B Advent 2. 2009                                                         Christ Church , York     

More than two thousand, two hundred years ago, a messenger, fleet of foot and with pounding heart, raced over 26 miles, all the way from the plains of Marathon to the city of Athens . The messenger ran with the news that the Greeks had defeated the invading Persians and such good news could not wait. So the messenger ran and ran; he ran with all his heart and soul to bring to the people the good news of their victory. As a child I was pretty sick and spent much time confined to my bed. But one of the sisters in the orphanage in which I lived had a passion for the old stories of the Greek and Roman heroes and she shared that passion with me. Lying there in my bed, I read the stories of kings and gods, soldiers and heroes, those who were famous and those who were infamous. But of all these stories, nothing grabbed my attention like the story of this lone messenger engaged in his lonely quest, a man driven simply by the desire to share his good news with others.

A messenger! A simple, unknown messenger! Whether it was the pure unselfishness of his act which drew me in; whether it was the incredible feeling of being driven to succeed; whether it was that he could run free while I lay confined to my bed, this story of a simple messenger inspired me more than any story of king or hero. Yet like so many a messenger before and after him, he was really just a small bit player in the larger events of life. In the whole span of a nation’s history, the messengers are not central to the whole story, though sometimes, as in the case of Paul Revere, they do play an important role. And in our modern world, filled as it is with faxes, emails and cell phones, messengers play an even smaller role than ever before. But the messengers are not central to the story for who they are but rather for the message they bring. The whole point of having a messenger was to bring a message. In those days if no messenger came you had no contact with the world beyond your city or village. If no messengers came there would be no announcements of great and glorious and wonderful events. If no messenger came, there would be no announcement of births and deaths, there would be no messages given or sent and armies would not know when to move so that victory could be secured. Sometimes the messengers were received with great joy for the message they brought. At other times, when the message was not good, they could be killed. But without the message, no one would know that something of great importance had happened in their world and in their lives. These messengers then, these ultimate walk on parts in the great drama of history, these were the ones who set the stage for so much of the plot to follow.

Today two messengers come to center stage in order to share a message with us. Malachi, whose very name means messenger, is the first, swiftly followed by John who is called Baptist. Living centuries apart, they nevertheless bring the same message to God’s people – your king is coming, the Day of the Lord is at hand! As with most messengers, they did not come of their own accord; rather they were called and sent. John is called out of the wilderness while God speaks to Malachi saying, “See I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me.”

But with such great and important news, one would think that God could have found Himself somewhat better messengers. We don’t even know if Malachi was a real person but rather a literary device; while John seems to come almost as an afterthought following the much longer list of public officials, politicians and priests named by Luke in his gospel. Indeed if not for their message, Malachi and John may both have remained unnamed and unknown in this whole affair. And John was also more than a little strange, especially as the messenger for a king. A desert dweller, with strange dress, a bad diet and even poorer hygiene, John preached a hard word, offending many in power given that tact was not at the top of his list of personal qualities. Indeed John does not strike us as one who would likely be hired if he applied for the job of king’s messenger today. And I have to admit that, unlike that marathon messenger of old, John was not one of those who inspired me in my childhood.

But it cannot be denied that John has been chosen and sent to be a royal messenger, to prepare the way for the king. Just as hills were literally leveled and valleys raised up to make a triumphal highway for a victorious king, so John came to prepare for the advent of the king of kings. Mountains will have to be removed, hills depressed, valleys raised, the crooked made straight, rough places made smooth, all so that the king may come unhindered and in triumph. John knew that he was a messenger and that he would only play a minor role. But he knew, just as Malachi knew, that they had been sent and therefore they understood that their role was as important as that of any king’s messenger. So they spoke the message given to them and did what they could to prepare the way. The messages they spoke were not always easy to hear – being refined in the fire after all is not exactly pleasant stuff. But as messengers they knew that they spoke not for themselves but for the king. And as rough as they might appear, as unsuited for the task as they seemed, as unimportant as their role might look, they knew that they played a significant role and that in proclaiming their message they were preparing the way not just for any king but rather for the king of kings. So they spoke as they had been commanded and the way was made ready. The king came, born in a stable, bringing a new dawn to the world.

So why then is there is need for us to speak of messengers and messages this day. If the king has come in the stable, if His glorious reign has begun, what need do we have of messengers in the future? Simply because while He has already come, He will come again! We spoke of this Second Coming last week, of how Christ will yet return again in power and great glory. And if He is coming, if our king and Lord is upon us, He will need messengers to go before Him, to proclaim this good news, to speak to His people, to announce His coming. Malachi and John were the messengers for their day; you and I, all of us, are the messengers for this day. We have been entrusted with a message and whether we like it or not, feel equipped for it or not or whether like John we even look or act the part, we are the messengers of the present, called to prepare the way, not for the birth that we will soon commemorate, but rather for that great coming when the king of kings will return again.

In this Advent season we light the candles on our wreath so that we might symbolize the promises that God has made to us, to watch and wait together and to proclaim to each other and to the world that He will come again. But this message is not for us alone but rather it is to be proclaimed from this place to the whole world. Like Malachi and John we may not feel ready for this work of being a messenger but it remains our call and such a call cannot be denied or ignored. Called out from the wilderness of this world and set apart by our baptism, we are sent again into that same world to bring the message of repentance, salvation and hope. We may not see ourselves as important enough for this task; indeed our lives may seem very ordinary. But then messengers never seem important and they are not extraordinary people but rather ordinary people who accept an extraordinary responsibility.

We are called to take up our role as messenger and to speak the message we have been given to a world which is sorely in need of hearing it. For this is a world torn by strife and greed, in pain from its own immoralities, dominated by crime and disease, a world whose standards and values have been compromised for the sake of deal and a dollar, a world which in spite of its bravado, continues to live in its own fantasy, a world which has abandoned its concepts of trust, of honor, of dignity, of self sacrifice and service. This world needs to hear the message we bring – that we need not fear for God controls the world and not us; that there is a King who has come and who will come again; that something important has happened in the world and it will never be the same again; that we should not despair for the victory has been won; that there is a promise to share and life and light and hope to all of God’s new creation. That is our message to herald in word and deed and that is our work as messengers. Like that messenger of old who ran across the plains of Marathon to eagerly share the news he carried, we too are called to run with all our might to share the news we carry, the same news that Malachi and John proclaimed – that the King is coming, He is coming again! And when He does we shall see, O we shall see, the salvation of our God. Amen