"Road Construction Ahead"

John the Baptist quotes the prophet Isaiah when he shouts, "Prepare the way of the Lord!"

Isaiah 35:8 says:

"A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness." The Holy Highway.

I grew up in West Virginia. We had so many potholes. Every road was holey. Or it was fixinta be. You think road construction around here is bad. They've been rebuilding the road near my parents' house for 20 years. It MIGHT have something to do with un-holy state contracts. Who can tell?

In Tennessee, there was major road construction near us. There was a church on the road. They had a sign. They'd post the preacher's sermon titles. One week, the county put up its own sign right by the church. It said, "Prepare to Stop!" Knowing the preacher, it could have been his sermon, too.

Thinking of this, I went searching for signs from God on the Holy Highways of Ross Clark and Montgomery. There was, "No U Turns." It could work. "New Traffic Pattern." "Exit to Frontage Road." 

"Road Construction Ahead." That'll preach. 

"Road Construction Ahead" fits with the sermons of John the Baptist and Isaiah. It fits with the message of the Second Sunday in Advent. 

John preached: "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…."

It fits with Malachi: "I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me…."

In Jesus, God is doing a construction project. God is saying that in the Kingdom of the Lord, all our bumps and bounces, all our twists and turns, all our wrecks, all our accidents – will be made smooth. Peaceful.

In God's project, you and I – and all the world – are constantly under construction. We're all works in progress. And God is not prepared to stop. There may be an end-date. A day the job is finished. But until then, we are men and women – and a Savior – at work.

—

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, 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, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

John's sermon went like this: 

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight."

Kristen teased me because the first six months I was in Dothan, I used my GPS to go everywhere. From home to church. From church to home, because, you know, everything's backwards. I guess I just need the assurance of a woman's voice telling me where to go.

I'm doing better now. I just follow the orange traffic barrels. 

By the way, I noticed that the name of the company who makes the barrels is Acme. Acme Barricades. Reminded me of how Wile E. Coyote was always ordering devices from Acme Incorporated Putting up road detour signs to painted tunnels on big rocks. I actually emailed Acme Barridades to see if that's where they got their name. Because I kind of feel like Wile E. Coyote, making my way to Publix after dark. Like I'm one wrong turn from holding up a sign that says, "That's all, folks."

On the road to a sermon, there are detours. But it did occur to me that John the Baptist was like God's road construction worker. John held signs – he WAS the sign – saying, Prepare To Stop! Detour ahead! Proceed with extreme caution. 

In 2024, if God sent John to Dothan Alabama, God would send John in an orange safety vest and a hardhat. In South Carolina, there'd be signs saying, "Let 'em work, let 'em live." Not that Herod would do either for long. Not that most people would pay attention.

The department of highways says that the majority of traffic accidents are from inattention. We're texting. Or watching TikTok. Or rolling down the window threatening the morons in the other cars. Why is it that all the other drivers are so low IQ? John the Baptist did call them a "brood of vipers." try hollering THAT your next road rage. It's biblical.

—

John's message. John did not tell people to "stay in your lane." John actually shouted at people to change lanes. To change direction. To change roads. To repent.

Repenting isn't just "preparing to stop." Repenting IS stopping. Repenting is, literally, to "turn around" and go back where you came from, if you believe you come from God – Or turning a different way, a brand-new way, maybe even getting on the road behind Jesus.

Seeing the taillights of Jesus. There's a beautiful story in Exodus 33 where Moses asks to see God's face. God says, "No, nobody can see me head-on because you'll die in the collision" or words to that effect. So God puts Moses in a safe place and tells him that after God passes by, he can poke his head out and see God's back. 

It's worth noting that in scripture Jesus never once says, "Worship me." Instead, he says, all the time, "Follow me." Do we know where Jesus is going? Sometimes, maybe. But a lot of the time we just see his taillights, and do our best to keep up.

But even on the holy highway of the Lord, you're going to lose sight of him if you're distracted looking in your rear-view mirror. So, John prepares the way by telling us all to repent.

—

In the Presbyterian church – and in most churches – we have a ceremony to mark repentance. We believe Baptism is the – THE – act of celebrating repentance and our new direction on God's way.

Some churches dunk. Actually, Presbyterians will if the person asks to do it that way. Some pour from a shell. I've done it that way. The Presbyterian way – which is not the only right way, by the way – is to have plenty of water so everyone can see and hear – and to do it only once. We believe once is not just enough, once is for all your life, whatever side trips we take.

We believe Christ is present, mysteriously, sacramentally, when we baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we believe God was and is present in any other church that baptizes in this way. It's not just a dedication, it's a redirection. Or, if you're a baby, it's a promise of direction by your grown-ups and your church family.

That's the way John wanted people to go. Baptism was, at the time, a Jewish symbol of repentance and renewal and a restart. A reboot, but to a whole new operating system, if that's how you want to think of it. 

—

A couple of months ago, Kristen's car just stopped working. She was driving. And then it went, "Klunk, klunk, clunk!" – lights came on – and then it stopped. Luckily, she was at a place where she could sort of pull over, on a little road in the Smoky Mountains.

It took a few weeks, but eventually, the car manufacturer, directed by the orders of a class-action lawsuit a few years ago, said, "Oops, our bad." So, they replaced the whole engine.

Baptism is like getting a new engine. Baptism is a binding promise and a brand-new warranty. Now, this doesn't mean you'll never break down ever again. And it doesn't promise that your road will be made straight or even holy. But what Baptism does promise is that Jesus is never going to get so far ahead of you that you can't see his taillights. Jesus promises never to do a quick turn down some dark alley and leave you lost and alone.

John says "Prepare to Stop," but he comes right back with, "Prepare to Follow." Prepare to follow Jesus. Prepare to follow his direction, instead of going off four-wheeling on silly shortcuts or secondaries or unpaved ditches.

—

Now, it is true, as they say, that "Bumpy roads can lead to beautiful places." And that's true. Sometimes. But bumpy roads can also be a sign that you're lost, that you're out of signal coverage, and low on fuel.

I would imagine that even the smoothest roads that Jesus walked down had their dangers, their construction. After all, he was treading paths that no one had ever been down before. The promise of Jesus, and the promise of John who preached repentance, is that following behind Jesus can lead to some beautiful places, as well as some frightening places. Like a cross. 

But knowing that our paths are carved in the direction of Jesus, by his Baptism, by his Resurrection – following behind his lead – can bring us peace, even when the way is hard.

Whatever way you're headed, may the peace of Christ be with you, and also with all the ones around you, as we make our way through the construction zones.