Ain't No Mountain High Enough
If you are a church-going person you already know that you will not hear any scripture about the pending birth of Jesus until the Fourth Sunday in Advent, that is, if your congregation follows the common lectionary. This coming Sunday is the Second Sunday in Advent, and the opening salvo from the third chapter of Luke is great news for all of us. Somewhere in the background a 30-something Jesus is waiting in the wings to come on the scene. Meanwhile, his cousin John the Baptist is out in the Palestinian wilderness preaching like a man possessed.
It is intentional that author Luke goes to great detail to name the political and religious power people of the day – the Roman Emperor, Pontius Pilate (the one who would order Jesus crucified), King Herod and ruler brother, Philip, as well as the high priests. None of these power people will be holding a press conference with breaking news, announcing the coming of the Messiah. None of these will be receiving an authentic word from on high. Nope. Luke says that among a setting featuring all those ruthless and corrupt power people, the word of God came to John… in the wilderness!
No authority figure needed to receive a word from God.
So, if a word from God can come to John, that word from God can come to you. John’s mission and activity out in the wilderness is about one thing only. God is coming to you and for you. God is not a top-down, imposing-her-power kind of god. God works at the grassroots in the midst of life wherever it happens.
Whatever it takes, God comes to you.
Luke, the author, writes of the physical world being shaken up as God comes for you. Luke speaks of mountains being leveled and valleys being filled. In an Advent sermon in December 2003, New Testament Professor Mark Allen Powell gave a sermon in my congregation in Colorado on the 2nd Sunday in Advent. I still vividly remember it. And considering all the stuff I have heard preached, that’s remarkable! What he proclaimed is that Luke’s words are an early rendition of Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell’s 1967 version of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.
Ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough,
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you, baby.
That’s the great news. Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no tragedy harsh enough, ain’t no adversity challenging or crippling enough, ain’t no obstacles or excuses profound enough to keep God from coming for you. Whether it’s around a Christmas tree, at a candlelight service, in a delivery room, in a homeless shelter, on the front line of a military zone, or in the midst of the most profound grief you have ever experienced, God is coming to you and for you. Count on it!
In the abiding hope of the empty tomb,
