Second Sunday of Advent: Prepare the Way
Advent is the Christian season when we prepare for the
coming of Christ. Christmas is about good news. God comes to live among us.
Jesus (God in the flesh) takes on our shame and frailty. Immanuel (God with us)
demonstrates divine solidarity with the human plight and brings hope of
redemption for all creation.
While the glory of Christmas draws us in, the journey to get
there should give us pause.
Do you remember how long it took to get to grandma’s house over
the river and through the woods? Some folks never had to travel far. But for
others, it seemed like an eternity to get there. We did what we could to pass
the time, but it often wasn’t easy. Once we got there, though, the reward was
great enough to erase the memory of the long, arduous journey.
By the same token, we ought to remember that the road to
Christ leads through the desert. There we hear the voice of one crying out,
“Prepare the way of the Lord!” John admonished people to repent and be baptized
for the forgiveness of their sins. Why did he urge this? They needed to prepare
and cleanse themselves for the coming of their King and for the return of God’s
Kingdom among the people.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when
Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his
brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias
ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of
God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the
region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the
prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘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;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
(Luke 3:1-6)
Repentance is an appropriate spirit during Advent. We ought
to repent of our arrogance and recognize that God comes in sudden and
unexpected ways. We should not think that we can banish darkness from this
world or that we are the hope of salvation. Only God has power to bring a
reversal of fortunes. Only God can make things new and right. Only God’s surprising
generosity can turn the tide of evil that threatens to sweep over us.
Are you willing to prepare the way for God’s coming? Are you
able to admit that your role in redeeming this world is secondary? We can work.
We can give. We can proclaim. We can be available. But in the end, we cannot
save the world. Only the grace of God poured out in Jesus Christ has the power
to make all things new. All we can do is prepare the way.
How are you preparing the way for Jesus’ arrival in the
lives of people around you?
I’m grateful for my parents. In my childhood, they exerted
great effort to “get to grandma’s house” almost every Christmas. I’m sure it
wasn’t always easy. They surmounted obstacles of finances, weather, car
trouble, and family stress to get us there. They prepared the way for me to
reap a blessing of those family ties, just as John prepared the way for Jesus.
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