I love this, " It shall belong to those who walk on the
way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. I know that there is an alternate translation
that says fools will not walk on this highway but I appreciate the fact that
there is a highway that is so easily followed that even fools can't get lost. As one who has spent a fair bit of my life
wandering in the wilderness, both in reality and metaphorically, I need things
to be so simple. Isaiah sees a raised
highway in the desert that is a straight-line to the city of God, no turns, no
need for GPS or Mapquest, just follow the yellow brick road simple. Jesus doesn't promise that the road will be
easy, He talked about the journey as our own Via Dolorosa, the way of grief or
suffering, along which we carry our own cross.
It is, however, the way of Christ, the way to the Father. The road may be narrow but at the end lies
glory everlasting.
Zechariah proclaims that the day Isaiah saw, the day of
visitation and redemption has now come.
The Lord HAS visited and redeemed His people. He proclaims this because of the fulfillment
of the promise of a child. When the
angel told Zechariah in the temple that his wife, Elizabeth, would give birth,
Zechariah couldn't believe it was true.
His lips were sealed until the naming of that child, John, as a sign of
the truth. Now, he has faith that
messiah has come, he has learned something about faith. His prophecy here, which we know from Morning
Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, is filled with hope. Not only is there a child, it is a child with
a mission to prepare the way of the Lord for Messiah. Could he have imagined what that would look
like, John the Baptist, the wild and wooly prophet?
" I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright
morning star.” In Morning Prayer,
Zechariah's song from the Gospel translates a portion of that hymn as: " And thou, child, shalt be called the
prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to
prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people for the
remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the
dayspring from on high hath visited us…"
Jesus is the dayspring from on high.
He tells of the future here, a future where there is a place, a city,
where the righteous shall live in peace and without fear because there is no
sin. Is that our dream come true or do
we even imagine such a place? Jesus
promised it so let us allow Him to enliven our imaginations to see that which
He has promised.
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