Many years ago, I worked in theater in northeastern New Jersey.  Our home theater was in one city, but we would travel our plays around to local college theaters and community centers.  Traveling a show is a pretty involved process.  It’s more than making sure actors have directions and know where to go; it’s also lights and scenery, makeup costumes, furniture and stage props.

Because we were a small company, we all wore a number of different hats when we were traveling.  Even the actors helped take down and assemble scenery and took their turns marking their spots on the stage and waiting while the lighting people moved and marked the lights and the sound people checked the microphones.

But it wasn’t until everyone else was gone and the stage was quiet that the prop mistress went to work and I was her helper. Using a detailed checklist that was her domain alone we would slowly put everything in its proper place:

            ‘This prop belongs to Aladdin – It goes over there.’  I would obediently place the item where she indicated.  ‘This hangs of the other side of the stage and these other things go on this table over here’.  I would follow her directions as best I could until she was satisfied that all was ready.  Every prop, every costume, every basket and every piece of furniture was in its place.  Things were ready – both on stage and behind curtains on stage right.  Everything was prepared.  Now she could sit and wait for the performance could begin.

            This same scenario took place on the each night of the play’s performance– because the show must go on – but before it does, everything must be in its place – everything must be ready and waiting when the curtain goes up.

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‘In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas’

            Two thousand years ago, the stage was also set.  Emperors were in their palaces.  Governors ruled their territories.  The descendants of Herod the Great ruled their little principalities.  The Pax Romana had brought more than peace to the world, it had brought a common government, a common language and a system of roads that supported trade and encouraged a healthy exchange of ideologies.

             The stage was set – the world was prepared – only one thing remained to be done – and then – ‘The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;’

Anyone ever been somewhere when the president is on his way into town?  I used to work at a high rise building up on a hill in Kansas City, MO.  We could always tell then the president was planning to come into town.  The Presidential motorcades almost always drove past our buildings in preparation for his arrival and a few days ahead of time, there would be an army of workers out pruning and mowing and sweeping the streets – the morning of his arrival we would come to work and find barricades set up on curbs just a few feet from intersections - and a few hours before he would arrive, police would begin to appear  - traffic would be stopped – so that the presidential motorcade could drive through quickly and safely – and or course everything had to look perfect when he did. 

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In the ancient Near East, kings were so high above everyone else that even greater preparation was done when they were on the way.  Roads really would be straightened out.  People really did carry dirt from high places to fill in lower ones to give the king a more even ride.

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‘Prepare the way of the Lord’.  But how do we do that?  How do we prepare for the coming of the Messiah?

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The word of God came - not to the emperor, not to any ruler of the provinces, not to any of the governors, not even to the high priest in Jerusalem – but to the son of a poor priest and his aging wife – John the son of Zechariah.

            And John ‘went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’

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Surely this was not some new thing?  Surely, people had been feeling sorry since the dawn of time.  Surely, people had been asking for forgiveness – certainly, people had been granting it.

So what’s up with this?

The difference is that asking for forgiveness and getting it still leave us sitting in the dust feeling empty and dirty and not quite good enough.  More than that, we are really no better off than before.  Nothing inside us has changed.  We still carry around the same old baggage.  We are still overwhelmed by memories of the same dirty laundry.  Our friends still expect us to act in the same old ways.  They expect us to keep up the same old habits – both good and bad.

            What exactly is repentance anyway?  Merriam Webster gives us an answer:

1 : to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life
2 a : to feel regret or contrition b : to change one's mind.[1]

            It is that last definition that comes to us from the Greek of the New Testament.  It means to turn around and go back the other way.  It carries with it more than the idea of feeling sorry – it carries with it the meaning of finding a new direction – a fresh start on a new journey.

The voice of the Lord comes not just to John.  The word of the Lord rarely comes to the mighty of the world.  A wise person once told me that you can’t legislate morality.  If you’re going to change the world, you do it one person at a time – and this is just how God does it.  The word of the Lord comes to each of us – each of us is called like John to go out into the wilderness of the world and call people to repentance – turning away from the things that enslave us, turning back from following our own path.

            It seems like a huge task and we are so small.  What can we do?

For thirty miles between here and St. James there is a two-lane road – and many of us hate to drive it at night.  I have only lived here for a year and already I hate to drive it.  The oncoming headlights and the wandering deer make me long for something greater – and wider – four lanes.

            When it finally comes, it will take a lot of work and a lot of preparation.  Lawyers will negotiate right-of-ways.  Surveyors will mark the route.  People wll be maneuvering huge machines and driving large trucks up and down the roadway.  They will move entire hillsides over to fill in valleys and perhaps even straighten the road out a bit – some of the curves are too sharp.

            A huge project, performed by thousands or regular people – just like you and me - working toward the same goal – guided by the same sure hand.

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‘Prepare the way for the Lord’. In the cosmic construction plan of God, we too have a part to play – the first is to prepare the way into our own hearts by accepting the gracious gift of a loving God.  To accept the gift of forgiveness and repentance.  To accept the gift of a new life that frees us from being slaves to our past.  To accept the gift that frees us to be fully the persons God created us to be. 

The second is for us to accept the same call that John heard.  To accept the call that enables us to fill in the valleys, bring down the mountains and make straight paths so that everyone will be able to see the Salvation of God – it is the gift of God’s Spirit – freely given to any who open the doors of their hearts to receive it.

            And someday all the world will see the salvation of God – and what a wonderful day that will be!

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