Wow! A
Straight Road
Luke 3:1-6
December
10, 2006
1 – 6
In the fifteenth year of the
reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and
Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of
Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high
priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God
came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the
region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the
prophet Isaiah,
"The voice of
one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of
God.’”
The first mission trip to Jamaica for me was in May 1983. I got to tell
you, I know that I have a very understanding bride. In May 1983, Allyson
was five months old and we were packing so that we would be ready to move
to a new appointment at the end of June.
We left Raleigh Durham on a hot spring day. We arrived
in Miami and sat around in a cool airport until it was time to depart for
Kingston, Jamaica. When we arrived in Kingston and stepped off of that
plane, we were greeted with a heat and humidity like we experience around
here in late July. It was hot. I think I was soaking wet by the time we
entered the terminal. We finally made it through customs and got into our
van to go to Manchioneal to start working on the manse. The road was okay
going out of Kingston but it soon turned into a nightmare. For what seemed
like an eternity – I guess it was three hours plus – we bumped along one
of the curviest roads that any of us had ever ridden on in our lives.
Finally at about dusk, we turned onto the pathway that would take us to
the manse. At that point, one of the persons on our team said: “Wow, A
straight road!”
Luke informs the reader of the text that
God had revealed some great news to John.
John was out in the wilderness telling everyone to prepare themselves for
the great event that was about to take place in human history. The way he
prepared them for the event was by proclaiming to all: “Prepare the way of
the Lord, make his paths straight."
The people understood the words of John.
The pathways in their communities were not nice paved roads. They were
pathways that were cut out of the wilderness as one attempted to go
forward. Sometimes the pathways were straight, but most of the time they
had plenty of curves in them. The journeys on those pathways were trying
and harsh for the travelers.
When John called for everyone to make
straight the paths to their hearts and souls, they understood what he
meant. They understood that it was important to have a straight path so
that one could get to the place that he or she was traveling to.
They understood that John was challenging
them to take a deep look at their own lives and discover if they were
walking the walk that the Creator God wanted
them to walk. John was urging them to stop on the pathway for a few
moments and take a spiritual inventory so that they may discover if they
were ready for the one who was about to enter into human history.
His words ring true for us today. John is
challenging the community of faith to slow down. Look inward and discover
if the pathway is straight. His proclamation is calling us to do a
spiritual examination so that we may discover if we are really willing to
let go and trust completely in God.
There is a neat story about a grandfather
who was walking past his granddaughter’s bedroom one night when he saw her
kneeling beside her bed, head bowed and hands folded, repeating the
alphabet. "What are you doing?" he asked her. She explained, "I'm saying
my prayers, but I couldn't think of just what I wanted to say. So I'm just
saying all the letters, and God can put them
together however He thinks best." The letters that little girl was saying
when she was praying were not nearly as important as her attitude of
openness and reverence toward God.
John said to the people: “slow down and
take a look at yourselves.” He then invited them to prepare a straight
path to their hearts and souls for the coming of the Messiah. He gave
excellent instructions on how to make those paths straight. He said:
“Every pot hole should be filled in so that one can be ready for the
coming of the King of Kings. Every mountain that we have created in our
lives shall be lowered so that it can not keep us from receiving the
greatest gift ever given to this world.” Now that is my paraphrase of his
words. The events and the things in our lives that we have placed so much
importance in have a way of making our pathways full of potholes and
mountains. Those things that we have thought to be so important have led
us off the straight pathway. Once off of the pathway, we have a hard time
of staying focused upon God the creator.
In life, we become so focused on events and
things that we forget about the true and proper relationship that we are
to have with God. What are those things that
can cause us fall to in a hole and not be able to continue on the straight
pathway? They are the things that we desire more than a true relationship
with Christ. They are the things that help to
generate in our very beings the though patterns of “I want everything to
go my way.” They are the things of this world that invite us to focus on
them and on ourselves instead of upon God.
The scriptures tell us that they are idols.
Now, someone might say: “Johnny, we do not
have any idols.” Maybe, we do not have wooden carved idols in our homes
that we fall down and worship. If we would stop and look inwardly, I am
willing to guess that we will find some idols hidden in our very beings.
Those idols can be sports related, a desire for power, a fast car, a
desire for great wealth, a desire to be important, a desire to have one’s
way, a desire to destroy others by gossiping about them. There are many
idols in this world that we fall down and worship because we get caught up
in our own desires. John was telling the people then and he is telling us
now to remove those things from our lives that will keep us from making
the pathway straight to our hearts so that the King of Kings may enter
into our very beings.
The people of John’s day also understood
that if royalty was going to visit their community that they would be
responsible in making the pathways straight and beautiful for the one who
was coming to visit them. They also understood the consequences if they
did not do it. The royalty that would be visiting them would hold them
accountable. That accountability would be harsh punishment for their lack
of respect for the visiting royalty.
John wanted the people to know that a
life-changing event was about to take place in human history. An event was
about to happen like no other event before it. The world was going to be
receiving the king of Kings, the prince of peace. The world was about to
be given the Son of God,
God’s great gift. He wanted the people to be
ready to receive God’s gift.
I have a retired pastor friend who said to
me one time many years ago: “By Christmas day, I can understand the
feelings of Ebenezer Scrooge.” Wow, that is the day the Christian world
celebrates the coming of Jesus into the world. That is the day that we
proclaim to the rest of the world that God
entered into human history to restore everyone back to his or her proper
relationship with God. Yet, we fill the
season of preparation with so many things and so many activities that we
forget to check and discover if the pathway to our hearts are straight.
One of my favorite little books is Dickens
A Christmas Carol. It is a
book that reminds all of us that we need to slow down and look inwardly
and discover who we are and whose we are. That marvelous story has a way
of reminding us that there are many potholes and mountains in life that
can block our pathways to the creator. It also can teach us that we need
to be attentive to those things and to remove them from our lives. It
teaches us that it is important for us to make the pathway straight so
that we can be prepared for the coming of the King of Kings.
John also proclaimed that: “the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of
God.”
When one stops and prepares himself or herself for the coming of the King
of Kings then one will remove all of those things in their lives that
would have separated them from Jesus of
Nazareth. As we prepare ourselves for the birth of Christ,
once again, let us stop and discover those things in our lives that will
keep us from receiving him. As we discover those things, then let us seek
wisdom and courage from God so that we may
remove them from our very beings. At that point, we will indeed make the
pathway straight. The crooked roads in our lives will once again be
straight and leading directly to God and not
to anything else in this world. The rough ways that have existed in our
lives will be made smooth and calm so that we can be ready for the coming
of the King of Kings.
Now is the time to make preparation for the coming of
God’s Son into our lives. Now is the time to
remove all of those obstacles in our lives and make the pathway straight
for Jesus of Nazareth to enter into our lives.
The season of preparation is upon us. It will sometimes be difficult but
we need to make sure that we do not allow all of the peripheral stuff keep
us from knowing and experiencing the greatest gift ever given to the
world.
Prepare the way! Let us make straight the pathway to our hearts and souls
so that we will be ready for the King of Kings to enter into our lives.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
