Second Sunday of Advent

Luke 3:1-6

Rev. Neli Miranda

 

Prepare the way of the Lord…!

In the 6^th century BC, the prophet Isaiah announced liberation to the captive people of Judah who lived exiled in Babylon without hope. He announced their forthcoming liberation and proclaimed, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”  In 538 B.C., with great joy, the Jews initiated their return to the land of Judah, bringing gifts and offerings, including the original temple vessels that had been looted by Nebuchadnezzar.

In the 1st century BC, John the Baptist embodied the spirit of Isaiah's prophetic voice crying out in the wilderness, bringing hope to his people who were oppressed under the rule of human kingdoms. Luke meticulously delineates these dominions in a hierarchical structure: Tiberius, the Roman Emperor; Pilate, the governor of Judea; Herod, the ruler of Galilee; his brother Philip, the governor of Ituraea; and Lysanias, the ruler of Abilene. Luke also includes the religious hierarchy of Annas and Caiaphas, the high Jewish priests. While they ruled the world, the liberating word of God came to John, a believer residing on the fringes of the Empire and the religious establishment. Amid these human kingdoms, John was called to herald the path not for Caesar, Herod or any earthly sovereign or religious authorities, but for the One, Jesus the Son of God.

The inaugural proclamation of Advent did not come from grand palace nor from the temple but from the wilderness, the borders, from the bottom of society where liberation was ardently awaited amidst despair. It was John the Baptist the proclaimer of the first Advent and proclaimed liberation and hope to those oppressed by the emperor, the local rulers, and an oppressive religious structure.  He was the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. His proclamation was a wake-up call and encouraged the people to prepare themselves and wait for God’s manifestation, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” His call is not passive but an active invitation to engage in the work of preparation.

Over fifteen centuries later, in 1511, Antonio de Montesinos, a Spanish Dominican friar, embodied John’s proclamation and called the Spanish people to repentance for the brutal treatment of indigenous people on the Island of La Española (Now the Dominican Republic and Haiti). He preached against the enslavement and harsh treatment of the Indigenous peoples of the Island. Here is a small segment of his sermon delivered around 500 years ago:

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. In order to make your sins known to you I have mounted this pulpit, I who am the voice of Christ crying in the wilderness of this island; and therefore it behooves you to listen to me, not with indifference but with all your heart and senses; for this voice will be the strangest, the harshest and hardest, the most terrifying that you ever heard or expected to hear….

This voice declares that you are in mortal sin, and live and die therein by reason of the cruelty and tyranny that you practice on these innocent people. Tell me, by what right or justice do you hold these Indians in such cruel and horrible slavery? By what right do you wage such detestable wars on these people who lived mildly and peacefully in their own lands, where you have consumed infinite numbers of them with unheard of murders and desolations? Why do you so greatly oppress and fatigue them, not giving them enough to eat or caring for them when they fall ill from excessive labors, so that they die or rather are slain by you, so that you may extract and acquire gold every day?

 

Five centuries later, who will continue to be the voice crying out in the wilderness? Who will bring words of hope and liberation to the oppressed?  In the present day, 2021, amidst the reign of oppressive and violent human powers, sometimes in collusion with religious authorities, we, as disciples of Jesus, are called to embody the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness, declaring, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

Dear brothers and sisters, let us recall that the Advent preparation does not unfold within shopping malls or even exclusively within the confines of the church; it transpires in the wilderness, on the margins, in those very places where the oppressed fervently anticipate the manifestation of God. As we prepare ourselves for the joyous celebration of Christmas, let us embody the spirits of Isaiah, John the Baptist, Mary of Nazareth, Antonio de Montesinos... Let us become the voices crying out in the wilderness, proclaiming, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Amen.