Make His paths straight

 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:
'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.'"

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 good tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

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 for 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

Our most recent readings have been in the Gospel of John.  At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed what is called the High Priestly Prayer.  We began reading this prayer with Monday's reading.   Yesterday, we read that Jesus prayed:   "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may 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 we move from John's Gospel to Luke's.  Luke sets down carefully who is in power at the time, noting the historical circumstances for accuracy.  It is a time, says my study bible, when a king rules who is not from the tribe of Judah.  Such circumstances were prophesied from ancient times for the time of the Messiah (Genesis 49:10).  It says, "As Herod was a non-Jew calling himself the king of Judea, the coming of the Christ was surely at hand."  Caiaphas is now the high priest, but people recognized the continuing power of his father-in-law Annas, a previous high priest who had been deposed by the Romans.

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 he 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 is traditional for prophets.  John's baptism doesn't grant remission of sins but prefigured and prepared people for Christ's baptism which was to come.  John is a figure of the Law in the sense that he denounced sin but could not remit ("put away") sin.  A note says, "Both John and the Law point to the one who can remit sin."   Using the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3-5, John takes on the role of "the voice."  In the prophecy, we note a great "evening up" in the way of salvation of the Lord.

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 good tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  My study bible notes that while parents and ancestors may help to impart piety and holiness, ancestry itself doesn't make anyone worthy of God.  "Each person in every generation must bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Stones symbolize the Gentiles who would become children to Abraham through faith in Christ (Romans 4:16-18)."

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 for 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."   What does it mean to bear fruits worthy of repentance?  John the Baptist gives his contemporaries some answers.  They have a lot to do with "evening up."  They have even more to do with truth and with honesty, with "making paths straight," "making crooked places straight."  And they are examples of making "rough ways smooth" for those who suffer hardship and injustice.   And they are inclusive of powerful and powerless:  it is "all flesh" that "shall see the salvation of God."

John the Baptist comes with a warning:  the Messiah is coming.  The time is at hand.  Prepare the way of the Lord.  It's the time to get ready.  What does this all mean?   They are to "bear fruits worthy of repentance."  "Well, could you explain that a bit?" the people ask the Baptist.  And today, we have to think about the same thing.  This isn't a once in the world event, really.  The Messiah is here with us and comes to us every day.  Christ is always at hand, ready to make His entrance.  So, how do we bear fruits worthy of repentance?  Clean up our act, get our own truth, honesty, and integrity together.  Don't cheat.  Help others who need it.  Give a hand.  Do your job well.  Try a little humility.  Forget intimidation and leverage and "lording it over one another."  But we know there is so much more to it, too.  After all, Christ has come and made His ministry as Jesus.  Yesterday, we read the last words of His prayer at the Last Supper.  How can we forget the love with which He spoke, the sense of how we are all deeply embraced by the Father?  To "make His paths straight," then, is just the beginning.  We're to open up those pathways within ourselves.  Our honesty and integrity give us the start we need to let Him in.  Humility can only be the beginning of the fruits that allow us to let down our own arrogant barriers to His love and His teachings, His commands for us.  How do we bear fruits worthy of repentance?  We listen to His call.  We take it seriously.  We make the ways open to Him.  We are worthy of His glory, we share in His love, and His one-ness with the Father.  We come to know God -- an ongoing process -- through faith.  But John here lays the groundwork, and replays the message for us all, coming from Isaiah:  Make His paths straight!  Make the crooked ways straight!  Smooth the rough parts!  Smooth down the mountain within us, and fill in the valley where we don't come up to "hear" His voice.  Let us prepare the way and show some of the fruits of what it is to "change our minds" about what's important, what we really need, who we pay attention to.  Let's start there, every day.  It's the call of the voice crying in the wilderness, for us to have ears to hear.  It's the salvation of us all, but only if we can pay attention.  Repentance is just the beginning.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!