Isaiah 40.3-5
A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
I love the boldness, authenticity, commitment, and conviction of the prophets. To the very best of their ability, they interpreted life within the context of their faith (first) and the cultural milieu. I firmly believe in their heart of hearts, they truly believed they were speaking for God; many times they (like us) were right on the money and other times….
To better understand today’s blog passage, we need the first two verses (40:1, 2) for context: “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her time of service is ended, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” Credible biblical scholars estimate that chapters 40 thru 45 were written between 556-539 BCE. At this time the Jewish people are still under Babylonian rule, but the Persian King,
Cyrus II, appears to be one who could topple the Babylonian empire—and eventually he does.
So, once again, there is hope, that God will deliver the Jews from exile, will send a savior, this time in the person of Cyrus. In fact Isaiah 45:1 refers to Cyrus as the messiah or the anointed one. Verse 13 says, “I have aroused Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his paths straight; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward, says the Lord of hosts.” After being under Babylonian rule for so long, understandably, the writer of Isaiah and the Jewish people were ready for life to be easier; they especially wanted the way of their messiah, their savoir (this time) to be easy, achievable. Now fast forward ….
Like Matthew and Mark, Luke (3:4) refers to part of our blog passage when speaking of John the Baptist, “As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” John the Baptist paid the ultimate price to make a straight path for Jesus Christ, for God’s glory—God’s love.
Well, if the path of the savior is to be straight, more direct, easier, because mountains and hills will be made low, valleys raised, and rough ground leveled, then we have much hard work to do. We may hope God will do the heavy lifting or the savior-of-the-day will do it; but it is us, the church, the body of Christ, that will make the path straight for the glory of God to be revealed—and we won’t get this work done in malls (Remember, Christmas Is Not Your [Our/My] Birthday).
Merry Christmas and a Happy and Righteous New Year!
Rev. Jay Cole, Minister of CCS
