Prepare the Way

Mark 1:1-8

Advent Sunday II -December 4,2005

† In His Name †

May the grace and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, be yours.

Road Work

A Message of Comfort – the plan

For most of us, it is a sign, a symbol that we dread to see; It can strike fear into the most courageous of travelers. It has unbelievable power of us, draining us of our energy, our desire, and our patience. It can stop many of our missions, and hinder our duties. It can stop us from accomplishing what we need to do, what must be done. And yet, it promises a great future.

It comes in various sizes, and with different words placed upon it, but they are all the same color, orange, and it is always exactly where we don’t want to see it, at the crucial intersection, along the road where there is no place to turn around, safely. It is, the construction sign, those bright orange signs telling you, that around the next bend, a flagman awaits, as you will, for 20 to 30 minutes, minutes that give you enough time to read the entire Bible, twice, with enough time to breeze through Leviticus again, this time for fun!

In today’s gospel reading, as well as in the Old Testament selection from Isaiah, we find such a sign, a sign that a new road is being prepared. Preparation that will require some pretty incredible construction. Isaiah gives us one other insight, as we prepare to traverse this zone, the knowledge that the work ultimately, will bring us the most incredible comfort.

It will help to remember that promise of comfort, as we look at the daunting work, and the incredible task of traversing the road.

Road Grading

A bit of work

Repentance leading to forgiveness Romans 2:4

Law preaching is not for fun!

Peter’s idea of patience

In the past few months, I have learned that one should not take paved roads for granted. They are an incredible blessing, and convenience. They really assist you maintaining your vehicle. But they take a bit or work and a large amount of money to create. These words from Isaiah, referred to in Mark’s gospel, so well picture the making of a road, here in the wilderness,

³ A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Isaiah 40:3-4 (ESV)

These words as well, picture humanity so well. Our lives are about as straight as Bautista Canyon Road. There are ups and downs, there are twists, and places where it doesn’t look safe to traverse. In trying to lift ourselves out of the muck and mire, we create mountains of pride, only to realize we created valleys of despair all around those mountains. Either way, on top of it all, or at the deepest of deep, we find our sin has made travel nigh on impossible.

John’s message, the beginning of the gospel, called for some re-construction of people’s lives. A pretty radical form of construction, called repentance. A complete re-mapping of our mind, and how it operates. A radical process for sure, that will jolt us and jostle us, as we are operated on, and all of our work, and all of our sin, and all of our pride, is tossed aside. Romans has a great description of this repentance,

⁴ Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don't you realize that it is God's kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act? Romans 2:4 (GW)

Proclaiming repentance, John’s task, and indeed ours today as well, isn’t easy. It is the spiritual equivalent of taking a road grader, a couple of skiploaders, some major dump trucks, and bulldozers, to our lives. It is the preaching of the “law” that is still part of the topic of our ongoing Sunday School class. It means revealing that our lives aren’t as smooth and easy going as we would like people to think.

We were, and still are, just like the people John spoke to, in need in need of a complete reconstruction of our lives. Lucky for us the Apostle Peter notes the incredible patience of the general contractor,

⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Road Cleaning

The difference between John’s cleansing water, and the Spirit’s cleansing

In the prophetic passage in Isaiah, which Mark paraphrases in the beginning of his gospel, I have said there is a note, that is one we must consider, as we are being granted the gift of repentance. There, the reading opens with these words,

Comfort my people, Comfort my people, as then it moves into the description of John the Baptist’s cry for the roads to be straightened, for mountains to be flushed, and for valleys to be filled. He calls for the work to be done, and starts to prepare, by baptizing people in the Jordan. A baptism of repentance, where the mind is changed, the routes remapped, and sin forgiven.

When I used to drive Malibu Canyon Road to work, there would be these incredibly large boulders that would fall down the mountain side and block the road. Some of them were only 3 or 4 feet by 5 feet. One I remember was 24 feet high, and nearly 40 feet long. It blocked our access to work, just as sin blocks our access to our God and Father. There is a great picture of forgiveness in greek, that reminded me of those boulders. You see, forgiveness is simply tossing aside those boulders, getting them out of the way of traffic. Sometimes they would linger there on the side of the road, remembrances of our being stopped. Sometimes they would be pushed deeper into the canyon.

What a picture that is, of the forgiveness we have in Christ Jesus, and His washing us in our baptism! Our sin is just tossed aside, as is described in the Epistle to the Hebrews,

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2(ESV)

Such an awesome picture of our forgiveness, promised throughout God’s word, given to us in the Word, and in the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Sin, with all its devastating guilt, and shame, and fear of God’s wrath, is just dropped, on the side of the road. And we are free, to be what God has constructed us to be.

That is the difference between John’s baptism, with water, and Jesus’ baptism, with the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism was preparatory, Jesus Baptism was complete, as it seals us, just as the newly paved road is sealed and made permanent.

We receive not only the forgiveness of sins, which was promised to those who were baptized by John, but the Holy Spirit as well.

That is one of the reasons John says to compare them is not possible. For even John’s baptism, only pointed us to Christ, whose work on the cross is there, for us. The work we are united with, in our Baptism

Prepare the way..

For His coming, to and for us….

Isaiah’s picture

Peter’s vision

In the time of Isaiah, and in the time of John the Baptist, a small part of the world, awaited the Messiah. The one whom would fulfill the Father’s plan for the world, bringing about forgiveness and peace, and the reign of God in the world. It was a painful project to complete, for it required Christ’s Body and Blood, shed for our forgiveness.

In our time, we await the seond coming of Christ, the creation of the new heavens and new earth, where righteousness will reign, according to our epistle reading.

The project is, for us completed, for we have been recreated, and realize the gift God granted to us in our baptism and in our repentance. Forgiveness, the presence of the Holy Spirit. Truly amazing.

We are even more blessed, to see that work continue on, as we become part of the road crew. May we lead others on this way, as they come to know Jesus, the way, the truth and the Life.

And may His peace, the peace that passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

AMEN