Advent 2

Advent 2 Any Day, Prepare the Way 12/7 & 10/06

As we drive around the eastern United States, roadways cut over, around, and, sometimes, through mountains. Driving south through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina…driving east to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania via the Turnpike…brings countless turns and twists, ups and downs, and ear-popping elevation changes. I marvel at the work of road makers as they provide relatively straight passageway through hilly and mountainous terrain, criss-crossed by rivers and streams. The engineering task must surely be formidable, moving vast quantities of earth and rock, blasting away entire mountain sides, and leveling out the roadways with mammoth graders and dozers.

On this second week in Advent, Luke uses road-building language and imagery to describe the mission and ministry of John the Baptist. Luke (3:4-5) quotes words from the 8^th century B.C. prophet Isaiah: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.” When God, through Isaiah, announced this news, the people of Israel were dwelling in deep discouragement and despair. Failing to heed Isaiah’s earlier warnings regarding what would occur if they ignored their moral and spiritual commitments, the people of Israel were torn from their families and homes, carried a thousand miles away into a strange culture, tormented by their captures, and dwelling in a deep national depression.

Into this historic setting and context God announces His saving grace! Get ready to return to the place where your heart rightly dwells! The image Isaiah gives is a highway built from Babylon directly through the formidable desert, rather than the longer, but less treacherous, detour through the fertile-crescent. Israel’s coming home is part of God’s great construction project, building a level pathway back home!

The “roadwork” imagery quoted in Luke to describe the ministry of John the Baptist calls for the purifying of hearts, not the paving of highways…a change in direction indicated by Christ, not a compass; the Bible, not a blueprint. John “went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Lk. 3:3) At this point many “detour” from John’s message. To the un-churched, and many within the church, this theological doctrine of sin makes us uncomfortable and, in our discomfort, we rationalize to render it false. “After-all, we are good people,” we seek to convince ourselves. Yet, just as quickly, we excuse our sinful behavior, saying: “We are only human. Nobody’s perfect!” We increasingly adopt and opt-for situational ethics, whereby nothing is absolutely right or wrong and it all depends upon “the situation!” Humphrey Bogart in the classic film African Queen excuses his drunkenness the prior evening saying, after all, “It’s only human nature.” Katherine Hepburn, cast as the missionary Rosie, dismisses his excuse by saying, “We are put on the earth to rise above nature.” We endeavor to excuse the wrong with such tenacity, hoping to convince ourselves that wrong is all right. When we experience the dire consequence of our decisions, we blame our parents, government, or school teachers, or---as Elton John and Larry King have recently said---organized religion itself. Elton John is a musician & Larry King a talk-show host...but they are clearly not theologians!

Christianity is not a complicated series of rules and regulations, it is a living relationship with Jesus Christ. Living in this relationship with Jesus, walking daily with Him, motivates us to “rise above nature” and resist that which we naturally desire. I have made many acquaintances attending local auctions. Most of my acquaintances don’t know my name, but know I am a Pastor. Coming toward the sale a few weeks ago, I saw about 6 guys standing together, waiting for the auction to begin. They saw me coming, and one man spoke up to the others: “Okay guys, straighten up! Here’s the preacher!” Although he said this with a smile and we all had a laugh, if people relate being in a Pastor’s presence with “straightening up,” how much more should we seek “the straight and narrow” in the very presence of Jesus?! As we grow in our walk and knowledge of God, we realize that living in His presence is reason enough to live in ways we know to be upright and moral, reason enough to take “the high road”! To live with Christ, for Christ, and as Christ as we travel through life, choosing the path He walks.

May our personal prayer, and the manner by which we pray for other persons, echo the prayer of St. Paul recorded in Philippians: “And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless.”(Philippians 1:9-10) In so doing, we pave the way for the promised coming of our Lord! We are to prepare the way, for He is coming any day now!

Amen.