Mark 1: 1-8
1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘ ‘prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Devotion
I like to bake. Whether the result is a pie or cookies, I enjoy the entire process of baking. But any good baker, which I do not consider myself to be, will tell you that before you begin baking, you must first prepare things. You must first find a recipe, then you must purchase or root through your pantry to find the flour and sugar, then you must determine if you have the right equipment, a mixer, the right pan, and utensils. Only then after the ingredients are present, the mixer has the beaters in, the oven is pre-heated, then you can crack the eggs, scoop the flour, and soften the butter. To be a good baker is to be good in the preparations.
Just as it is with baking needing preparations, so too is it with the coming of Christ. Before the coming of Christ, preparations need to be made. In the Gospel of Mark, the book begins with a beginning, and we are told that the Gospel is going to be about the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the pie that is going to be created, but it is not a delicious pumpkin pie, the work that is begun is God’s work of salvation in his only beloved Son, Jesus Christ. But like a pie, preparations need to be made, before the work proper can begin. In this case, that work is not the purchasing of ingredients or the warming of the oven, but the preparations made by John the Baptist.
Mark uses the prophet Isaiah to characterize the work of the Baptist in preparation: See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John’s work of preparation is about speaking a message. The preparer is a messenger with a message to be messaged in the wilderness. The road of the Lord is be straight because the Lord is coming. In a sense, John’s message is to begin some “roadwork.” The crooked roads are to be graded straight. The hilly roads are to be paved flat, the potholes to be filled in. So, God will have an easy path to get to his people. The people were to make God’s road or “way” easy, so God had no obstacles in reaching and arriving at his destination, the people.
We can imagine the people putting up orange barrels, firing up the bulldozer to grade the rough places smooth and a backhoe to fill in the holes, and even the paver putting down miles of blacktop followed by the roller to smooth things out. But the roadwork John calls the people to do is not a literal road, but a metaphorical one. The pathway is not a spatial path, but a spiritual path. The path is not from Babylon to Canaan, the path is from Heaven to the human heart. The distance to be covered is not a location to another location, but a spiritual distance to be covered from a heart far away from God to a heart filled by God. That is the road the people were to pave, to make the journey easy for God to come back to his people, to come closer to the human heart.
Perhaps, this explains why John transforms the preparing the way of the Lord to a repentance towards the forgiveness of sins. The exile was not a literal distance from God to people, but a spiritual distance from people towards God. People leave God, exiling themselves from God’s presence and lordship. To symbolize the returning of God to the people, John reminds the people, that to confirm the returning of God, the people need to return to God. The hill that needs to be brought low is human rebellion. The hole that needs filled in is idolatry. The curve that needs straightened is self-determination. The slavery that needs abolished is of our own creation, a slavery to sin and death by our own daily choosing. God will come and God will come to save, but our hearts need to be ready for such a gracious deliverance.
As we make our final preparations for this Christmas season and for a new year, we also need to remember that in addition to getting more chocolate for that fudge, or another tube of wrapping paper, or mailing another card, we also need to do some preparations in our hearts to get them ready for Christ. The road into our hearts needs some paving work: a little less guilt a little more forgiveness, a little less resistance, a little more acknowledgment, a little less self-concern a little more generosity, a little less despair a little more hope, a little less hate a little more love. But perhaps the greatest roadwork that needs to be done, is our seasonal need to turn away from the world and ourselves and to repent or return to God. To cease running away and closing ourselves off from God and to run towards and open ourselves to the coming one, Jesus Christ our Lord. We all have some preparations to make for the coming of Christ we need more faith, more hope, and more love. My friends, let the way to our hearts be made straight for the coming of the Son of God, to whom be the glory and praises of his people unto the ages of ages, Amen!
Prayer
O God of Grace and Glory, we thank you for the coming presence of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In this time of anticipation and waiting for his arrival, help us to prepare ourselves for his coming. Empty us of what is displeasing to you, change us to become more and more into your children, fill us with every good and perfect gift as we prepare ourselves for you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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