Prepare the way of the Lord

Sermon by Pr. Sharai Jacob on the Fourth Sunday in Advent + Saturday, December 7, 2024

Our gospel reading today begins by listing the rulers of the time—Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias—and the high priests Annas and Caiaphas. These names anchor the story in a specific political and religious landscape, one defined by a certain kind of power and hierarchy. We see echoes of that same kind of power today - fueled by death and destruction, creating more and more greed. But Luke doesn’t dwell there long. Our author pushes our perspective quickly to John the Baptist. He lives in the wilderness, holding no real position of power. But he has been given a message and a task – he cries out “prepare the way of the Lord.”

Preparation begins in the wilderness. The wilderness, in Scripture, is often a place of testing and transformation. The Israelites wandered there for forty years, and Jesus himself would later be tempted there. It is a space where the distractions of life fall away, and we are left alone. Just us and God. It is where we are shown our own hearts, where God prepares us for the next stage.

When I first moved to the US, it felt like we had entered the wilderness. We were surrounded by people who lived in a different way. I felt alone, I missed home. But I knew God had called us here for a reason. After a year in the US, we visited home. I sat on the flight expecting to return to the same streets, the same food, the same family. But, when I arrived, everything was not the same. My cousins had grown, their home had changed. The stores we would visit to rent movies, or buy candy had closed or moved. We drove past our old house and saw that the new owners had renovated, and the huge mango trees had been cut down. Even the slang that we grew up knowing, that my brother and I had held onto in an effort to preserve our Africanness – it had changed.

We were different, home was different. We didn’t quite fit, and home didn’t fit us. That was when I realized: there was no way to go back. Home as we knew it was only a memory now. All we could do was move forward.

For many Americans, the past few years have revealed things about their home. When your idea of home - an ethical, just, country - is no longer present in your reality, you get thrown into the wilderness. Maybe you are doing what I did: trying to find the way back to the home you knew. Back to safety, peace, comfort. But God is not calling us to go back to the way things were. In fact the way things were doesn’t exist. It is something worth grieving, the loss of our idea of home. It is worth pausing to say goodbye to. But when we have done that, when we have grieved and laid the old idea to rest, then we have to stop our wandering and push forward to what comes next.

Our Gospel text tells us a bit about what comes next:

5 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,

6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

These are Isaiah’s words, quoted by Luke. They paint a picture of radical change. Isaiah spoke to people in exile, calling them home again. Calling a changed people to a changed home.

This is more than an empty hope, it is a promise of divine transformation. God’s kingdom turns the world’s systems upside down. The Valleys - places of oppression and despair - will be lifted up. The Mountains - symbols of pride, power, and the greed it creates - they will be brought low. Crooked paths of injustice and deceit - will be straightened. Rough ways the hardships of life - will be smoothed.

This same divine transformation is promised to the whole world in Christ. The passage concludes with a breathtaking statement: “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” This is a message of hope for everyone. God’s salvation is not limited to a particular people, place, or time. Freedom from greed and injustice and oppression. Freedom for the Earth - it’s lands, seas, and creatures. Salvation is for all.

In a world divided by power, politics, and privilege, this universal promise is radical. It reminds us that God’s kingdom is expansive and inclusive. It includes salvation for all sides - even the sides I might not like as much. The valleys, mountains, and crooked paths are not only metaphors for transformation in the world, but also for the landscape of our own hearts. If we are to prepare the way for the Lord, we must also prepare to embrace the breadth of God’s salvation. God’s promise is to flatten the hills and raise the valleys in our hearts that help us to see ourselves as separate from “those people” on the other side.

It is not enough for the world to change on its own. To prepare for a changed world, we must allow God to change our hearts. The echoes of pride, greed, injustice, and hardness in our own lives must be addressed. These are things that God helps us to confront, things that community helps us to guard against.

As we journey through this Advent season, let us heed John’s call to prepare the way of the Lord.

Search your hearts: What valleys, mountains, or crooked paths need God’s touch? Set time aside to pray, reflect, or meditate - just five minutes a day or a week is a great start. Ask God to reveal to you where you might need change. Who might need to hear a bit of hope in your life? A simple statement of faith at the right moment, “God is with us; God will help us,” can give a friend the hope they need to do something great.

Let us embrace the wilderness, trust in God’s transformative power, and hold fast to the promise that all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

May we be a people ready for the coming of Christ, not just in Bethlehem, but in our hearts and in our world. Amen