Luke 3:1-6 (NRSV)
Read Luke 3:1-6 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 3In 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, Verse 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. Verse 3He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, Verse 4as 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. Verse 5Every 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; Verse 6and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
Devotion
During Advent we cry, "Prepare the way of the Lord." We cry out for something other than the dysfunction we find within and around us.
By faith and in hope we live in two time zones — our time of exile now, in the wilderness, and the time of God's redemptive future. Even though we still anticipate our full redemption — and the redemption of our entire world — our very anticipation of that redemption is a way of living in that redemption, even if the stark reality of our lives and the world around us makes clear that it has not yet fully arrived.
So our cries are not futile. As we boldly announce the Lord's coming, things do happen. The way of the Lord gets prepared, even in the wilderness. God uses our cries to prepare us for a tomorrow — a new heaven and a new earth — that actually is right here before us. Even now.
Prayer
Dear Lord, use our Advent cries to prepare us — right now — to be a palpable sign of your coming among us, even amid all that counters your truth. Amen.