by Mark Ott
Do you have a "go to" guy or girl in your personal or professional life? Someone that you regularly consult for advice or insightful thoughts? I have a lot of books in my library from some of my favorites. I’ve always enjoyed the philosophy of Peter Kreeft, the theology of Fr. Robert Barron, the spirituality of Fr. Mark Link, and of course, the wisdom of Pope John Paul II. But I’m sure people in other fields have their own "go to" people to consult with. If your in the business world, maybe you might listen to someone like Ken Blanchard. If your remodeling your house, you might check with Bob Vila. If you’re doing your taxes, perhaps you would give H & R Block a call. If you are getting ready to entertain, you might tune in to Martha Stewart (just don’t get her confused with the tax pro!).
It is important to know who the professionals are in whatever field you are interested in, so that you can get the best advice or performance possible. But we can’t overlook the surprising power of God in all of this, either. Sometimes, He can send a message in a most unexpected way, through the least "professional looking" of sources. That’s the lesson we learn in this Gospel today.
Luke is always fond of turning conventional wisdom on its ear in his Gospel, to show how the status quo is changing in light of Jesus’ message. He begins this passage today by listing the "go to" people of his generation. If you wanted to get things done at the highest level of government, you would go to Tiberius Caesar. If you need things to happen a little closer to home, you might go to Pilate, Herod, or Philip. On religious questions, you would naturally consult with Annas or Caiaphas. These were the sources of power in the world.
And yet, the word of God did not come to any of them. The word of God came instead to John in the desert. Luke wants to tell us not to rely on the powers of the world for everything. Sometimes, we need to look to charismatic figures like John. He announces a power that will not fade away, even if the powers of the world do.
There is a quote from Isaiah in this passage that seems like one continuous thought, but there are actually three different parts to it. The first sentence is our part. Isaiah says, "prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." That is part of what this season of Advent is all about. We should do whatever we can to be conducive to Christ working in our lives.
But the next two lines refer to something else: the world’s part. "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth." At first glance, this seems like an extension of the first sentence – making straight the Lord’s path. But it really describes the state of the world; it is falling apart. Mountains are crumbling, valleys are being filled in, etc. We can see this happening around the world even now. The older the mountain is, the more eroded it will be. Nobody expects this planet to last forever; just for a really long time. But eventually it will fall apart.
And what will replace it? That is the last sentence of this quote: God’s part. "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." This is what we are waiting for. The power of God is greater than any earthly power. He created everything, and He will outlast everything.
The prophet Isaiah tells us that John will call us to a radical re-orientation of our lives so that we can take all three parts of this message into account. If we only live by one part of the message without the others, our lives will be thrown out of balance.
If we only take the first sentence to heart, then we will prepare the way of the Lord without fully understanding what that means. We will put too much trust in the world, thinking that the things we build here will be lasting. And we may lose sight of the ultimate goal of our preparations: accepting God’s final salvation.
If we take only the second section to heart, then we will fall into nihilism. We will see the ultimate futility of the world, without seeing a heaven to prepare for or work toward.
If we take only the third section to heart, then we will look forward to ultimate salvation so much that we will forget to live in the present. This is the problem that Paul ran into with some of the early Christians. They got so caught up with the coming judgment day, they forgot to work to meet their needs right now.
When we take all three of them together, however, we realize that this planet may be dying, but God’s love will take us beyond all this destruction, so we need to make it easy for him to do that. There is a rather new Christmas song from the "City on a Hill – Christmas Time" CD that expresses this kind of preparation well. It goes like this:
What kind of king would leave his throne / in heaven to make this earth his home while men seek fame and great renown / in lowliness our king comes down You left the sound of angels’ praise / to come for men with unkind ways and by this baby’s helplessness / the power of nations is laid to rest What kind of king would come so small / from glory to a humble stall that dirty manger is my heart, too / I’ll make it a royal throne for you Jesus, Jesus, precious one / how we thank you that you’ve come Jesus, Jesus, precious one / a manger throne for God’s own son.
May we take the time this Advent to prepare ourselves well for the Lord’s coming.