Second Sunday of Advent: Prepare the way of the Lord!

Second Sunday of Advent
BAR 5:1­9
PS 126:1­2, 2­3, 4­5, 6
PHIL 1:4­6, 8­11
LK 3:1­6

 

Charles Dickens in his book, A Tale of Two Cities, set his story during the time of the French Revolution. The book begins like this:
 

It was the best of times,
 it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way— in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
(Tale of Two Cities, Opening lines)

Luke’s Gospel: A dark and violent place
John and Jesus began their public ministry in a time like our time. Luke describes the world of men, the mighty and the dangerous, the important and the awesome.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas… Lk. 3:1-2

Who were these people? The rich and powerful. 

• Emperor Tiberius' mother, Livia, probably murdered Augustus Caesar, his step-father, and all of Tiberius’ rivals to power so her son could inherit the throne, according to Roman historians.
• Pontius Pilate the Governor of Judea, would condemn Jesus to death. Governors were permitted to profit from their provinces and tended to be quite greedy.
• Herod and Phillip were children of one of King Herod the Great’s five wives. Herod tried to kill Jesus as a child. His son Herod Antipas would be part of the crucifixion of Jesus
• High Priests Annas and Caiphas were antagonists in the trial and execution of Jesus. They were the party of the Temple and collaborated with the Romans.

In the world dominated by the powerful, the wealthy and the warlike, Luke nods towards power and then relates a story that begins far from the centers of human power. Out in the boondocks, far away from the center of human power, the son of a minor Temple priest, John the Baptist, spoke for God. John, clad in animal skins and eating insects, was a voice in the wilderness. He said, “Make ready the way of the Lord.”  Luke introduced John the Baptist as the Old Testament introduced the prophets, by referring to who was in power at the time. The story isn’t about the powerful, however, instead, God’s story is about the nobodies on the peripheries. John’s time is very like the present given the tension between the centers of power and the peripheries.
 
Make the Lord’s path straight!
Luke’s introduction of John the Baptizer as a prophet ushers him onto the world stage, connecting him both with Israel and the sweep of history.

“A voice of one crying out in the desert:
'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths'” (Mk 1:3, cf. Isa 40:3).

Isaiah [1], spoke that verse during the Babylonian captivity, referring to the return of the Judean refugees to their homeland. Isaiah celebrated that return using the imagery of a Near Eastern king moving in triumphant procession, his passage carefully prepared by filling in gullies and repairing roads. This home­coming was a new Exodus, a fresh liberating act of their saving God.  
 
John, the voice of one crying out in the desert repurposed Isaiah's call:


“Prepare the way of 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.” Lk. 3:5-6.

John was not proposing a public works project addressing transportation, but called the people to repent of sin; to make way for the Lord.
 
The Call to Reform: Past and Present
A prophet stands as a sentinel at the boundary between God and us. He doesn’t so much explain God to us, as he makes us aware of God’s saving action. The world that John and Jesus penetrated was a dark world full of violent people. Chronologically, we are two thousand years from Jesus and John. In space, we are thousandsof miles away. But this time is like their time; it is the right time, the time for action. Our time and space, as Dickens points out, is still very much like all times. We respond to Jesus and John when we moderate our own desires and remember others, especially the needy.  John's call to repentance opens up a space and a time for God to act in each of our lives. The human need for reform of life is a past and present reality.  What part of us needs to be raised up to God? What part of us needs to be laid low? Knock down the hills and fill the valleys.
 
St. Mark Penance Service
Our parish penance service will be on Monday, December 17 at 5:30 pm.  More than a dozen priests will be here. Family participation in this sacrament is a solid step to preparing for a peaceful Christmas. The sacrament of reconciliation in the way we prepare the way of the Lord. If it was true that people two thousand years ago needed to prepare the way for the Lord, it is true today.