John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Mark 1:4

Well, it’s that time of year to watch all of the many Christmas movies and specials, and it seems like there are more of them every year. Everyone has their favorites, and that’s true for me too. A relatively new one that I like is a movie called “The Man Who Invented Christmas.” It is a movie about Charles Dickens, and especially about how he came to write the beloved story, “A Christmas Carol.” 

Now, I love that story, and I try to read it every year around this time. I am still looking for the perfect adaptation of that great story. The Muppets comes pretty close, in my opinion, but none of them quite capture Dickens’ book. It is a story that has become almost synonymous with Christmas, and has inspired many other Christmas specials, which is how the movie got its name. 

But I can’t say that I like the title of the movie, “The Man Who Invented Christmas.” Really? Charles Dickens is the man who invented Christmas?! Huh? If anyone “invented” Christmas, you would certainly have to say it was God, wouldn’t you? But it is a strange way to describe Christmas, isn’t it? It’s not a day that was invented; it celebrates the day of our dear Lord’s birth. And if you had to name a person who invented Christmas, besides God himself, the evangelist, Luke, would get my vote over Charles Dickens. It is his record of Jesus’ birth that we hear every year on Christmas Eve. 

But there is another evangelist who definitely did not invent Christmas, and that is the author of today’s gospel reading, Mark. 

The Gospel of Mark

Mark wrote one of the four gospels included in the New Testament, of course, and it is the one that we will mostly be focusing on this year. It is the shortest gospel, which makes it an easy one to read straight through, something I definitely recommend. In fact, I remember going to an event, some years back, where a professor from a Lutheran seminary who had memorized the entire Gospel of Mark recited it in a captivating way, and it really made me appreciate this gospel even more. 

The Gospel of Mark records many aspects of Jesus’ ministry, but it has no account of his birth. This gospel begins when Jesus is already an adult. Imagine being a Christian living in the community to which Mark wrote his gospel. That would be a community without any observance of Christmas. Why? Because, for Mark, Jesus’ birth is far less important than his life and his death and his resurrection. 

Which means, when you think about it, that celebrating Christmas is not necessary to be a Christian. Now, I’m not trying to say that we should stop celebrating Christmas! That would definitely make me an Ebenezer Scrooge! But I am suggesting that before we get too caught up in our Christmas celebration, it is good to remember that there is more to being a Christian than celebrating Christmas. 

John the Baptist

Mark’s Gospel doesn’t mention Jesus’ birth, but it does mention something else that every other gospel also mentions. And that is the ministry of John the Baptist. In fact, when you look at how Mark’s gospel begins, which is today’s gospel reading, you see that it begins with John the Baptist, in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. 

Jesus’ birth might not be recorded in all four gospels, but John the Baptist’s ministry is. So the question to ask again today is: Who is this John the Baptist, and why is he so important?

Luke’s gospel tells us that John is the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Elizabeth is a relative of Mary’s, the mother of Jesus. And Zechariah was a priest serving in the Temple. John was born miraculously to Elizabeth, when she was well past her child-rearing years. 

And John eventually went out to the wilderness to fulfill a prophecy from Isaiah 40, which we heard in our first reading today: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.” He lived in the wilderness, where he wore camel’s hair for clothing, and ate locusts and wild honey.And his message was every bit as radical as his clothing and diet: He proclaimed that God’s judgment was coming soon, and the only way to prepare for it was through repentance. You must confess your sins, and change your ways, if you want to be ready for the coming of the Lord. 

Jesus himself would eventually pick up on this same theme, in his very first recorded words in Mark’s Gospel: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). 

And Jesus’ most important disciple, Peter, would also pick up this same theme, as we heard in his second letter today, which was our second reading: “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

The Meaning(s) of Repentance

And this all gives us a pretty good idea of how important repentance is. But let’s ask the obvious question: What exactly does it mean to repent?

It happens to be one of my favorite church words, because it has different meanings in different languages, and each of the meanings teaches us something important. 

Our English word, repent, for example, has its roots in the Latin language, and has the sense that we are sorry for our way of life, and want to change. 

In the Hebrew language, though, the word for repent is “shuv,” which literally means to turn around. It’s not so much about feeling sorrow, as it is about making an actual change in your life. If you are going the wrong way, and your GPS keeps telling you to make the next legal U-turn, feeling sorry about it isn’t going to help you. You actually have to turn around, or it’s just going to get worse. I think that’s a pretty good way to think about what John the Baptist is calling us to do today. 

In the Greek language, on the other hand, the word for repent is “metanoia,” which literally means to change your mind, to think differently. To be a Christian is to think about everything differently. This world, our life, our job, this season, gifts, money, everything. Change your mind. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, as Paul tells us. Think differently. 

Yet another way to think about repenting is given by a famous Christian back in the 2^nd Century, Tertullian, who said that the way to prepare the way of the Lord through repentance is to: “prepare the home of our heart by making it clean for the Holy Spirit.” It makes me think of the hymn, “Joy to the World,” when we sing “let every heart prepare him room.” Prepare the home of our heart by making it clean for the Holy Spirit. A good way to think about repentance. 

As we decorate our homes this season for Christmas, we might also reflect on how we can decorate our hearts for Christ. What items in our hearts need to be dusted off, or repaired, or simply thrown away? What things in our life need changing? What areas in our hearts might need additional decorations? These are all creative ways to prepare the way of the Lord through repentance. 

And one final way to think about repentance is offered by the modern Christian writer, Thomas Keating, who says that to repent is to: “change the direction in which you are looking for happiness.” That is one of my favorite definitions, and it really seems to speak to the nature of this season. Change the direction in which we are looking for happiness. If you’re looking for happiness under the Christmas tree, look at the nativity instead. The right direction to look for true happiness is always toward the one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. That is where happiness and wholeness and meaning and purpose and everlasting peace are to be found. And that is what it means to repent. To look to Christ for these things, and nowhere else. 

Discovering the Joy of Christmas

John the Baptist didn’t invent Christmas, but he is one of the best at getting us ready. That is his role, after all, his purpose in life: To prepare the way of the Lord. And he does that by urging us to repent: to turn around, to think differently, to clean up our hearts, to change where we are looking for happiness, to focus on our relationship with Christ. Prepare the way of the Lord. Because Christ is coming. And it is our job to get ready. Not just by decorating our homes and watching our favorite Christmas specials. But by preparing our hearts and souls for the coming of the Lord. 

It wouldn’t be Christmas without an appearance from John the Baptist, and his call to prepare the way of the Lord. He didn’t invent Christmas, to be sure. And neither did Charles Dickens. But there is an interesting connection between John the Baptist and Charles Dickens. In the movie, “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” we discover that it was Charles Dickens himself who needed to repent before he could complete his great Christmas story. And this is why he gives us one of the great examples of repentance in all of literature: Ebenezer Scrooge. The Grinch is another great example, and one of my favorite Christmas specials, but when you think about it, the Grinch is obviously a character inspired by Ebenezer Scrooge. 

In both of these cases we find someone whose life is changed in a wonderful way through repentance. Scrooge and the Grinch both repent. And when they do, they discover a joy that they thought was gone for good. And they discover a community that they also thought was gone for good. A community that is open and welcoming and forgiving, as the church is called to be. And through this community, they both discover what it means to be to love, and to be loved. And all of this happened because they did this wonderful, joyous thing: They repented. They didn’t invent Christmas. But they did discover for themselves the joy at the heart of Christmas, and they did this by learning to repent.

And so can we. We can discover, all over again, the joy at the heart of Christmas, by doing the same thing, by repenting, shifting our focus to Christ, and discovering the joy at the heart of this season. The joy that was invented by God, and given to us by his only Son. And so, may each of us, in our own way, find joy through repentance this year, as we get ready for Christmas by preparing the way of the Lord. To the glory of God. Amen.