Baruch 5:1-9
“Take off the garment of you sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory of God.”
The prophet, Baruch, is speaking to the children of Israel, who have long been held captive in Babylon, and he promises that their time of suffering is about to end. To prepare for this incredible moment, they must now “Put on the robe of righteousness that comes from God,” and on their heads, “the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting.” They are about to go from slavery to joy, and they must be in a fit state to receive this blessing. They must shine with divine glory, and “God will show their splendor everywhere under heaven.”
You would think that every Israelite would be filled with joy at the prospect of returning home, and for many, but not for all, that was the case. But there were those who, having been in Babylon for such a long time, had adapted to their new home. Doors had opened for them, they had settled in, started businesses, and become comfortable. While many of their people still suffered, others were content to remain where there were.
Baruch continues, “For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up, to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.”
For those who were suffering, this was ecstatic news. The path to freedom would be level and easy to travel, God’s glory would surround them, their prayers were to be fully answered. However, for those who had been to some extent absorbed by Babylonian society, this joyful news no doubt sounded much as it does to us. Always a pleasure to hear good news, but what has it got to do with me?
It is Advent, the beginning of the Church year. During this season, we too hear the words of a prophet (Isaiah) encouraging us to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Like the ancient Israelites, we can’t help but wonder, what has this got to do with me? After all, the baby whose birth we “anticipate” was born long ago. We are no longer slaves to sin, but have been bought and paid for.
Being among the followers of Jesus, and already knowing the full story, it is often difficult for us to enter into the expectant joy of the Advent season. Like the comfortable Jews in Babylon, the ones who were not suffering, we have adjusted to our society, to its materialism, its worldliness, its greed, and it is this adjustment that has made us far less sensitive to the Truth. To what really matters.
Unlike our Puritan forebearers, who travelled far and suffered much to establish the Congregational Church, without realizing it, we have been absorbed by a society which is not based on our faith, and have conformed our values and beliefs to fit into a secular system. We know that Advent is meant to be a season of prayer and preparation, but somehow that doesn’t make a lot of sense, and we often can’t find the time. So, we struggle to find that “happy feeling”, while we push ahead with our holiday preparations.
We want to be ready, but did you know, there is more to this season of Advent, more that the Church wants us to think about than just Jesus’ birth? Advent is actually a very mysterious and complicated season. While we anticipate the arrival of the baby Jesus, we are also meant to anticipate His life, and eventual sacrifice for us. Yup! As we think about the baby, we’re also meant to be preparing for His death – the means required to bring us all salvation.
There is an old tradition that reminds us of how our salvation was bought for us and paid for by the baby born Christmas day.
Maybe this Christmas, as you place the lovely decorations on your tree, you might include a strange little ornament hung close to the trunk. It is meant to be almost invisible—hidden behind branches and lights and other decorations.
It’s a plain, long nail—much like the nails that pierced the hands and feet of Jesus during His Passion. It is there to remind us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem so that, thirty-three years later, He could die for our sins on Calvary. The Nail is a reminder of the Passion this little babe would undergo, as innocent at His death as He was at His birth. It reminds us of His sufferings and the incredible love that motivated both His earthly nativity and His death. This Nail decorates a Christmas tree, and the nails of His Passion decorated the Tree of the Cross.
The Nail is not in a place of prominence, but almost hidden away near the trunk. It is not so much a decoration, but a prayerful reminder for anyone who sees the tree with particularly keen eyes and hearts. The nail is known only to the home that hangs it. Understood only by the heart that knows its significance. It is hung with the thought that the Christmas tree foreshadows the Christ-tree which only He could decorate for us, ornamented with nails like the Christmas Nail.
Advent is a time of awakening. Of seeing not just the cookies, the cards, and the shopping. Seeing not just the baby and the animals and the manger. – not just the happy young couple who are starting their family. Advent is a time of love – of Mary and Joseph’s love for their newborn Son, and that Son’s fathomless love for us, which begins with His birth, and will be manifest as He is raised on the cross.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord Jesus, we love You and adore You so easily as a baby, wrapped in bands of cloth, lying in the straw of the manger. We feel happily uplifted, as we anticipate Your coming among us. As we work through the shopping the baking, the wrapping of gifts, struggling earnestly to clear a space for You in our hearts, help us to also remember what it took for You to save us and make us Your own. This we ask, for Your Love and mercy’s sake. Amen.
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