December 8, 2024
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Luke 3:1-18
Prepare the Way
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Romans were great road builders. They believed in roads. The picture here is a section of an ancient Roman road in Turkey, still in very good shape today.
The Romans recognized the strategic value and necessity of a solid overland transportation system. Most importantly, these roads facilitated the movement of troops. Roads also moved military supplies. Furthermore, good roads stimulated the economy by getting goods to market.
The Romans really knew how to build a road. Here you can see a cross section depicting the various substrata they laid. The surface layer was slightly bowed so that water would run off.
The Romans liked to lay their roads as straight as possible. As the adage goes: the shortest path between two points is a straight line. Sometimes this straight line required them to move the earth.
Here you can see how the Romans moved millions of tons of stone from a hillside to lay down their road. Can you imagine? How did they do that?
I mean, nowadays, we use dynamite to clear the way. But the Romans, they would have hewn out that rock by hand. Uff da!
They didn’t have big road graders like we do. They had a man and a pickaxe. They had mules and oxen. That was it!
Today is Act Two of our 4-act Advent drama. Enter John the Baptist. John plays a prominent role in this season. In his life, John came to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. Through his legacy in the scriptures, he still prepares that way today.
Luke sets the scene for John’s entrance by positioning him within the global context. Luke highlights an impressive list of all the Who’s Who of the day. The list begins with none other than the Roman emperor, Tiberius. Then he names all the regional Roman governors, including Pontius Pilate.
Luke then moves to the Jewish power brokers. The high priests are Annas and Caiaphas. And then, after naming the A-listers, he mentions John. John is hardly an all-star by the likes of the world!
And WHERE is he? Tiberius is in Rome, the epicenter of the known world; the governors are in their high powered capital cities; the high priest is in the Jerusalem temple. And John … well, well, he’s out in the boonies. He’s living in the wilderness by the Jordan. To quote Chris Farley: he’s basically in a van down by the river.
To the world, John is a big nobody. But in the salvation history of God, John is the catalyst to the big moment. Luke draws a connection between John and the prophecy of Isaiah. John is “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.”
John comes to prepare the way for the coming of our Lord. He comes to clear the path. John is a bulldozer. He’s here to move away any obstacles that obstruct our hearts and minds from receiving our Lord.
Isaiah says, “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be made low. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.”
It’s the language of road construction. The Romans may have crisscrossed the ancient world with their roads, but they had nothing on John.
John is a road grader. He’s not a gentle sort. John is here to get a job done. It’s going to require heavy lifting. It’s going to mean things get drastically moved around in our lives.
Calling the crowds a brood of vipers is not at all tactful! John is about tough love. He doesn’t mince words. He tells people what they need to hear.
Make straight the crooked. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. John wants his listeners to get straight with their neighbors. “You can’t be straight with God if you aren’t straight with your neighbors,” he says, “You can’t pretend you’re the holy children of Abraham when your actions betray the commandments.”
John urges them to share their possessions. “Those of you with more than enough, share it! If you have two coats, give one of them away to somebody without one.” He tells the tax collectors, “Don’t price gouge people just because you can. Play fair.” He instructs soldiers not to throw their weight around and bully people just because they can. It’s a matter of respect. Respect your neighbor. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. John’s message is as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago.
In this season of Advent, John comes once again to build roads. He’s here to remove the obstructions impeding our connection with God. How do our actions contradict the faith we confess?
John the road grader urges us to repentance. The word in Greek is metanoia. It means “to turn around.” When you’re headed in the wrong direction, you need to turn around.
Road builders take precise measurements to ensure that the road remains on course. Every Advent, we return to John the Baptist. He is our road builder. His call encourages us to take stock. Are we true to the course? Do our actions and our words align with the faith we profess? Do we need to change course, make corrections? What do we need to repent?
John baptized people there at the Jordan River. It was a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of their sins.” By entering the waters, they acknowledge that they were making a change. They were ready to change direction, to set a new course.
John is still the voice of one calling in the wilderness. A road builder, he continues to prepare the way. But now it’s our turn. John comes this Advent to make our paths straight: within our hearts; within our actions; within our communities and neighborhoods.
John isn’t the only one who came to prepare a way. Our Lord also did. Through his incarnation, his death and his resurrection, he has made straight the path between ourselves and God. He has removed the obstacles obstructing us from God. He has conquered sin, death, and the power of the devil.
Born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified died and buried. On the third day he rose from the dead. And he has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. Here is the good news: Christ has gone to prepare a place for us. He has prepared the way. He is the way: the way, the truth and the life.
