"Big Horn Mountains Wilderness" by mypubliclands is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
The Lenten writing is far more effort and work than I anticipated. I’m also not getting up as early as I should. I’ve said that in multiple formats, multiple times. I should stop. It’s an easy writing prompt that gets the page moving, though, as it did today.
The scripture for the sermon from Sunday comes from Matthew chapter three, verses one through twelve.
1Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
2“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”3For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’ ”
4Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
5Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan;
6and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8“Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;
9and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
10“The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matthew 3:1–12 (NASB95)
The sermon title was Preparing the Way. The next installment in the Tableau of Faith series. Revered Kristin Lee delivered the sermon. This sermon added a pitcher of water to the altar along with the other elements from previous messages.
As I read along the scripture, a question came to mind. Is this passage a warning or a message of hope? Could it be both?
Pastor Lee suggested this is an odd time for this scripture to be presented. She said it is usually read during Advent rather than Lent. I can see both Advent and Lent, but I get her point. John the Baptist heralded the coming of Christ much the same as we await His arrival in Advent. She posed another question too.
How do we each respond to “prepare ye the way of the Lord?”
I contend the answer is given in the passage in verse eight, “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Bear fruit. What kind of fruit? That’s up to each of us, our gifts, and the path God has laid out for us.
The funny thing was that when Pastor Lee asked her question in the middle of the message, her Apple watch went off. Siri said, “here’s what I found.” She shut off the watch before it said anything else, but I wondered what the artificial intelligence found and how it might differ from what each of us might find?
God is always there, even when I think He isn’t. There is hope in that. It means He always walks beside me, accompanying me even when I don’t think He is or can’t see Him.
She took the pitcher of the water off the altar and began discussing baptism. As she talked about baptism, she filled the font. She mentioned verse three, referencing Isaiah 40:3, predicting the “voice in the wilderness.” She highlighted an interesting difference. Here’s the Matthew passage again, followed by the Isaiah passage.
3For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’ ”
Matthew 3:3 (NASB95)
3A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
Isaiah 40:3 (NASB95)
3For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Matthew 3:3 (KJV 1900)
3The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isaiah 40:3 (KJV 1900)
Her point was a comma placement in her translation, which, unfortunately, my notes didn’t capture if she said it. I’m not sure she did. However, I don’t see any difference between the NASB and KJV, so I’ll have to run with this. Her point was that there is a difference between John being in the wilderness and the way of the Lord is in the wilderness. The question that came to my mind was, what is the difference between the New Testament use of the word “Wilderness” versus the Old Testament use of the word? Let’s look at the Greek verse the Hebrew on this to see if there’s a difference.
Greek Strong’s Number: 2048
Greek Word: ἔρημος
Transliteration: erēmos
Phonetic Pronunciation: er’-ay-mos
Root: of uncertain affinity
Cross Reference: TDNT - 2:657,255
Part of Speech: adjective
Vine’s Words: Desert, Desolate, Desolation, Wilderness
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
wilderness 32
desert 13
desolate 4
solitary 1
[Total Count: 50]
of uncertain affinity; lonesome, i.e. (by implication) waste (usually as a noun, <G5561> (chora) being implied):- desert, desolate, solitary, wilderness.
James Strong, “Ἔρημος,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
Hebrew Strong’s Number: 4057
Hebrew Word: מִדְבָּר
Transliteration: midbār
Phonetic Pronunciation: mid-bawr’
Root: from <H1696> in the sense of driving
Cross Reference: TWOT - 399k, 399L
Part of Speech: n m
Vine’s Words: None
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
wilderness 255
desert 13
south 1
speech 1
wilderness + <H776> 1
[Total Count: 271]
from <H1696> (dabar) in the sense of driving; a pasture (i.e. open field, whither cattle are driven); by implication a desert; also speech (including its organs):- desert, south, speech, wilderness.
James Strong, “מִדְבָּר,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
The differences seem to be “lonesome” in the New Testament and the idea that it is an area where cattle are driven, speech, or internal organs in the Old Testament. Both consider using the word to indicate a wilderness or deserted area. How does that relate to the question of preparing the way of the Lord?
We all feel alone and by ourselves in life at times. As followers of Christ, we never are. We forget that. We walk with a Risen Lord, a Savior of a God who loves us. We need to remember that, and we need to help others remember that too. We are a cloud of witnesses; sometimes, we need to surround each other to remind each other we are not alone.
Pastor Lee closed with an invitation for the congregation to come up, dip their fingers in the waters of the font, and remember our own baptism.