“A voice of one crying in the desert:
Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight His paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the Salvation of God.”
Last week was the first week of Advent and in the gospel we heard Jesus prophesying of the second coming. He warned of signs in the heavens and catastrophes on earth, crashing waves, trembling mountains; signs that may even frighten some to death, and yet Jesus exhorts us to stand erect, hold our heads up and watch, because these are signs that our redemption is at hand. And salvation is not something to be missed.
And here we are again, in week 2, with another image of the earth being remodeled. But, this time the speaker is John the Baptist, and recalling the words of the prophet Isaiah, John proclaims not catastrophes but mountains made low, valleys filled in, rough ways made smooth, crooked ways made straight, all in preparation for the coming of our savior.
There are two ways we might read this image of levelling and straightening. The way I have always tended to read it, and I think the way John intended it, is as a kind of rolling out of the red carpet for a special and very important guest—a king or queen, a move star, maybe Santa Claus, or (even better) Grandma!
The idea being that the levelling and reshaping of the path is our way of honoring the coming guest; how we might allegorically (or actually) prepare a path for their approach. I can still remember the frazzled cry: Grandma is going to be here in 10 minutes! And the frenzied rush to pick up toys, to clear off the couch, to put away laundry and get the dirty dishes out of the sink—even if you have to hide them in the garage! This reading is all about preparing a path and a space for someone special (God) coming to us. And that fits. Nothing wrong with it.
But, on this second Sunday of Advent, the reading from Luke’s gospel is paired with an Old Testament reading not about the coming of a glorious Messiah, but the return of exiles from Babylon. Exiles seeking refuge are returning home. Using very similar language, the prophet Baruch tells of:
“…every lofty mountain shall be made low,
[and] age-old depths and gorges filled to level ground…” (cf. Baruch 5:1-9)
And it is God who does the work, God who levels the path and straightens the way, God who calls His people to come and see His glory returning –not in royal splendor, not in wealth or power, but in the rejoicing of the lost children now returning, “gathered from the east and west…” A people led away in sorrow and chains, now returns rejoicing because they were remembered by God. Homeless exiles seeking refuge, but rejoicing in God’s mercy and love… That is the glory of God Baruch bears witness to.
And so now, reading these two pieces of scripture one after the other, here on the second Sunday of Advent, I find myself asking a new set of questions: Am I preparing the way? Or is God? And, maybe more importantly, when I hold my head up and look at that straightened path, when I watch for the glory of God, when I look for my salvation, who (or what) am I looking for?
When I was a boy, around this time of year, if someone special was coming over, no matter how glad I might be to see them, what I was really excited to see was presents. Did they bring any gifts, and was my name on it? That’s what I was really looking for. Wrapping paper. Bows. Toys.
But, is that how God reveals Himself to us? Wrapped in fancy paper, and decorated with tinsel and ribbons and bows? Maybe even with a gift receipt in case we need to exchange His grace for something more our style? Or does the Glory of God sometimes come toward us looking like a road worker, a trash collector, a waitress, a beggar on the street, or a lonely neighbor, a friendless child, a refugee, an exile, a widow or an orphan, someone in need of shelter, food, clothes, kindness and a welcoming embrace?
Matthew 25 guarantees that we can always meet Jesus in the hungry, the naked, the prisoner and the sick, the needy and the vulnerable. In Isaiah 66, God tells us that the lowly and the afflicted are the dwelling He prefers, and His son Jesus makes the path to that dwelling very clear, very straight, very easy to follow. And yet, we don’t have to go looking for Him. He is constantly on the lookout for us. We just need to open our eyes and see—there He is. Our redeemer, our savior coming to greet us. He may not look like much at first glance, and sometimes He may seem as helpless as a newborn baby… But don’t let His empty hands disappoint you. He isn’t Santa Claus. He doesn’t come bearing gifts.
Because He is the gift.
All we have to do this Christmas is be willing to receive.
No comments:
Post a Comment