Sunday Readings: Baruch 5.1-9, Philippians 1.4-6, 8-11, Luke 3.1-6
The word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. John went about the whole area around the Jordan River preaching. “Turn away from your sins and be baptized as was written in the book of the prophet Isaiah. A herald’s voice in the desert cries out: ‘Make ready a road for God. Clear a straight path for God. Every valley shall be filled; every mountain and hill shall be leveled. The windings shall be made straight and rough ways smooth, and all humankind shall see the salvation of God’” (Luke 3.3-6).
Jewish ears hear an echo of Second Isaiah in the preaching of John the Baptist. Second Isaiah is the prophet of the exile who promises God will lead the exiled people home on a straight road through the wilderness, just as once God led their ancestors to freedom on a dry path through the sea.. For Christians who hear the Advent readings today, the voices of Second Isaiah and John the Baptist join in a single call to recognize ourselves and our communities as home to God.
The God who dwelt in Israel’s tent and temple and whom Second Isaiah discovered at work in Babylon finds a new dwelling place. The God awake and afoot in Sunday’s scripture readings is the One who makes a home among us in becoming flesh. A woman makes home in her womb for God to become human. A human family makes a home in which her son, the Son of God, can grow up. God is at home in us and with us.
- In what special ways do you spend time together as a family in Advent?
- What does God becoming human mean to you?