by Robert J. Cole
I suppose that if any one of us found out that someone important or famous or well respected was coming to our house we’d give it an extra special cleaning. We’d dust where we don’t usually dust. We’d vacuum in those spots we tend to miss. We’d make sure the coat closet was neat and everything was clean and orderly. Well, we’re not that much different from the people way back in the time of Jesus. If they found out someone really important, like a King, was coming to visit their village, if they had time, they’d even work on the street to make his arrival that much more pleasant. They’d widen and straighten and level the road on which he would enter the town.
That’s the image that John the Baptist used in today’s Gospel. Speaking about himself, John said he had come to make straight the way of the Lord because his role was to announce the coming of the King. The long awaited Messiah was standing in the wings, ready to come on stage and begin the work of redeeming the world.
In this Gospel, I was especially struck by the last verse which said, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” That’s what Jesus did. He made it possible for all flesh, all people, to see God and what God would do for us. Jesus came to make God visible. He made salvation visible. He painted a picture of a redeeming, saving God, so that all people could see Him and know what He is like.
That’s how salvation ought to be -- taken out of the abstract and made concrete. I like the idea of making salvation visible because it’s something that we all can do. Not everyone can preach sermons or deliver lectures but anyone can make salvation visible. We can paint a picture of it with our own lives.
What does salvation really mean? When a person says, “I’ve been saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ”, what does that mean? The New Testament doesn't make it something vague and abstract but something clear and concrete. It talks about specific qualities of life. Jesus said, “By this shall all people know that you are my followers, that you love one another.” The Acts of the Apostles says, “When the people saw the courage of the disciples, they recognized them as having been with Jesus.” Paul wrote to the Galatians, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.”
These are the things that salvation means -- having Jesus Christ in your life producing those traits of character. You may not be able to preach about them but you can do something much better. You can practice them. You can live in such a way that salvation becomes visible in your life. People can look at you and they can see love and courage and patience and kindness and self-control. These are the things that salvation really means, not something mystical and magic, but something real and moral. And everyone can paint a picture of those things with his or her own words and deeds.
Another thing about a visible salvation is that everyone can understand it. There are many mysteries and complexities to our Christian faith. Much of it isn’t easy to explain or understand. How did sin become a part of God’s creation? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do children suffer?
Those are tough questions and we may never have the answers in this life. But the doctrine of salvation becomes understandable when it becomes visible. There's no difficulty with understanding Christianity when it’s illustrated. When you see love in action, you may not be able to explain it, but you know what it is. If you’ve ever dealt with some business that could have charged you more than they did but instead they cut you a break or showed you some consideration, you may not be able to explain it but you recognize honesty and compassion when you see it.
I’m sure each of us has had or has known teachers who have cared for their students to an extra degree. They give additional time to a pupil who's having difficulty. They come early or stay late and expect no extra pay. No one pins any ribbons on them. That’s not why they do it. They’re just serious about their work and care about their students. You may not be able to explain that but you know dedication when you see it.
These are the kinds of things that salvation is all about. It has to do with character and quality of life. And the greatest need of the Church today is for that kind of preaching. People who are real and honest and loving and kind make salvation visible and a visible salvation is the easiest kind to understand. We need to preach that our lives. We need to be preachers. All of us.
And what's most important is that a visible salvation is the most difficult to deny. What possible argument can there be against a life changed by the grace of God? One picture is worth a thousand words. One person in whose life Christ is real is worth a thousand arguments.
There's a story told about a priest who was sent to a parish in a mining town in West Virginia. There he met a coal miner who had only recently joined the Church. Up until a few months before that, his life had been in total disarray. He had pawned his furniture to buy liquor, beat his wife and neglected his children. Then he met Christ and, somehow, all of that was changed. When the priest asked him how he managed to live a Christian way of life among coal miners who can be a pretty rough group, he said, “Well, they tease me. They rib me. They ask me questions about religion that I can’t answer. Just yesterday they wanted to know if I believe that old story about Jesus turning water into wine. So I just told them that I’m a simple fella. I don’t know anything about miracles. All I know is that at my house, He turned whisky into furniture and hatred into love. That’s a miracle enough for me.” Well, what can you say to that? It’s a powerful answer. There is no argument against a visible salvation. A life that’s been changed by the power of God is the most beautiful and convincing sermon in the world.
We’re moving into the second week of Advent. We’re that much closer to the great celebration of the coming of Christ. Through his life, Jesus made God visible for all to see. Now we're faced with the challenge of making Christ so real that people can see Him through us. The Incarnation, the act of God becoming flesh and blood, is not just something that happened to Jesus. It’s supposed to be something that happens to you and to me. And there can be no other way to really prepare for Christmas than by trying to do exactly that.