Dec. 8 | Advent 2, Year C
Bar. 5:1-9 or Mal. 3:1-4
Cant. 4 or Cant. 16
Phil. 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6
The prophet Malachi voices the promise that the sins of God’s people will be dealt with and the human-divine relationship will be restored. This reconciliation, however, is not in our power to achieve. The healing of our relationship with God is totally dependent on the mercy and loving-kindness of God. Our only role is to accept the Lord’s refining fire and purifying wash. Like the trauma patient in the emergency room, our self-inflicted wounds must be cauterized and the contaminating debris scrubbed free before healing can proceed. These metaphors make it clear that our reconciliation with God will not be painless — but it will be thorough and eternal if we submit to his treatment.
God will give us every chance to respond to his offer of reconciliation. Since we are so accustomed to the status quo, he will send us someone to announce his coming to cleanse us. Without God’s help, we cannot recognize that we have a problem in our relationship with God, let alone to identify the one who comes as our healer. As the answer to our blindness, God sent John the Baptist to announce the coming of Jesus as our Savior.
It came to pass at a particular time, in a particular place, and under particular circumstances that a specific person proclaimed a specific message in a specific manner. John existed and his ministry tied together the secular and religious worlds, as well as the prophecy and the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures. All the players are in the proper places — Caesar, Pilate, and Herod for Rome; Annas and Caiaphas for Israel; and the Word of God and John for the kingdom of God. The gathered actors indicate that the stage for the gospel message is not just Israel, but the world. This is emphasized by the last words quoted from the prophet Isaiah: “all mankind will see God’s salvation.”
The Jewish Messiah was to be the manner in which the blessing that came to the descendants of Abraham would bless the nations (Gen. 12:3). As the angels announced to the shepherds at Jesus’ birth, this is “good news of great joy that will be for all people” (Luke 2:10). The news of the coming of God’s Messiah is so powerful that all of creation, both the creation and the hearts of men, will be transformed by receiving him. According to the prophet, mountains and hills will be leveled, the valleys filled up, the winding roads made straight, and the rough places smoothed out. The rest of the gospel will be the account of the transformation of human hearts, not just in first-century Palestine, but in the world and throughout history, including today.
If we are to truly receive Jesus as God would have us receive him, then we must repent of our pride. The crooked path we have taken must be exchanged for the straight path of Jesus. Our rough road of sporadic obedience to God must be transformed into a consistent highway of adherence to God’s will in all things. The mountains of our false pride and the valleys of our self-indulgent despair must be leveled to the balanced altitude of humble recognition of who we are relative to God and who God has made us as his children. The good news is that as God sent John to the world to prepare for the coming of Jesus, God has sent each of us his Spirit to help us prepare to fully receive Jesus in our lives — now, as well as when he returns.
Look It Up
Isaiah 40:3-5
Think About It
How will you heed the warnings of the prophets (Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent)?
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Alley, former rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, teaches anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.