"UNDER CONSTRUCTION"
December 8, 1996 message
Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Glen Arm, Maryland USA
based upon Isaiah 40:1-11
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:3)
Have you noticed the new surface on Long Green Road? Didn’t make it any straighter, but it took out some of the highs and lows. Now folks can travel even faster to get from here to there. That’s what roads are for us, just a means to an end. Am I right? ... Baltimore’s beltway is getting widened from rte. 83 west, so more cars can get where they need to go faster. Of course, until it’s finished, travelling through is a real headache. They’re also constructing privacy walls along it. The only way to see that highway, then, will be to drive it. And anyone who drives it just wants to use it as quickly as possible to get where they need to be. I know I do.
This is a far cry from the kind of road suggested in this scripture from Isaiah. The prophet was speaking to tired people who weren’t too interested in going anywhere. Earlier, a highway had been the vehicle that took them away from home, against their will, and brought them to a land where they didn’t want to be. As with anything, though, you get used to a situation, and decide to make the best of it. That’s how it was with the exiles of Israel, living in Babylon, away from their homeland.
According to the Bible, they were there because over the years God’s people had wandered further and further from where God wanted them to be. So, God made their wandering official, and brought about the exile. Politically speaking, the empire of Babylon was to blame for conquering Israel and resettling the best and the brightest in a different place. That’s how they kept their huge empire under control. Of course, the Bible asserts that God’s hand was in this move. King Nebuchadnezzar and his gods may have been powerful, but the God of Abraham and Moses was the great "I am" who was really in charge.
Speaking of Babylon and its gods, there were processional highways at the center of the empire upon which they had grand parades. These routes were not just for getting from one place to another as quickly as possible. No, they were for displaying the power of the nation. Soldiers marched. The emperor processed. Most importantly, the images of the nation’s gods were lifted up and carried for all the world to see. An intimidating sight! Among those who noticed were the exiled Israelites. It was to these people that Isaiah spoke for God.
He envisioned another highway, a road leading home for those who had almost lost hope of ever getting there. Imagine, for a moment, the refuges from Rwanda finally making their way home. That is somewhat the road of which Isaiah spoke. It takes a lot to get people to go home, though. One can get "stuck" in exile. At least the foreign land of exile is a "known" spot after so many years of living there. Home is no longer a "known" entity. It could well now be a dangerous place. Isaiah was speaking for God to folks who were "stuck" in their troubles, encouraging them to get up and go home - to step out onto the highway.
Now, that highway was also not just for getting from one place to another as quickly as possible. There was a purpose to that road beyond mere transport. Upon that highway the glory of the Lord would be revealed. The Babylonians weren’t the only ones who could lift up their power in parade. Only for the God of Israel, whose name cannot be spoken, whose image dare not be shaped into a statute or graven into any type of metal or stone, whose face could not be seen; for this God, a Babylonian style parade was out of the question. The real power of the universe would not be found in conquering armies in procession, in instruments of warfare in parade, in symbols of empire displayed, in religious objects lifted up to represent this deity or that. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the great "I am who I am," the one God who had long ago caused Pharoah to relent and set the enslaved children of Israel free from Egypt; this "immortal, invisible, God" would be glorified on the highway of which Isaiah spoke. But how?
Can God be glorified on the road? Not by how I drive, sometimes. After all, roads are for getting from one place to another as quickly as possible. Isaiah spoke the words of the Lord to those exiles in Babylon, calling them to prepare the way, the road. These words do need to speak to us, also. The fact that this text was taken from Babylon back to Israel, and much later used in all four gospels to describe the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist, demands that we listen to this calling as if it were our own. "Prepare the way of the Lord," John cried out in the wilderness. And as he cried, his finger was pointed not at himself, but in the direction of Jesus.
We find ourselves, in this season of Advent, getting ready for the birth of the Christ child. For many of us, it’s time to go get the Christmas tree and decorate it, and well as our home, with all the ornaments we have. Of course, some among us are so organized, their places are already prepared. Some already have all the gifts purchased and the cards sent. I marvel at such folks, knowing that I’m not one of them. We’re just now getting the tree. We have our own family tradition of going out and together cutting it down. We each have a role in decorating our home, preparing it for Christmas.
This year, I decided to do something I’ve thought about for a long time. At Thanksgiving I brought all the old home movies back from Mom’s, and have been busy copying them onto videotape, so we can give the result to my sisters and mother for Christmas. So far, it’s involved more time than I realized. The most treasured movies are of Christmastime. We had a yearly tradition of parading before the camera up to the stockings - putting them up the night before, taking them down on Christmas morning. In the earlier versions, there I am, heavy in the rear with a fat diaper, waddling between my older sisters’ hands. As in many homes, Mom was the keeper of the tradition. The decorations bear her handiwork, down to the special pajamas she sometimes made us for the ocassion. But we all contributed. In 1959 (I now know the year), my sister gave Dad a Christmas bowtie she made, which he religiously wore every year thereafter, even to work, during this season - such is a father’s love. He was buried with in on.
Advent is a time for preparation. There is an outer adornment involved. Be sure to appreciate all the decorations which have been lovingly placed around the church building. I think we know, however, that as important as these things are for keeping the tradition, there is a deeper preparation that needs to be made. There is what we might call an "inner adornment" which needs to take place if we are to truly prepare the way for the Lord. After all, we’re not just talking about the birth of the Christ child, something that has already happened. In Advent we anticipate something which isn’t yet a reality. God’s new realm will come into existence someday, in a much greater way than what we currently know. Jesus will return, and the kingdom will come. We can’t quite imagine that homeland which will soon be ours, just like the exiles in Babylon couldn’t quite see the Israel to which Isaiah was calling them to return. Still, the voice cries out, "Prepare the way!"
When John the Baptist uttered these words, his call was to repentance, which literally means "to turn." "Prepare the way of the Lord" by turning from sin, he cried out, baptizing whoever responded, whoever turned away from sin and toward the Lord, with a baptism of forgiveness. It was an act of cleansing, being made clean by God. How often do we think of repentance during this month? It’s such a "feel good" time, or at least that’s what it’s supposed to be. If we feel bad about anything, it’s usually over how the holiday never quite lives up to our expectations. But what of repentance? What sort of "turning" are we doing in preparation?
What sin do you need to turn away from this season? Let’s not trivialize it by "giving up something for Advent," like some do for Lent. Not eating chocolate for a month is not repentance unless, of course, it feeds an addiction that is preventing a deeper walk with God. In that case, the "one month" deal is more like a pact with the devil - giving up for now what you plan on returning to latter. That’s not repentance. What sin is pulling you away from God, away from your brother or sister? From what do you need to turn away, and thus face in the right direction? Examine yourself. Your sin may be something you consciously do, or even do without much thought. It may be something you aren’t doing, that you should. Examine yourself. We are, as the old hymn goes, "prone to wander," though sometimes we accomplish our wandering in a sitting position. Examine yourself. "Prepare the way."
This business of (as Isaiah put it) "valleys being lifted up, mountains made low; and rough places made plain," (40:4) indicates that the process of preparing the way is an earth moving experience. The purpose of it all, though, isn’t to make the road so smooth and straight that we can jump into our spiritual automobiles and race from one end to another as quickly as possible, with no traffic jams or other congestion. There is no such thing as a "smooth" life in the Spirit, where things are so peaceful that you can blissfully turn on your radio and enjoy the music and, before you know it, find yourself back home. If that’s what you want out of God, you’re not going to find it here.
The thing about this road is, it’s always under construction. Even at Christmastime. That’s what repentance is: construction work. In the daily turning from sin and turning toward God, this road is being built, one foot at a time. Furthermore, the purpose behind all the construction work is, as Isaiah said, that "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together." (v.5) How is God glorified on this road? I mean, it’s not like we parade down it carrying God for all to see. In reality God carries us. No, the world beholds a bit of God’s glory as they observe us upon this highway, this road under construction.
Let’s not try to rush through the season, to get from one end to the other as quickly as possible. There’s important work to be done on this road. "Caution," the sign reads, "Repentance work ahead." Prepare the way!
©1996Peter L. Haynes