Luke 3:1-6 (NRSV)
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, 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. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
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;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
~
"John goes into the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. So the Word of God is coming in and is going to shake up the order of this world. This order of the world is apparently going to win on two occasions but in fact, it's going to be profoundly shaken from within so that it's not even going to know that its whole system of dominance has been destroyed from within by the word of God that is coming in. This God's promised coming in.
"He proclaims a baptism of repentance, he's saying get ready: this great big change is coming, allow your hearts to be opened and broken so that you can take part in the new thing that's coming in. That's the message which he's given. And the words he uses are the words of the prophet Isaiah. [...] We're used to this being sung rather beautifully to Handel's music through The Messiah and so we don't actually remember that this is the threatening of, the destabilizing of, the order of everything that is: hills, mountains, of course, can refer to the geographical things but they can also refer to high places, places of importance like temples and places of sacrificial cult; and mountains can be the sort of things that empires are built on. [...]
"In other words, there's going to be a general shaking up of every form of human coexistence. And this shaking up is going to be necessary for a particular purpose: “and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Interesting, while we are in our normal topography of highs and lows, those who are raised up, those who are cast down. And incidentally the valleys to be filled: plērōthēsetai [means] to be filled up, it's a very human talk of fulfilment; and the being made low is humiliated or humbled. So although these are mountains or hills, the verbs do not only refer as it were to work being done by an excavator and a tractor, it refers to humiliation, things being brought low.
“All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” In other words, the one who is going to come in is going to come in at our level, at a human level. And any obstacles through being too high or through being too low are not going to be able to see him. It's only as we become level that it will become perfectly clear who our salvation is - the One who's coming in sideways, at our level, who will be known by us eventually, as the crucified and risen One. That is how God's promise is coming into the world.
[...]
"What's interesting is Luke starting this by giving a very concentrated account of the powers of this world, the Word of God coming in, the fact that it's going to be a massive shakeup, but “all flesh shall see the salvation” - afterwards the Word is going to go out to all nations, to the ends of the earth. And the whole work of Luke and Acts ends back in Rome, of course a different emperor by that time, but that's the whole path, if you like, that his Gospel takes.
"From this extraordinary breaking-in, in the midst of a very specific historical moment, under very specific circumstances of troubled rule - difficult, hostile powers - in the midst of this the Word of God comes, it's going to level, it's going to reveal who God is at the level of sibling-icity, at the fraternal level, and that is going to go to the ends of the world. So it's that that we are asked to prepare this Sunday."
- James Alison, from "Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent 2021" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj6J_rYPCZE)
~
"There has been a strong tendency in modern times to limit the significance of Christ and of the Christian faith to the realm of the private and the personal. Faith for many of us is a private and subjective activity but for Luke it is an event in the history of nations, of politics and of culture. I know this is difficult to believe, but it is the fullness of our faith. Whether we believe it or not, whether we understand it or not, God in Christ has caused something pivotal to happen in this world that has changed the nature of things forever, and has changed me too, whether I acknowledge it or not. For that reason we are confident and expect to find the traces of this event wherever and whenever we go. All of time is changed by it, all my life is changed by it. Faith in Christ is the way to make that universal event happen in my particular life.
[...]
"An essential, I mean absolutely essential, part of [Jesus's] coming were those who recognized and accepted him. There were those who accepted him after his work, on the basis of his life, death and resurrection, and they are primarily the apostles and secondarily each one of us. We are his disciples too and as such we are part of the event of his coming.
"But there are also those who acknowledged and accepted him before his self-disclosure to the world, and they were Mary his mother who was told by an angel, and John the Baptist who knew him through prophecy. The word of the Lord came to John in the wilderness in that marvelous year of AD 29, and the prophet Isaiah confirmed that word, and John embarked on a mission to prepare people to receive him. John and Mary are the dominant figures of Advent; they knew him beforehand and they prepare us to receive him, they warn us to be ready so that when the time comes we may acknowledge and accept him into our lives.
"The fact that Christ’s coming is an event of world history means that it is far, far greater in its breadth and depth than anything we can comprehend. Too often we try to make of the incarnation of God only a personal experience, as if the limits of my religious experience were the limits of God’s saving presence in the world, as if heaven and earth were not full of his glory. Christ is in each one of us, because he is incarnated in humanity as such. When we say he comes to us we really mean that he who is always already there with us causes his presence to be known in special ways and at special times.
"May this advent be a special time for you, when the God incarnate in the history of the world makes his presence known in the history of your life, in its trials and challenges and in its joy and gifts. May this time be a right time for you, and may you discover the life and joy hidden in the midst of your days, the God made flesh in you."
- Robert Hamerton-Kelly, from sermon delivered on December 10, 2000 (source no longer available online)
[Source of link (now obsolete) to Robert Hamerton-Kelly sermon, and for analysis and discussion on all this week's lectionary texts: https://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-c/advent2c/]
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