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In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. (vv. 1-2)

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Does anyone remember what is special about today, and what season we are celebrating in the church right now? (Let them respond.) This is the second Sunday of the season we call Advent. And can anyone tell me what the word “advent” means? (Let them respond.) The word “advent” comes from an old word “adventus,” and it means “coming.” So, the season of Advent is the time we remember when Jesus came to be with us on that first Christmas. Today’s story is about something that happened when Jesus came, so are you ready for today’s story? (Let them respond.) Great!

This story is about a time when God had a problem. Did you know that God has problems? (Let them respond.) Yes. And this was a big one. God had sent Jesus to teach everyone how to do the things God wanted them to do. But God wasn’t sure how to get everyone to pay attention to Jesus, and to listen to the things he was going to say. Somehow, God had to do something to get everyone’s attention. God had to find someone that could make everyone pat attention to what Jesus was going to say. That was God’s problem. Who should God pick to make everyone pay attention to Jesus? Let’s see if you can guess who God picked to solve his problem. I’ll give you three choices that God had, and let’s see which one you think God picked.

First, God could have picked a man called Herod. Herod was a big political leader in the country, and everyone knew him. Herod had a lot of power; more than anybody else in the whole country. But sometimes he did things that were pretty mean. The people were afraid of him, and most of them didn’t like him, but everyone paid attention to what Herod said. So, wow, if God chose Herod to tell everyone they were supposed to listen to Jesus, I’ll bet everyone would have listened, don’t you? (Let them respond.)

Or God could have decided to really surprise everyone and send one of his armies of angels down from heaven to tell everyone about Jesus. Imagine that! The people hear a noise and go outside to look up in the air, and the sky is filled with a bunch of angels, waving big flaming swords, blowing trumpets, all of them glowing as bright as the sun. I’ll be that would have gotten everyone’s attention, don’t you? (Let them respond.)

So, God could have chosen to use King Herod, or could have done a miracle and sent armies of angels from heaven. Either of those would probably have worked. God had a big problem to solve, and sometimes it seems that the best way to solve a big problem is to use something big and powerful to solve it, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) Well, God had another possible choice to make.

God could have picked a man named John to tell everyone about Jesus. John was not a powerful political leader, and he certainly wasn’t part of an angel army. John was just a man who lived out in the desert across the river. He didn’t wear fancy clothes, and he ate things like bugs and other things he could find in the desert. He believed in God, but just spent most of his time wandering around in the wilderness. He wasn’t famous, and most people had never even heard of him.

So, those were three choices God had. God needed someone who could get all of the people to listen to Jesus and God could pick powerful King Herod or a powerful angel army or the man called John who was wandering in the desert.

Who do you think you would have picked? Who would pick powerful King Herod to tell everyone to listen to Jesus? (Let them respond.) Who would have picked an angel army? (Let them respond.) And who would have picked the man in the desert? (Let them respond.)

Okay, who do you think God picked to solve the problem? Who thinks God picked powerful King Herod? (Let them respond.) Who thinks God picked an angel army? (Let them respond.) And who thinks God picked the man in the desert? (Let them respond.)

God is full of surprises. God picked the man in the desert to tell everyone about Jesus. God didn’t care how powerful or famous John was. God didn’t need someone who was powerful or famous. John believed in God, and that’s what was important. God would take care of the rest and help John do the things he needed to do.

Sometimes we don’t feel like we are very powerful or important, and we don’t think we can do very important things. Just remember that God doesn’t care how powerful we are, how famous we are, how rich we are, or anything else. If we love God and do our best to do the things God wants us to do, God can use us to do some pretty amazing things.

Today is the Second Sunday of Advent, the season we remember how God surprised everyone and showed us how much God loves us. I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to love other people and do as much as we can to help take care of those other people.

Let’s have our prayer and ask God to help us remember to do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.

Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.