P ♰ C

~ Jean Allen

Isaiah actually didn’t say, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,’ What’s written in Isaiah is, “the voice one crying: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.” It would seem the difference is miniscule yet it indicates that John was not just one who was crying out somewhere in the wilderness; he was calling God’s people to come to the wilderness, out from under the recognized power centers and power wielders of the Jewish faith world. He was calling them to come away, from a path where everything spiritual was mediated for them through sacrifice, and enter into a new path of direct access to God. John was catching glimmers of what the New Testament way would be and he intuited that it definitely would not be centered on Temple Sacrifice and the often corrupt Temple authorities.

No wonder some Pharisees and Sadducees came to check him out under the pretext of wanting to be baptized. John was a real threat to their authority and lifestyle and, there was no doubt about it, people were flocking to John out there in the wilderness on the Jordan River. John was calling the people to prepare their hearts for a new way, and new ways always feel like a wilderness at first. The old comforts and perspectives are gone, which can be scary and uncertain. John wasn’t saying, “Repent and go sacrifice a lamb.” He was saying, “Repent, be baptized and change your ways. Do good. Don’t cheat. Be satisfied with your wages. Live simply. This is the way; this is the path to the heart of God.”

People were so ready to come out from under the thumb of Temple Sacrifice. Where the Temple was built of stumbling blocks that made the people’s access to God difficult, John’s way, even though it was a wilderness way, felt fresh, open and untangled. Even John’s preaching about the wrath of God felt better to them and more doable than the heavy and burdensome yoke of the Temple.

In the wilderness, prepare your way.