Politicians! Oh, the horror of it all. Those called to be servants of the people end up consumed with self-service. Hard to tell the truth from the lies. You have to be suspect with former enemies suddenly having alliances, hoping into bed with one another, so to speak. Meanwhile the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. And it seems like the whole country, perhaps the whole world is going to go down the tube. No wonder there are terrorists hiding out in mountain caves. Politiciansthe horror of it all.

And so the people came out to hear John the Baptizer in the wilderness because they had lost hope in the political leadership. King Herod, the King of the Jews, was an able politician. He rebuilt the Jewish Temple, the water supplies, and the Palace in Jerusalem, refurbished the boundary fortresses such as Masada, and created new cities such as Caesarea, Maritima and Herodion. From the extraction of asphalt from the Dead Sea, he shared with Cleopatra the monopoly on its important use in shipbuilding. He leased copper mines on Cyprus from the Roman emperor. He had a dominant position in the production of bronze, using British tin. He supported the financially strapped Olympic games and ensured their future. Globalizationhe had it in hand.

But there was a dark side. Two popular teachers from the monastery at Qumran, Judas and Matthias, encouraged their pupils to remove the Roman golden eagle from the entrance of the Temple. This was not simply a sign of Roman domination; it was considered an affront to God and the prohibition against idols. The teachers and the pupils were burned alive.

There were high taxes, not only for the building programs but also the employment of mercenaries and a secret police to enforce order. He had to have these to support his reign of terror even in his own family.

A nephew tried to take the throne from him but Herod defeated him and then married his teenage niece, which helped to secure him a claim to the throne. However, Herod already had a wife, Doris, and a three-year-old son. So he banished Doris and her child. Killed on his orders were his brother-in-law and high priest, Aristobulus, his wife, his mother-in-law, and a number of his sons. In signing the death warrant for one of his sons, Augustus Caesar remarked that he would rather be Herods pig than Herods son!

Just before his death, Herod, realising that when he died there would be no great mourning, sent letters to the principle heads of every family in Judaism demanding their presence on pain of death. Having got them to Jerusalem, Herod ordered them to be locked up in the horseracing ground. He then gave the orders to his sister that upon his death they were all to be executedthus making sure that the whole nation would mourn when he died, albeit not for him. Fortunately, when Herod died, his sister released the imprisoned Jews and allowed them to return home.

Then the country was split in two and one of his sons, Herod Antipas was appointed as the ruler of Galilee and it seemed it was going to be the same old story again all over again. And John the baptizer appeared in the wildernessand people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him

They went because there was no help from the top down. If there was going to be any help for the country and the people, it had to start from the bottom up. The idea of reforming the system was hopeless; it was as if they had to start again from scratch.

So the people went out to the Jordan River, the very place where they first came into the land, well over a thousand years before. They were baptizedwashed by John. They dedicated themselves to the old ways, the ways taught to them by Moses so long ago. No other gods, only God. Observe the Sabbath. Honour the elders, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, no lying, no greed. And then washed they re-entered the landa new beginning, the past thousand years washed away. And the promise was if they changed then perhaps God would come and the land and the people would be savedsalvation from the bottom up.

And remembering the words of the prophet Isaiah Comfort my people, says our God. Comfort them! Encourage the people of Jerusalem. Tell them they have suffered long enough and their sins are now forgiven. I have punished them in full for all their sins. remembering those words, they began to hope that God could come.

In these days, as we consider our land, our church, our livesand if we dare to ask the question who will save us? Will our political leaders? Will our business leaders? How about the religious leaders? Will they change the land, will they change themselves, will they change us? Not going to happen.

We can only change ourselves and this Advent time is a time to consider once again what is really important in our lives. Is it to maintain what we have? Maintain a world where we as Canadians live in the top 1% of the rich in the world? With falling gas prices continue our pollution of the planet? The temptation of maintaining the status quo might be the greatest of sins.

Fred Craddock tells the story of a schoolmate of his who spent many years as a missionary in China. He was under house arrest in China when the soldiers came on day and said, You can return home to America. They then began to celebrate and the soldiers said, You can take 200 pounds with you.

Well, they had been there for years and accumulated a lot of stuff. So they got out the scales and started the family argumenttwo kids, wife, husband had their own ideas. Must have this vase. Well, this is a new typewriter. What about my books? What about this?

And so they began to weigh everything, each piece, one by one. And then after a great deal of struggle they got itright on the dot22 pounds. The soldiers asked, ready to go? Yes, were ready. Did you weigh everything? Yes, we weighed everything. Did you weigh the children? No, we didnt. Weigh the kids. And in a moment the vase, the typewriter, the booksall of them became trash.

Advent is a time to weigh in. It is a time to repentthat means change our values, our priorities. Get back to what is really important.

Now all of this is just from listening to John the Baptizer. But John says this is just the first step, for there is another one coming, who will baptize/wash you not with water but the very breathe of God. Wait for him. Watch for him. For this one will save the whole world.