“A voice of one calling in the wilderness. ‘“Prepare the way for the Lord; make straight paths for him.”’ Luke 3:4
My husband and I have been having problems with our lawn mower. A belt broke on it, causing it not to work. My husband used a push mower for many months to cut the grass while waiting for parts to come in and get the lawn mower fixed. Each week, he used the lawn mower to make a different pathway in the lawn. Any person could see that the paths he had made were uneven. Because it was impossible to create the same path each time, each time he cut the grass, it created an uneven path. When he used the industrial lawn mower, the paths were straighter because he had used a better lawn mower that cut the grass more evenly with sharper blades. Because he was doing it manually, the task became more difficult as week after week, he tried to follow the same pattern he had the week before, only to find it took more time to navigate.
The first time he used the professional lawnmower, he was ecstatic! The grass was cut so much more evenly and much shorter than when he did it by hand. Using a professional lawn mower, he focused on cutting grass with the best equipment, which was a much better solution than trying to cut the grass evenly with a subpar push mower.
John the Baptist knew who Jesus was. When Jesus came to him and asked him to be baptized, John said, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:17-18.) John exuded great humility and baptized Jesus because he knew Jesus was more significant than him. He also knew that the Holy Spirit was going to come through Jesus. That's why his gospel message was the above verse: “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.”
Many people needed clarification about what Jesus was going to be. People wanted a king made in the image of other kings who had come before him. Many people prophesied about Jesus, and many generations passed before they saw Jesus come upon them. When he finally came to earth, he looked very different than people thought he would. People tend to make their artificial kings and idols when they don't know who Jesus is. When Jesus doesn't act like they want or grant them the desires of their heart, it's easy to make the path towards salvation crooked because we take shortcuts in getting what we want out of life. But Jesus cares more about their character, and he cares more about the people’s salvation than anything else.
John prophesied to the people that there needed to be a clear path to redemption for him. But as we saw later, people were busy making money making the temple an outlet for worshiping idols other than God, which incensed Jesus. The people who entered the temple may believe it's OK for people to exchange money in the temple. Jesus knew better. His purpose on earth was to point people to the Father. John wanted people to do the same. He wanted to point people to the Father and make the path to salvation straight and straightforward so that Jesus can do the work he came to do. Jesus wanted people to stop making their paths to salvation through greed and evil.
The path to salvation is simple: believe in Jesus, repent of our evil ways, and be baptized. Show the love of Christ in tangible ways to others. When we do this, we make the path straight for Jesus to be known here on earth.
Father, let us stop making our own paths to salvation. The path to salvation is clear and straight. Help us not to make our own uneven patterns of salvation by taking shortcuts with greed, evil, or other ideological behavior. Allow us to be the tangible examples of Jesus so that the path of salvation is made straight for all. Amen.
Photo Credit: ©Alfred Schrock
Michelle S. Lazurek is a multi-genre award-winning author, speaker, pastor's wife, and mother. She is a literary agent for Wordwise Media Services and a certified writing coach. Her new children’s book Hall of Faith encourages kids to understand God can be trusted. When not working, she enjoys sipping a Starbucks latte, collecting 80s memorabilia, and spending time with her family and her crazy dog. For more info, please visit her website www.michellelazurek.
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