January 11, 2021
3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” – Isaiah 40:3-5
Yesterday we say this passage withing the context of Luke’s gospel as John the baptizer being the one who is the voice crying out of the wilderness. However, the text comes from a much older time. The prophet Isaiah says these words to speak about he comfort that is coming for the people of God.
Many scholars looks at the entirety of Isaiah’s 40th chapter speaking of the coming Christ who will make all things right and usher in the true kingdom of God. And while this is the traditional Christian view of these verse, let us look deeper into what is said in verse 3-5 above.
Isaiah speaks about when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and for that to happen he says: “paths are made straight,” “valleys lifted up,” “mountains and hills made low,” and “uneven ground made level” With these words there is a sense that in order for the revealing of the Lord’s glory there must first be an equity of sorts. This equity is that all would be on the same level, or at the same level. It might make us wonderful about what such level might be; yet, I think at a certain point we are all there. The one things that is equivalent across the board is our humanity, and with it the fleetingness of the human life. While we wish for it to last as long as possible, and be a good as possible, life for all of us will one day end. It’s been said that death is the great equalizer. All suffer it, and no one (aside from The One) overcomes it.
Therefore, the glory of the Lord is revealed, and all people see it together at death. This death doesn’t come as a fear, though, it comes for the Christian as a great relief, and for many who understand baptism as a dying to self, and rising with Christ; death has already occurred. It is perhaps why this passage comes in conjunction with Jesus baptism in the Jordan river. Jesus leads us to death; that is, the equalizer which allow us to see the glory of life. For as we arise from the waters of baptism we are made a part of a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come.
We in this new life can move forward, seeing the glory of God around every turn, and perhaps will do the work to help other come to see this equitable place where all are at the same level, and all might become sons and daughters of God, co-heirs with Christ in this kingdom that has begun, but is not quite yet.
Grace & Peace,
Sam