Road Work

 

“A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low, the crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth, and all mankind will see God’s salvation.’”

—Luke 3:4-6

If you live in Pennsylvania, you know something about crooked roads. The phrase “You can’t get there from here!” truly expresses the sentiment of one trying to travel from east to west in this Keystone State—especially with the Allegheny Mountains that split the Commonwealth, northeast to southwest.

My father used to say that what began as simple cow paths later became wagon trails. The wagon trails then became roads. That’s how the tangled highway system of our state began.

Apparently in Jesus’ time, the roads of Israel bore a resemblance to Pennsylvania roads. Whenever a dignitary made his intentions known to travel to a destination, those living in the region would get to work on the roads, making them level, smooth, and straight.

In similar fashion, John the Baptist spread the Word of God ahead of the coming of Jesus, just as the Prophet Isaiah had foretold in Isaiah 40:3 (as quoted by Dr. Luke in the passage at the beginning of this blog post):

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

However popular the tradition of road repair may have been, God had a different kind of preparation in mind here. He was much more concerned about the “heart condition” of the people who called themselves faithful followers of the One True God. Over centuries, and lifetimes, their lives had become crooked and going in wrong directions.

John the Baptist said to them, “Take a look at your lives. Are you ready to receive the Messiah when He comes?” John the Baptist preached repentance, a turning from sin. He said that things needed fixing in order to hear correctly the Word of the Lord and know His salvation. Things needed to be straightened out—the people needed to take a spiritual inventory.

But what about you and me in this Advent season? In Philippians 2:15-16, the Apostle Paul told the Philippians they should take account of who God wanted them to be:

…blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.

The Messiah has come, but still calls us to make heart “inspections” and “inventory” from time to time, to check the “roads” on which Christ wants to come to us. He wants to come in new ways and with fresh applications of His Word to us.

In this Advent season, let us examine what may have become “crooked” in our lives. Then, let us prepare for a Christmas visit from our King!