looking out from the bus and saw mountains covered in snow and valleys.
And I was like running around like a five-year-old child, even though I was in my mid-twenties.
It was amazing. It was gorgeous. It was beautiful.
But the thing about it is that the reason why it came up is because we need to make sure that nothing gets between us and God.
It's actually more like there ain't no mountain high enough. There ain't no valley low enough.
There ain't no river wide enough, baby, to keep me from getting to you, babe.
That's really more what John the Baptist was saying, but they didn't have Motown back then, so he was just working with what he had.
The thing with it, though, is that you're supposed to make sure that nothing keeps you from God himself.
And that's what John the Baptist was trying to get across.
But you know, people that were out there, they weren't necessarily ready to hear what he had to say.
Now, he decided to come out there and make friends and influence people and started out with,
you brood of vipers. Really great way to start a conversation.
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bare fruits in keeping with repentance, and the axe will be at the foot of the tree.
The thing is, is that people that were there, many of them who came to see John,
they weren't really there because they were ready to change.
They just wanted to see what there was to see.
Sort of like how sometimes people like to find their way to church twice a year because things are kind of interesting,
and hey, let's go check it out.
I'm sure we've never had that happen in our lives before.
But just like how oftentimes people may be coming to check things out for Christmas and later on for Easter,
they were coming over there to see who this guy was dressed up like a madman and living out in the middle of nowhere.
But the thing is, is that not everybody was necessarily ready to hear what he had to say.
The fruit of the tree must be keeping in repentance because every tree that does not bear good fruit
is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Could you imagine that you have a tree and everything it produces is these ugly, wrinkly, dry, brown, pulpy apples?
And you look at it and you're like, you know what?
I need to deal with this. I need to fix this.
But do you dig up the tree and plant a new one in its place?
Oh, no.
You end up coming out there with two bushels of red delicious apples and a staple gun.
And you take the apples and you staple them to all the branches.
You make sure that that tree is covered in all these nice, beautiful apples.
You're like, ta-da! I have a wonderful tree now.
Is that real?
Have you actually fixed the issue?
Or have you just tried to cover it up because what's going to happen the next time that tree is bearing fruit?
Is anything good going to come from it?
Absolutely not.
Because the tree still has the same issues.
And that was the problem with the people.
They wanted to look good.
They wanted to have the appearance of everything being in place,
but they weren't ready to deal with what was happening inside.
And that's the thing about it is that the change could not just be cosmetic.
The fruit stapling had to come to an end.
This was the dilemma for John, where the people actually going to change.
Some of the crowds were saying, what should we do?
If you've got two tunics, you need to be willing to share one with somebody who needs it.
And the same thing with your food.
Who likes to hear that they need to give stuff away?
Come on.
Or even the tax collectors at the time.
What should we do?
How are we different?
Well, stop collecting more than what you're authorized to do.
The tax collectors back then were not the same as accountants in the IRS.
These were actually people who could go in and take as much as they wanted from you and write it down.
Or the soldiers at the time stopped exhorting the wages from other people
with threats and false accusations.
Be satisfied with your salary.
Do you know the times when you had somebody in your life that's asked you a question
but you don't really want to hear the answer to it?
It's like, well, let me ask you a really difficult question.
Oh boy, what are you going to ask?
Am I making my life more difficult than it really needs to be?
Why is it that people sometimes push me away or ignore me at different times?
Do these pants make my butt look big?
There are some questions that you just should not give an actual answer to.
Just do not.
Why?
Because sometimes people are not ready for the answer.
They don't want to actually hear it.
Sometimes we just ask questions just because we want to hear an answer that we're expecting
or maybe we just want to hear that we're not so bad.
We just want to get a sense of peace.
We're not really willing to work for it or actually deal with things.
Because maybe the answer sometimes is you're a hoarder.
You've got way too much junk in your place.
Maybe the answer is you're manipulating the system and the laws around you to get what you don't deserve
and you're not willing to admit it.
Maybe the answer is those pants do make your butt look big.
Get different pants.
Now, there are other times, and you know, I'm trying to work on the squats,
but I mean, that's only doing so much.
But the thing with it is that oftentimes instead of looking for actual peace,
sometimes we just want a simple answer.
We want something simple that gives us a sense of peace.
But are we willing to actually do the work of change and real transformation
to bring real peace and real change?
As a sociologist and author, Brene Brown has said,
courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.
It's not just for the good parts.
It's also for the parts that we struggle with.
Because that's the thing is that sometimes we have to lose our peace to find true peace.
See, the thing is, is that it didn't stop with what John the Baptist was saying and doing.
See, the thing is, is that John the Baptist, he wasn't the answer.
John the Baptist was just the one to identify the problem.
John the Baptist was to let people know what they needed because the people still needed grace.
We still need grace.
Grace to deal with what's happening underneath.
Grace to avoid falling into despair.
It's more about who God is with us than what we're trying to do.
That's the thing with this is that we're not meant to just stick with looking at the problem.
We're in a world where people oftentimes think that the solutions around us are about simple answers,
simple phrases, simple decisions.
It's done. It's easy. We can move on.
But peace only comes through struggle.
Peace only comes with the struggle to see the real issues that we're facing.
To be willing to admit that we need forgiveness in the first place.
The point was not for those people with John the Baptist to be able to say,
good, I've got it figured out. I can go back to my life.
The point was for them to see you need forgiveness.
Are you willing to admit that?
And do you know you need to change?
Because it isn't peace that comes from the simple solutions or just getting people to calm down and be nice.
We already got through Thanksgiving, y'all. We're done with the niceties.
It's about being honest with what's actually happening.
What's going on inside and being willing to let go of what pulled us down in the first place.
Because sometimes we have to lose our peace to truly find it.
The thing is, is that Jesus coming into the world is not meant to make everything peaceful.
Jesus is not here to just somehow make everything smooth and calm and everything looks nice.
Jesus is here to bring a sword.
Jesus is here to let that sword kill him instead.
And that's the thing that we end up finding here is that the path to peace is not making things calm.
The path to peace is grace.
The grace that we need.
The grace that we embrace because we know we needed it in the first place.
The grace to give to others, to be able to say, you need forgiveness because I know I needed it too.
The grace to be able to say that we need to change.
Because that's what we end up facing today in our lives and in the lives of the world around us.
We're coming up to a new year.
Do you really want that year to be the same that it was this year?
Or is it time to let go, let God change you for where he calls you to be?
I don't know right now what it may be that you're wishing would just calm down what you wished looked better.
But what I can tell you is that the true change that you're looking for is going to come by facing it head on.
And by being willing to admit that you cannot do it on your own.
And that we all need a Savior who has not only forgiven us,
but has also moved us by his spirit so that we become the change that the world is needing as well.
So wherever you may find yourself today, and whatever it is that you're wishing would be just a little bit more peaceful and a little bit more calm.
Today, may we remember that the only path to true peace comes from what Christ has done for us.
And what he is doing through us now and always by his spirit.
May we celebrate that this season and beyond.
Thanks be to God.