Prepare the way of the Lord. This is how Mark starts his story of Jesus, with words from the prophet Isaiah describing John the Baptist as the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ (Mk 1:3) But what does that mean? Why does Mark start the story of Jesus with John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord? I don’t think it’s a literal reference to roadbuilding. Out in the wilderness, there’s not many actual roads, but I suspect it’s not where Mark or Isaiah before him are headed with this. So what does it mean to prepare the way of the Lord?
When these words in Isaiah are written, they are in a very different context. The book of Isaiah is made up of a few different writers. The first 39 chapters are what is called “first Isaiah”. It’s where the prophet Isaiah speaks God’s judgement to Israel as they enter into exile in Babylon. Our first reading for today (Isaiah 40:1-11) comes from the very start of what is called “second Isaiah”, where a new prophet in the mould of Isaiah speaks of God’s restoration of Israel as they return from exile. As such, they are words of comfort and hope:
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “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. 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 40:1-5) In the wilderness of their exile comes a voice of hope, a promise for God’s way to come through. In a place where God has often felt absent, God’s presence will be made known to them.
But when we get to our Mark reading for today (Mark 1:1-8), he reads these words in a very different context, and that’s the nature of scripture, the nature of prophecy: those sacred words gain new meanings in each new context, so that we see the scriptures come to life again and again and again. Mark looks at the ministry of John baptising at the Jordan River as that voice in the wilderness, preparing a way for Jesus. And both Matthew and Luke follow suit when they write their gospels, also quoting this bit from Isaiah as they describe the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
But what does it mean? What does it mean to prepare the way for someone?
I’m reminded of the phrase that we sometimes use today: “to put someone on the straight and narrow.” We usually use this for someone who’s likely to stray off the straight and narrow, and we probably don’t think of Jesus in that sense. And yet, there is some evidence that John sets some guidance for Jesus to follow. There are many biblical scholars who argue that John was a member of the Essenes, a Jewish closed community whose members sought holiness through a very austere and ascetic lifestyle. At the very least, John was heavily influenced by the Essenes. And many argue that Jesus was also a member of that Essene community for a time.
What we know for sure is that Jesus bases his ministry on John’s example. Matthew’s gospel starts it this way: In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”(Matt 3:1-2) And how does Jesus begin his preaching? After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”(Mark 1:14-15) There’s a strong sense in which Jesus starts his ministry by following in John’s footsteps.
There’s an old saying that the student wears the master’s dust. That is, that the student follows close behind the master travelling through whatever dust the master kicks up along the way. I get the sense that Jesus follows John closely at least to begin with. As soon as Jesus has been baptised, he follows John’s example and travels into the wilderness for forty days. This might be one way in which we might think of John “preparing the way of the Lord.”
But I think there’s more to Mark talking about John “preparing the way of the Lord”. That phrase would have carried special meaning for many of Mark’s readers. The early Christians, before they were known as Christians, were sometimes known as followers of “The Way”. If you were a follower of Jesus, you were a follower of “the way of the Lord”. So when Mark writes about John “preparing the way of the Lord”, many of his readers would have associated that with the path which they themselves were following.
What makes this interesting is that this feels quite different to what we get later with the creeds. The creeds are very much about the things you need to believe. “The Way” suggests something slightly different. When you read the teachings of Jesus, he doesn’t say much at all about what you need to believe. He talks about the way you live your life, the way you relate to your neighbour, the way you relate to God.
In that Jewish tradition of master and student, when a student follows their master, while learning their teachings, they also learn much more about their master’s habits, their attitudes, their identity. It’s a bit like our other story earlier, Duck Goes Meow (you can find this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXlKDIe81uo). The mother cat’s influence on the little duckling meant that the duckling has learnt the language, but also the attitude and the identity of her mother cat.
When we talk about John preparing the way, I think it’s about him modelling behaviour and attitudes; it’s about him helping Jesus find their identity. We don’t often think about Jesus as being influenced by others. We sometimes think of Jesus being sent fully formed into the world. The beauty of Christmas is that it reminds us that Jesus started as a baby, still needing to learn and grow and develop his understanding of who he was. As well as Mary and Joseph, we get the sense that John the Baptist was also one of those moulding influences.
But what has any of that to do with us? Well, I wonder who your Baptist might be. I wonder who has helped form your attitudes, your understanding of who you are. I wonder who has prepared your way. But more than that, I also wonder who has prepared the way of the Lord for you. I wonder who has helped you in how you relate to God, in your understanding of who you are as a child of God, in forming your Christian attitudes and identity. Who has prepared the way of the Lord for you?
And now to flip that around, I also wonder: who are you preparing the way of the Lord for?
Most obviously, there are your children. Your kids will look to you for their understanding of who they are in the world, and part of forming that identity is understanding who they are with God. I sometimes hear parents talk about not imposing a particular religion on their children so that the child can choose for themselves later, but that simply means that they’re modelling an attitude and identity of agnosticism, or at least of religious apathy. Our kids use us as models for their identity in the world and with God.
But who else? Who are the other people in your life for whom are you preparing the way of the Lord? You might not think that you have that sort of influence over anybody, but there are people who love you and respect you, for whom you are able to model what it means to be a child of God.
At the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says to all his disciples, to go into the world and make disciples. As we go into our respective worlds, do we think about how we might be making disciples? What does it mean in our respective worlds to prepare the way of the Lord? Because I can tell you now: you might be that voice in somebody’s wilderness saying, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”
Amen.