In our gospel reading for today, the author Luke borrows words from the prophet Isaiah to describe the mission of John – John is the one who will prepare the way of the Lord. He will fill in the valleys, and he will bring down the mountains, so that all flesh shall see the salvation of God, in God's son, Jesus Christ. And John's tool for accomplishing this task is a surprisingly simple tool – a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins....
Repentance. That word “repentance” has accumulated a ton of baggage over the years. Some people associate the word “repent” with wild-eyed people wearing sandwich boards who also inform them, “the end is near”. For some, the word “repent” has to include the notion of penance, of performing some kind of action that proves to others, the remorse you feel over what you have done. Others think of repentance as some kind of light switch, that all of a sudden as a result of some one-time decision they have made, that they will no longer ever be tempted to sin. It's a lot easier to understand repentance if we go back to the Greek word that we have chosen to translate as “repentance” – metanoia. Meta in Greek means “change”, and noia means “thinking”. Repentance means to change your thinking and therefore, to change your direction, and in the context of our gospel reading, it means to change the way you think about your relationship with God.
That was John's task, to change the way the people thought about their relationship with God. And the picture Isaiah uses is that of bringing down mountains and filling valleys. The mountains are the people who see themselves as big and strong, independent, solid as a rock. They don't need God's salvation because they can't see how God could possibly have anything against them – they are such amazing people. But God does have their arrogant attitude to hold against them, and their pride, and all those flaws that are visible to everyone around them except themselves. And so John needs to bring down these mountains with the knowledge of their sinfulness and the judgment they therefore deserve, so that they too will seek out God's forgiveness.
On the other hand, the valleys are the people who see themselves as lost causes, people who have sinned so greatly that God is unable to forgive them. They can't put their trust in God's salvation, because THEY certainly wouldn't forgive THEMSELVES, if they were in God's place. And so John needs to fill these valleys with the knowledge of God's amazing love, so that they too will seek out God's forgiveness. Those are the two things that are necessary for repentance, for changing the way you think about your relationship with God – that all people are sinful and deserve judgment, and that all people are loved and can be forgiven. Once those two things are in place, there can be metanoia. The way of the Lord has been prepared.
But here in the season of Advent, we ask ourselves the question – is the way of the Lord STAYING prepared...in us? Or are we reverting to being mountains and valleys? Are we living as mountains that see no NEED for change in ourselves? Are we as mountains judgmental of others, or putting forward a pious false front, or seeing no need for worship, study, or prayer? Or are we living as valleys that see no POSSIBILITY for change in ourselves? Are we as valleys acting destructively towards ourselves, or stuck in addictions, or withdrawing from the community in shame? In the way of the Lord, we are forgiven and therefore we are forgiving – we are being changed and therefore we are encouraging change. Does that really describe US? Are we truly living like people of metanoia?