Luke 1:76-80
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
Try to imagine a nation of people who believe that they are waiting on a Messiah to save them. They are under the oppression of the Roman government. The Messiah they are waiting for, in their minds is going to lead them because they are God’s chosen nation out of the hands of the Romans and make them rule over their oppressors. Imagine the shock and utter disgust when John the Baptist says that the way of salvation, the way of being rescued, the way to save yourselves is to repent! And then Jesus, the chosen one offers salvation in the form of forgiveness for their sins. It is your faith that sets you free. It is your repentance that leads you to salvation, leads you to your rescue. Their long awaited messiah leads them to freedom by way of forgiving their sins and telling them to repent. He instructs them to not rule over their enemies but to serve them and love them.
The nature of sin and evil and darkness is that it defeats itself. It leads to death. God does not have to destroy our enemies, they destroy themselves. Often it is just not as fast as we’d like and it comes at a cost to us. But perhaps the waiting is the only place that we can learn to love our enemies and the cost to us is only us letting go of our will and embracing the will of God. In Psalm 37 it says to not fret when evil men seem succeed in their schemes. For like the grass of the field they will soon whither. But meanwhile, evil men are still succeeding in their schemes and innocent people are suffering!
But I am learning that most of the suffering I do when evil men are triumphant is because I want the wrong things. I kinda want what they want and they’re getting it and I’m not! In Christ, I am learning to examine my desires and most of the time I find that I am still wanting the wrong things. I want an easy life. I want wealth and comfort. I want approval. I don’t want to suffer. I put my needs first. I love my neighbor when it’s convenient for me. I want God to give me what I want and Jesus says, “Well, lets start with forgiving your sins. And now live a life where you offer forgiveness and mercy to your neighbor. How bout I give you that instead.”