Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked place shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God

 

 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the world delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.  

* * *

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 place 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 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 (1:1-4), 3:1-14 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus cried out in the temple and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

 

 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the world delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.   Today the lectionary switches from chapter 12 of John's Gospel, to the beginning of Luke's Gospel.  These verses are the Prologue to the Gospel.  My study bible comments that Luke was not a disciple from the beginning (he was  a physician by training, a Gentile from Antioch in Syria).  But he has a perfect understanding of the gospel because his sources were the apostles themselves, who were the eyewitnesses of Christ.  Luke's Gospel is written to Theophilus, a prominent Gentile who had received Christian instruction (see also Acts 1:1).   St. Ambrose is cited by my study bible as noting that the name Theophilus can simply means any "lover of God," and therefore writes, "If you love God, it was written to you."

 

 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.   Luke is careful to set the events of his Gospel in historical settings, documenting a clear idea of the date when these things were happening.  Herod is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, and he rules Galilee, the region where Christ lives and will begin His ministry.  Philip, Herod Antipas' brother, was the first husband of Herodias, the wife of Herod, over whom John the Baptist will be martyred as he publicly called their marriage unlawful.  Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests of the temple in Jerusalem.  My study bible comments that Caiphas was, in fact, the sole high priest, but people also recognized the continuing power of his father-in-law Annas, a previous high priest who was deposed by the Romans.  The story of Zacharias and the birth of John the Baptist is given in Luke 1:5-25.  

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins . . .   My study bible comments that the call to repentance was traditional for prophets.  John's baptism did not grant remission of sins once and for all, but prefigured and prepared people for the baptism of Christ which was to come (see Romans 6:3-11).  John, it says, is a figure of the Law in that, like the Law, he denounced sin but could not remit (literally "put away") sin.  Both John and the Law point to the One who can remit sin.

. . . 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 place shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' "   In John 1:23, the Baptist assigns the role of the voice to himself in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah quoted here (Isaiah 40:3-5). 

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."  My study bible comments that while parents and ancestors help impart piety and holiness, ancestry itself does not make one worthy of God.  Each person in every generation, it says, must bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Stones symbolize the Gentiles who would become children to Abraham through faith in Christ (Romans 4:16-18).  

"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."  John alludes here to the judgment of God.  These images are repeated in the preaching of Jesus in the context of judgment, as reported by Matthew (Matthew 7:19-21).

 

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."   The people ask John the Baptist how they must prepare for the coming of the Lord, the Messiah.  Let us note how John's words in a particular sense reflect the words of the "voice in the wilderness" in the prophecy of Isaiah (above).  The prophecy speaks of making paths straight, filling the valleys and bringing low the mountains and hills, the crooked places made straight and rough ways smooth.  Here, John's advice to the tax collectors is to stick only to what is lawfully owed to them, rather than using the might and muscle of the Roman Empire for whom they work to allow them to extort more (a frequent practice, making these Jewish tax collectors despised by their fellow Jews and looked upon as great sinners).  The soldiers John admonishes to refrain from intimidation or false accusation in order to extort extra money also.  It is a way of teaching fairness, righteous or just living even for these in the sight of God and among their fellow Jews.  (At this time, both tax collectors and certain ranks of common soldiers in the Roman Army came from among the Jewish population).

In the prophecy of Isaiah, fulfillment of which is attributed to John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness says, "Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked place shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God."  It is good for us to seek to understand how these words apply to us today in some sense as well.  Not only are these the words of fulfillment at the time of John the Baptist, preparing the people for the coming of Christ, but the words in this prophecy also speak to us today who live at a time when we are to be prepared for the second coming of Christ, not only as a possibility which is always present for the living, but also for the end of our own earthly lives as preparation for eventual judgment which comes to all.  That is, these words still speak to us about the ways in which we must see ourselves before God, and especially Christ the Judge.  While the Gospel gives us the tax collectors and soldiers who ask John the Baptist what they are to do in this time of preparation for the Lord, we also must consider ourselves in this light, as in a true picture of spiritual reality we also stand before Christ along with our fellow human beings in this world.  To fill the valleys and bring low the mountains and hills, to make straight the crooked places and smooth the rough ways are all images which teach us not only about how we must make an effort to welcome the mystical power of God in our own lives, but also make every effort to do our own part in accepting this most basic reality of spiritual life.  Whatever the picture of the world presented to us in a sense in which we look at the world through earthly eyes which do not recognize the activity of God in the world, it is up to us nevertheless to "see" with the eyes of faith.  It is one thing to see ourselves midst the sea of human beings in which we find competition and struggle and personal and community interest.  But it is quite another to totally level that playing field as a necessity when we see ourselves and all our fellow beings before the Lord.  John does not give prescriptions to the tax collectors and soldiers to quit their jobs, to radically change their ways of life by ceasing to work in serving the Roman Empire.  He is not recommending a political revolution.  This is something important for us to keep in mind, because, as we know from the story of Christ, there most certainly were those seeking a nationalist insurrection against the Roman (such as Barabbas).  Moreover, Christ Himself will be seen as a figure in opposition to purely nationalist aspirations, and a Messiah who will defy expectations that He would be a national liberator as militant warrior.  It is also in this context that we can view the orientation of those whom John the Baptist corrects by telling them it is not good enough to say that "we have Abraham as our father."   To make straight the paths of the Lord is also to recognize the power of the Lord, and that power may indeed raise up children to Abraham from stones, from outsiders, from the Gentiles, for to be a child of Abraham is to be like Abraham in loving obedience to God, especially in response to the coming Lord (John 8:52-56).  As we look at the Gospel, and consider these things happening at this tumultuous time in history in which John the Baptist speaks of preparation for Christ, let us consider our own times now.  Amidst political and cultural strife, where does John point us to?  How would Christ point us?  What is the spiritual perception necessary to understand how exactly we all stand before the Lord, and what we need to do to make His paths straight?  We are invited at this time to take a step back from all the earthly solutions we are offered, and instead to consider the dynamic of the spiritual dimensions of our faith, and the very real mystical presence of God in our midst.  Let us think of ourselves as making His path straight in our lives and our world, welcoming Him into our midst -- for that is where our salvation lies, just as it did in the time when Christ walked in this world.