Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. By his coming give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
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Gospel
Luke 3:1-6
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Luke takes care to place John in secular history. Yet John's arrival also heralds a new age of salvation. John refers to the words of the prophets, but with vigorous immediacy; Now is the time to prepare for Christ through a "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
{1} 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, {2} during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. {3} He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, {4} 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. {5} 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; {6} and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'
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MUSINGS
John has always been an odd ball character to me. If one reads through the first chapter of Luke and the song of Zechariah which brings it to a close, one discovers that after Zech is done singing, John disappears into the wilderness and "he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel." Was he alone? What was he doing? Did he have any physical contact with anyone? How many years did he spend there? All questions without answers.
But then he arrives on the scene, in the same wilderness, and begins to proclaim a baptism of repentance; a turning away from sin and turning toward God. We'll hear more from him next week and his language will become a bit, well, abrasive and more personally focused. And therein lies my concern, he seems to be speaking directly to me. In fact, he seems to know me a bit too well! Maybe he doesn't know my sins specifically, but it's pretty clear that he knows I'm a sinner and in that, I am convicted.
When I was growing up, Advent was purple in color and penitential in nature. Sometime, long ago, it seems, it shifted in color and somewhat in nature but not completely; there is still that call to repentance that reminds me who I am and what I have done as John calls me back to the recognition that I am, plain and simple, a sinner in need of changing. And then I realize I cannot do that alone, by myself, left to my own devices.
Which is when the hope and promise of the season arise and arrive as I realize that I can't do it on my own but, the Dawn from on High that breaks upon us can! John is preparing a way for the Coming One by preparing our hearts to recognize that we are desperately in need of this One promised long, long ago. And in that moment of recognition, forgiveness, mercy and hope flood into the darkness of life and bring with it the brightness of a new light and the hope we so desperately need.
John is still a bit odd in my mind but then again, it often takes 'odd' to get me to recognize what is right before my eyes-the need for this Savior and his love and life. Prepare the way!
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