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Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
'Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make His paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough ways smooth;
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?" He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed to you." Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?" So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."
- Luke 3:1-14
Over the course of the past several readings, we have been finishing the current lectionary selections on the Gospel of John. Last week, we read through Jesus' Farewell Discourse to His Apostles. See In My Father's house are many mansions; Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you; I am the vine, you are the branches; This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you; When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth and That your joy may be full. This week, we have read through Jesus' final prayer to the Father before His betrayal and arrest. On Monday, Jesus prayed, "Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are." On Tuesday, He continued, regarding His Apostles and those to follow, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." In yesterday's reading, Jesus prayed, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. Today the lectionary cycle again takes us through readings in the Gospel of Luke. Luke is careful to set us down historically in the place where we start reading in the Gospel. My study bible has notes on the several figures mentioned here. Of Tiberias, it notes that he "ruled as sole Roman emperor in A.D. 14-37, but had authority over the provinces from A.D. 11 on. Thus the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus began sometime between A.D. 26 and 28. Pilate was governor of Judea from A.D. 26-36." "Caiaphas," it notes, "was the sole official high priest (A.D. 18-36), but people recognized behind him the power of his father-in-law, Annas, a previous high priest deposed by the Romans." We note the language here: the "word of God came to John . . . in the wilderness." We call the Gospels the word, as Scripture is the living Word. But above all, as John's Gospel revealed to us, we know Christ as the Word. There are all kinds of ways in which "the word" comes to us: but where the Word is there is also the Spirit and the Father.
And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" My study bible tells us that "the call to repentance was typical of the Old Testament prophets, but John's baptism for the remission of sins sounds a deeper note: a symbolic washing away of sins, prefiguring that which will come. As Paul writes in Rom. 6:1-6, those who come to Christ will be buried with Him in baptism, rising to new life." Of the quotation from Isaiah (40:3-5 and 52:10), it tells us, "Isaiah the prophet foresaw the momentous significance of the period of the Messiah and the preparation necessary for it."
Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." My study bible tells us, "Ethnic or 'spiritual' ancestry does not guarantee security in the face of God's judgment. Only faithful repentance and good works worthy of it bring salvation. Stones symbolize Gentile Christians who became children of God."
So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?" He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed to you." Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?" So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages." The emphasis here is on "making the way straight" for the Lord. The types of action John suggests to the people who practice repentance here are all ways of expressing that "every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth": that is, those with wealth shall help to care for those who haven't, the tax collectors should not extort extra money but do a fair job and require honestly only as much as people truly owe, the soldiers should not use their power to collect from others through intimidation, false "protection" or false accusations against others. In each way, this is "leveling" and "making the way straight" for the Lord.
In some way we can see reflected in the words of Isaiah the song of Mary at the Annunciation, which comes in chapter 1 of Luke's Gospel. The lectionary cycle now starts at chapter 3, but let us go to chapter 1 to teach us about Mary and her song: "He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant . . . He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty." We have, in so many ways in the Gospels, the lifting up of the lowly, the leveling of the ways of the Lord, the making the crooked ways straight. And we can see this reflected over and over in the Gospels in many dimensions and through many teachings and meanings. Jesus will teach, in Matthew's Gospel (20:25-28), "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The Lord has a way of lifting up the lowly, of bringing down those who are too high to relate as they must, of accomplishing His methods through what is straight and not crooked, including the hearts that are pure and capable of love, and those characters that are straightforward in loving the truth. All of this is a sign that points to the greatest truth of the Gospels, the manifestation to us of the Word Himself in human form. St. Athanasius of Alexandria has written, "For He was made man that we might be made God" ("Section 54", On the Incarnation) and St. Augustine has told us, "If we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods" ("Psalm 50", Exposition of the Book of Psalms). So these great Fathers of the Early Church are teaching us about what is often called the condescension of God to us, although the word "condescension" now means something quite different in common parlance than the great love and truth that it is meant to teach us. God lifts up the lowly in the ways that are beyond our understanding. Out of love God comes to redeem and to make new, to transform, to turn us all into children of God should we also respond back with our love. The "stones" that my study bible tells us are symbolic of the Gentiles are those which can be used to pave this road, to prepare this Way, to "make His paths straight." As children of God, anything is possible with God. Let us remember His condescension and love, let us remember the Word, and why, and how, in so many ways, it is present to us and is waiting for us. Let us practice His love and truth, as He has taught us, and become sons and children of God through His adoption.
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. Today the lectionary cycle again takes us through readings in the Gospel of Luke. Luke is careful to set us down historically in the place where we start reading in the Gospel. My study bible has notes on the several figures mentioned here. Of Tiberias, it notes that he "ruled as sole Roman emperor in A.D. 14-37, but had authority over the provinces from A.D. 11 on. Thus the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus began sometime between A.D. 26 and 28. Pilate was governor of Judea from A.D. 26-36." "Caiaphas," it notes, "was the sole official high priest (A.D. 18-36), but people recognized behind him the power of his father-in-law, Annas, a previous high priest deposed by the Romans." We note the language here: the "word of God came to John . . . in the wilderness." We call the Gospels the word, as Scripture is the living Word. But above all, as John's Gospel revealed to us, we know Christ as the Word. There are all kinds of ways in which "the word" comes to us: but where the Word is there is also the Spirit and the Father.
And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" My study bible tells us that "the call to repentance was typical of the Old Testament prophets, but John's baptism for the remission of sins sounds a deeper note: a symbolic washing away of sins, prefiguring that which will come. As Paul writes in Rom. 6:1-6, those who come to Christ will be buried with Him in baptism, rising to new life." Of the quotation from Isaiah (40:3-5 and 52:10), it tells us, "Isaiah the prophet foresaw the momentous significance of the period of the Messiah and the preparation necessary for it."
Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." My study bible tells us, "Ethnic or 'spiritual' ancestry does not guarantee security in the face of God's judgment. Only faithful repentance and good works worthy of it bring salvation. Stones symbolize Gentile Christians who became children of God."
So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?" He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed to you." Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?" So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages." The emphasis here is on "making the way straight" for the Lord. The types of action John suggests to the people who practice repentance here are all ways of expressing that "every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth": that is, those with wealth shall help to care for those who haven't, the tax collectors should not extort extra money but do a fair job and require honestly only as much as people truly owe, the soldiers should not use their power to collect from others through intimidation, false "protection" or false accusations against others. In each way, this is "leveling" and "making the way straight" for the Lord.
In some way we can see reflected in the words of Isaiah the song of Mary at the Annunciation, which comes in chapter 1 of Luke's Gospel. The lectionary cycle now starts at chapter 3, but let us go to chapter 1 to teach us about Mary and her song: "He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant . . . He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty." We have, in so many ways in the Gospels, the lifting up of the lowly, the leveling of the ways of the Lord, the making the crooked ways straight. And we can see this reflected over and over in the Gospels in many dimensions and through many teachings and meanings. Jesus will teach, in Matthew's Gospel (20:25-28), "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The Lord has a way of lifting up the lowly, of bringing down those who are too high to relate as they must, of accomplishing His methods through what is straight and not crooked, including the hearts that are pure and capable of love, and those characters that are straightforward in loving the truth. All of this is a sign that points to the greatest truth of the Gospels, the manifestation to us of the Word Himself in human form. St. Athanasius of Alexandria has written, "For He was made man that we might be made God" ("Section 54", On the Incarnation) and St. Augustine has told us, "If we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods" ("Psalm 50", Exposition of the Book of Psalms). So these great Fathers of the Early Church are teaching us about what is often called the condescension of God to us, although the word "condescension" now means something quite different in common parlance than the great love and truth that it is meant to teach us. God lifts up the lowly in the ways that are beyond our understanding. Out of love God comes to redeem and to make new, to transform, to turn us all into children of God should we also respond back with our love. The "stones" that my study bible tells us are symbolic of the Gentiles are those which can be used to pave this road, to prepare this Way, to "make His paths straight." As children of God, anything is possible with God. Let us remember His condescension and love, let us remember the Word, and why, and how, in so many ways, it is present to us and is waiting for us. Let us practice His love and truth, as He has taught us, and become sons and children of God through His adoption.
