OLD TESTAMENT READING Isaiah 40:3-5
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 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. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Grace to you and peace from God our heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Glacier National Park in Montana has a road that’s like nothing else in the world. The Going-to-the-Sun Road is 50 miles of hairpin twists and turns, huge drop-offs on one side and amazing views of the Rockies on the other. Traveling on this road requires that the driver pays complete attention and sometimes creeps along to make way for a bighorn sheep and other critters! From what I’ve been told and the pictures I’ve seen, it’s a phenomenal drive and one that I want to make sometime in the future.
In our Old Testament reading for this afternoon, Isaiah writes, “Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.” This heavy road work would be the work of the forerunner of the Messiah that Isaiah writes about. The announcer of the Messiah was to come and prepare the way and the people; he was to take the twisted mess of roads and valleys and straighten them out. This was the task laid upon John the Baptist. He came and prepared the people to receive the promised One of God. It’s a task that was as important then as it is for us today. We too are to prepare the way for the return of Christ. But this isn’t an easy task and sometimes we feel burdened, anxious about the things going on around us or possibly held back by our own sin and shortcomings. We need help in removing the anxieties we feel and lifting the guilt that holds us back.
This Advent season we get to go back and press forward. The end of the year provides an opportunity to reflect on where we are now. We think about our present struggles. We remember the previous year and leave the rough places behind. We engage in a new path, a smoother path, a path that flows from the pardon of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we go back down the path of the previous year, we do see those congested highways. Those moments where anxiety clogged up our lives like rush hour traffic on I-85 near Charlotte. We become anxious about the simple things of life, like food and clothing. We become nervous about the complicated things of life, like relationships and people. We become bogged down by the guilt of our sin. Yet for some reason, we feel compelled to try and navigate that anxiety on our own. It wears out our bodies. It wears out our souls and we need our Lord to come and deliver us and give us relief.
So we look forward into the New Year, wondering what the rough places will be. Threats from terrorist groups like ISIS, the economy and changes to required medical coverage brought on by the Affordable Care Act, make jobs appear to be disposable and the uncertainty in the world makes life rough. We rest our lives in our own ability to make our own way. We try to smooth out the rough spots and somehow engineer our own straight ways. Yet all humanity, you and me included, has no way to predict the future or to reckon the past.
But the good news of this season is that the Messiah, the promised One of God, Jesus our Lord, is on the way. It’s His advent that we celebrate each year. Isaiah proclaims that “every valley will be lifted up and every mountain and hill made flat.” The one who can reckon the past and predict the future is our Lord. God chose His Son Jesus to do the work of pardoning us, forgiving the sins of the past and graciously laying out our future.
Jesus goes back down the highway of the past and provides His pardon for our sins. He leads us not to look inward, but to look to the cross. In the Christmas season we are led to the one place where the pardon of God was so clear and so public. We’re led to the cross. Jesus cleared up the past, not with tar and asphalt, but with flesh and blood; His body and blood. He is the sacrifice by which all of our past is reckoned. He pardons us with His death and our past is released from us. We may see it, but He doesn’t. We go back to it; He has crucified it. We are pardoned in Jesus.
The future may look treacherous, but we have our Messiah with us. He promises not that things will be easy, but that He will be with us. He promises that His Spirit will lead us into the New Year. There are no road blocks that will dissuade Him. Amazing is the power of His grace. He not only forgives the past, but He gives us hope for a new year filled with experiences that flow from His open hand. We’re unable to predict the circumstances of the future, but we can predict that our Savior’s love and grace will go with us.
A pardon is a second chance for someone. It’s interesting to think about. Having the guilt and the fear along the way is draining and tiring. If you were to stop and think about it, serving time incarcerated must be horrible. The cells are small. In many cases, our prison facilities are over-crowded. The day is ordered for you. There is no personal freedom. The prospect for the future, as someone who’s been convicted, is marginal at best. The only hope you have is in the system. With good behavior comes the possibility of early release; but that doesn’t change the results of the past. But then the phone call comes: a pardon is on the way. The governor has said, “I pardon you and you are free.” It’s a fresh start for all those who are pardoned. The hope for the future brightens.
In pardoning us, our Lord enlivens our hearts and souls. The drudgery of guilt is replaced with the joy of redemption. The gate of the cell of shame is opened, and we’re led out to freedom. Life takes on a hopeful spirit. A pardon has a way of doing that.
The Going-to-the-Sun Road is 50 miles of amazing scenery. It winds through Glacier National Park. Lake McDonald is on the west all the way to St. Mary on the east, but it’s a treacherous road. There’s almost always congestion. There are almost always bicycles on the shoulder. There are almost always cars parked in crazy ways. And sometimes there’s rain, snow, wind or other weather. There are unpredictable places all throughout the drive. But the drive is worth it in every way.
In our lives, as well, the journey is worth it. There are many things that we can never predict, such as challenges with people, economics and politics and the like. Yet with Jesus we, as His pardoned people, can count on and rest our complete confidence in Him. He has removed the past and promised His presence in the future. And it’s with that promise in tow, that we can take on the challenges of a New Year and have a joyful Christmas celebration.
Amen.