PREPARATION
Malachi 3: 1-4; Luke 3: 1-6
Sometimes our journeys demand
preparation. If you traveled any
distance over Thanksgiving, or perhaps last summer, you had a better trip if
you prepared. If you have taken a recent
cruise you found out that not only do you need to pack the different types of
clothing you’ll want, and your different medications and toiletries, you will also
need your passport. You will need that for sure or you’ll stay in the terminal
as your ship sails. And these days the name under which you have booked your
cruise needs to be the name on your passport exactly. It pays to prepare.
If you are flying it is even worse.
You’ll need to plan how to pack, perhaps even figure what your suitcase will
weigh, or if you can get along without a suitcase. You’ll also need to have
your toiletries in an airline regulation zip lock bag or you’ll take the chance
of confiscation. In addition, don’t
think you can bring a half-full big toothpaste tube or a big bottle of shampoo
with a small amount inside: you will be searched for sure! When I was coming back from our last
Life has been called a journey and
indeed it is. Some people try making it
through life without preparation, and like a car without a service inspection,
there will be problems on life’s highway ahead. Physically, although a few
people have proudly made it through their lives with no regular doctor visits,
having annual physicals can catch problems when they are small. Our Body, Mind,
and Soul health ministry seeks to help people be proactive with their health
and to prepare for any medical needs. Emotionally, due to the stigma associated
with mental illness that has existed to this day, some people will not visit a
psychologist or even a pastoral counselor for fear that people will think they
are emotionally sick. Some of the most fruitful hours that I have spent, and
that many others have told me about, have been talking out issues with a person
trained in helping people make a good life better or a broken life to start
healing. It is so much better to
proactively deal with small problems before they balloon into huge ones.
Spiritually, the Bible records a
history of sin-sick-souls. They are still around. Prophets warned people that
there would be consequences for their riotous living. There were; but God wants to pull us back on
the right road before we fall off
into a ditch. One of the great prophets was Malachi; like some doctors, he
didn’t have much of a bedside manner.
His name simply meant “My Messenger” and little is known about him
except his words. He starts out in an innocuous fashion: “I will send my
messenger to prepare the way before me.”
Those words described the way a king would enter a city: he would sent a
messenger ahead so that a proper welcome could be prepared. Malachi says the messenger is coming and then he says
that the Lord himself will come after the messenger. Although it is hundreds of
years before John the Baptist appeared preaching repentance and pointing others
to the Christ, Malachi, some say, certainly sounds like he is describing John
and Jesus! But then he describes them in
industrial terms: “Who can endure his coming? He is like a refiner’s fire and
like the strongest cleaners used to make clothes clean. (He described a
professional who was a Biblical dry cleaner who used a chemical called
“fuller’s soap.”) People who purified silver and gold must have also had the
color drain from their faces: the heat required to separate the pure from the
dirt was scorching. That’s why we
need to prepare? This will not be an
easy journey, as in days gone by, when travel by air or train or ship did not
have so many regulations! Our journey through our life’s end and beyond takes
preparation: preparation for the journey, preparation for the destination, and
preparation for the check point. It’s not something that can be put off. John
the Baptism joined the prophet’s chorus and urged change as well. And preachers
from pulpits across the land have done the same to this day. Prepare; as for a
hurricane, prepare. As for a trip, prepare. As for the meeting with Jesus,
prepare. It is vital work.
Friday night Doug Harris’s father
died; we will pray for him and his family today. We talked at length that
night. He has changed jobs during this recession and has become a funeral
director and pre-need counselor. He said: “If you plan your funeral ahead of time, the cost is 40% less than if your loved one comes in when you die. If you plan your
funeral, I don’t have to watch children get into either shouting or pushing
matches with their brothers or sisters over burial choices. If you plan, not only
will you have peace, you will give your children the greater chance to have
peace at such a stressful time.” I listened to what he said and I share it with
you. What other ways might you and I be better prepared for what is ahead? In
our spiritual lives, we can do what
Isaiah once said and John repeated: We can
make the rough places in our lives smoother. What will it take to do just one
thing differently this Christmas season? We can
make what was crooked honest and straight again. Of what do we need to repent to make a good
start on cleaning up a dusty corner of our lives? And with whom can we rebuild
a relationship instead of letting it stay broken? There are so many ways we can
prepare. Of course, no one is making
you prepare. But according to John 14, even Jesus told his followers that he
was going to prepare a place for
them. I wonder what happens to those who, over the years and even today, turned
a deaf ear to the words of Malachi, Isaiah, John the Baptist … and Jesus?
Jeffrey A. Sumner