Psalm: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Old Testament: Isaiah 40:1-11
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8
Epistle: 2 Peter 3:8-15a
Welcome to the second week of Advent. Holiday cheer and
maybe colder weather is coming in. It definitely does not feel like Christmas or
winter here. But hopefully you have begun to do some of the Christmas traditions
like putting up lights or other decorations, going to holiday parties, and
buying presents. We do all of these things as tangible ways of preparation,
i.e. getting gifts for the family to open on Christmas morning. But we also do
things like decorating and sipping eggnog (but not me) because it prepares us
in an intangible and internal way. We have a whole host of traditions and
practices in our homes and churches that we only do during the seasons of
Advent or Christmas. In a sense, we are preparing our homes, churches, and
hearts to celebrate Christmas to the fullest extent.
Our theme this week in the Scriptures is about preparation as well. Both Isaiah and Mark have words about preparing the way and making straight paths in the wilderness for God.[i] What strikes me in these 2 passages is that God is asking and expecting humans to act and actually prepare the way for God to then intervene and act. We know in the original Christmas story, John the Baptist plays this role and prepares the people of Israel for Jesus’ coming. But John was not alone. The Old Testament patriarchs, judges, prophets, and others who God used were all preparing the way for the God’s Messiah to come. Mary and Joseph in their own different ways were preparing not just their lives for parenthood, but were also preparing to bring the Son of God into the World. Even the Roman authorities were preparing the way of the Lord when they declared a census and required Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem. As Matthew reminds us when the Magi visit and the chief priests and scribes quote Micah 5:2, believing that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem.
Our passage in 2 Peter reminds us of this truth as well. Peter
writes that Jesus is delaying his return not just because God understands time
differently than we do, but also because he is patiently waiting for as many
people as possible to come to repentance. He also has this very interesting line
that we are to be people who are “hastening the coming of the day of the Lord”
(3:12). It is amazing and surprising to think that God allows us to hasten the
day when he returns. I have said it here before and I will say it again, for
some reason God has decided that one of the primary ways he will act is through
human agency. We are invited to participate in what God wants to do in
creation. Virtually from beginning to end God has used creation to accomplish
his ends, and ultimately, in the person of Jesus, God became human and dwelt among
us to bring about our salvation. It is a powerful and moving thought that God
does not force his will on us in a tyrannical sense, but rather, calls us in
love to participate and join in his mission.
This week, be open and attentive to where God is calling you
to partner with him. Think about ways that you can prepare the way for Christ
and hasten his return. We do this by living holy lives and inviting by others
to join us in following Christ as well. Through the Holy Spirit, God is with us
to give us strength and guidance in this task as we wait for his coming.
Grace and Peace.
[i] I
always wonder why New Testament Passages and Old Testament passages are so
different when the New Testament writer was supposedly quoting the Old. It is
partially a cultural issue, as we see in this case where Marks says, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,” and the proceeds to
quote Malachi 3:1 before then quoting Isaiah 40. But it is also an issue of translation. Isaiah
40:3 and Mark 1:3 read the same in the Greek except for the last noun (“Our God”
as opposed to “his”), but are translated a little bit differently. Nobody else
may wonder about these things, and it doesn’t have significance in how we interpret
the text, but it is noticeable when you compare the 2 passages.
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