Ryan Hale

The religious leaders sneered as Jesus sat with the tax collectors and the other sinners. He was sitting around with those who had betrayed their own people. He was hanging out with those who were far from God.

To them, to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, it wasn’t a good look. Jesus wasn’t giving a good impression as a religious leader, from their perspective. He welcomed sinners. He ate with them. He seemed to them to actually enjoy hanging out with those people.

So Jesus turned to those religious leaders and told them three separate stories, just to make sure that they got the point:

In the first story, a man has one of his one hundred sheep wander off. He stops what he is doing and goes looking for that one lost sheep.

In the second story, the woman lost one of her ten coins, so she lights a lamp and sweeps her house to find the coin.

And in the third story, even after a son had betrayed his father, brought shame to his family, and squandered half of what the family owned, Jesus says this is what happened in the end:

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Luke 15:20

Jesus expresses God’s heart clearly through these stories. He explains how much God desires that all lost people would be found.

All people.

Regardless of what they look like. Regardless of what they smell like. Regardless of what they have done. Regardless of their religious background. Regardless of the language that they speak. God’s heart is that all would be saved.

So we could make the point that Jesus is available. If they wanted to come to Christ, they can do it!

Yet we see that, instead, Jesus went to them. He went and had dinner with the tax collectors and the sinners. And each of his stories shows that someone goes to find or welcome that which was lost. The shepherd went to look for the lost sheep. The woman went to look for the lost coin. And the father, upon seeing his son, ran to him and brought his son back into his home.

And what was more, God rejoices when that which is lost comes to be found. The shepherd and the woman, upon finding the lost sheep and the lost coin, called their friends and neighbors to rejoice, to have a party together.

That is exactly what we see the father do as well. When the lost son returns, he calls everyone together and throws a party. His son had returned! They rejoiced and celebrated together!

We must adopt God’s heart for that which is lost. We must go looking. We must find those who are far from God and help them to know God through Jesus. Only in this way can we truly know the joy that God feels as the people who finally know Christ can truly know God. In this way, we will rejoice and celebrate with the angels in heaven and together with God himself.

I think we frequently just “read over the top” of what Jesus said. What I mean is this: We ignore his words. Or we change them. Or we put our own meaning, or what we think they mean, into his words. We might say:

You know, he doesn’t really mean…

You know, he’s trying to say…

I’ve heard both of these many times before.

But I tend to think that Jesus really meant what he was saying. In fact, I would tend to go so far as to say that he backed up what he was saying with what he did. I’ll explain as I go forward.

On the one hand, Jesus was hated by the religious leaders, by the Pharisees and the Saducees. He routinely spoke against their practice of the law and their religiosity. The religious leaders were very “moral” in the sense that they worked to follow every jot and tittle of what had been written, meanwhile ignoring the spirit of why it had been written.

On the other hand, Jesus was loved by the people. The crowds followed him. Why? Well, maybe at least a part of his appeal was that he spoke against the practice of the religious leaders, a practice that created a heavy weight for the rest of the people. The teachers of the law claimed that the people needed to follow the law in the way that they followed the law, and by not doing so, they were sinning. Of course, this not only disturbed the people but, as Jesus pointed out, even prevented them from coming to God because of their weariness of what the religious leaders required.

But Jesus spoke against all of this. Jesus was clear that all of this striving to try to follow every detail of the law and be a good moral person had nothing to do with knowing God or pleasing God.

Yet at the same time, if you love yourself, if you love who you are, if you love and serve your life, you have also missed it. Jesus explained to both the religious leaders and to the regular, everyday people that one thing was needed:

Him.

In Luke 14, we see a couple of scenes where he explains this with amazing clarity. First, as Jesus was having a meal with several Pharisees and teachers of the law, he teaches them the importance of humility in the kingdom of God and then calls them to prioritize one thing in their life: their relationship with the master.

Jesus knew that the Pharisees and Saducees were so busy building their own position, their own status, their own lives, that they were hardly ever actually in connection with the One whom they said that they were serving, God himself. Instead, the religious leaders would have many other things to do:

Purchasing property.

Working and making money.

Getting married. Connecting and relating to others.

And of course, none of these are bad things. But Jesus is explaining that they are doing these things instead of knowing the master, instead of spending time with him, instead of celebrating at the banquet of the kingdom of God, and so their positions at the banquet will be given to others. To those who have not, up until now, been connected to the master, the doors will be opened and the invitation will be given, and the banquet hall will be full. In the case of the Israelites, the doors were opened to the Gentiles, but this same teaching can be applied to each of us. Regardless of whether we say that we are God’s people or not, regardless of whether we say that we are Christians or not, the only thing that matters is our relationship to God through Christ, through Jesus.

As Jesus leaves the banquet on that particular sabbath, he is followed by a large number of people. The crowds want to be with him. The crowds want to follow him, to be healed by him, to know this curiosity that has come to them.

At that point, you might think that Jesus is having great success in his ministry, but look at what he says:

If you don’t hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, or even your very life, you can’t be his disciple.

Or this: Anyone who doesn’t carry his own cross – meaning, to his own death! – can’t be his disciple.

Jesus tells the people that they need to be like a man who is going to build a tower or a king that is going to go to war. He had better understand the cost before he starts the process. He had better be ready to go all of the way through with it. And to go all of the way through with it, when it comes to following Jesus and being his disciple, means that he is more important than all of the rest.

More important than your family.

More important than anything you have going on.

More important than your very life.

And so Jesus finishes all of this by saying:

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Luke 14:33

Let us not try to simply explain away what Jesus is saying. Instead, let’s listen carefully! Not because we should see this idea of giving up everything to follow him as a great loss, but instead because we see it as an incredible gain. I like to remember back to what Jesus told his disciples when he was explained the kingdom of God as being like an amazing, valuable treasure:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Matthew 13:44

See, the man, when he finds the kingdom, he sells everything that he has with joy! He isn’t upset. He isn’t a type of ascetic who is just living by discipline. No, he gains a great treasure that he gladly gave up everything to receive.

And this is what Jesus is commenting upon to the religious leaders and to the crowds of people. They preferred their own lives instead of preferring him. They liked their money and they depended upon it instead of depending upon him. They wanted every other thing instead of him. And yet he, Jesus, is the king in the kingdom of God! He is the one whom we should prefer because he is the most valuable person, over all and above all.

So let us give up everything, and in our joy sell it all to be able to be his disciple, to have him.

Pretty frequently I hear, or see posted on social media, the idea that this person deserves what they are getting, whether or good or bad. Or that we should treat a person based on what they deserve, whether good or bad. For example, here is a statement I saw yesterday:

Never give anyone more than they deserve.

If we aren’t careful, we can find ourselves carrying around the idea that there are different classes of people based on our behaviors. We will admit, “Yes, we are all sinners.” But at that point, we will determine that this person or that person are worse sinners. They – those other people – deserve the bad that they are getting in their lives, or maybe even more pointedly, we deserve something better, because we are much better.

That is the type of attitude that Jesus addressed as people came to him to tell him about how the Jewish people from Galilee’s blood was mixed with the sacrifices:

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Luke 13:1-5

The people that came to Jesus likely came to complain about what the Romans were doing in the hopes that Jesus would lead a revolution against the Roman government. Pilate had committed a great offense and a great sin against the Jews, so now they were hoping that Jesus would raise up an army and throw them off.

But Jesus’s kingdom is bigger than that of Israel. In fact, much bigger. And so Jesus begins to explain that, if the people think that the mixing of blood or the tragedy of the falling tower in Siloam is bad, they haven’t seen anything yet.

No, instead, those are relatively small tragedies, to say the least, in comparison to what is in store for the people if they will not repent. If they will not leave their sinful lives in the past, they will all perish. All of them.

But why? Why would they all perish? Yes, they are all sinners, but doesn’t it seem like those people who experienced these tragedies deserve worse?

No. When compared to a holy God, even “a little sin” is evil. God has no evil within him and cannot be where there is evil, so if the people will not repent, they will perish. They will be judged. All of them. And the punishment for being guilty of the judgment that they will be under will be that they will perish.

Jesus is trying to help the people see that there is a reality that is much greater, much more real, and much more important than anything that they can even begin to imagine here on earth. The people are rightly indignant about what has happened with those who were killed and had their blood mixed with the blood of the sacrifices. That was wrong and a great offense against the Jewish people, no doubt.

But it is also true that the tragedies that we see today, in our physical time, have nothing to do with whether you are a good person or a bad person. We are all sinners, and in fact we all deserve to perish! But this is precisely the reason that we can say that we are saved. Because of Jesus! Not because of us, but because of him.

Jesus is trying to help these people that are reporting the tragedies to understand this reality. They each deserve to perish. But if they will repent, if they will believe in him, if they will go forward understanding the eternal reality in which they are living, then they will be able to truly live as Jesus is calling them to live. Not as ones destined to perish, but as those alive and serving him within his kingdom.

There was quite a lot going on in Herod the tetrarch’s world. As the son of Herod the Great, he had inherited a part of his father’s kingdom and now ruled over the regions of Galilee and Perea, exactly the areas where Jesus and John the Baptist, respectively, had been doing their work.

Herod the tetrach was also known as Herod Antipas.

John had gone to do his work, baptizing people “beyond” the Jordan River, which landed him directly in the region of Perea, within Antipas’s governance, which ultimately had placed Herod within John’s crosshairs. John’s work, his ministry, was to call the people to repentance, and of course Herod Antipas had sent away his wife Phasa’el in favor of his half-brother’s wife Herodias, wrecking both his brother’s marriage as that of his own and even going to war King Aretas because of his disloyalty to his wife.

Then, here comes John. John the Baptist now is a type of celebrity in Antipas’s world and he starts criticizing Antipas for his divorce and remarriage to Herodias, calling him out as being illegitimately married and for having sinned in doing this. Antipas throws John in prison as a result of his criticism, thinking that the problem was now solved. Yet, now what happens? Now there is suddenly a movement of people talking about a new kingdom that is about to spring up. And it is happening right under his nose!

Jesus had, of course, also been calling people to repentance, so it might have been easy to confuse John’s work with that of Jesus. Except now, it is ramping up even more. Jesus is healing people, performing miracles as he speaks about the kingdom of God so as to confirm what he is saying. A new kingdom, the kingdom of God, is coming, and now it isn’t just a localized discussion near the Jordan river or up in Galilee, but the discussion is everywhere!

Jesus’s disciples had been following him, but now Jesus sent them out to go and proclaim the kingdom of God. He sent them to heal the sick and to drive out demons. The disciples went from village to village to tell everyone about the kingdom and to heal people. And now, word was getting back to Herod Antipas:

Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. But Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?” And he tried to see him.

Luke 9:7-9

Antipas couldn’t figure it out. I thought I already dealt with this problem, he seems to have thought. Didn’t I already throw John into prison and cut off his head? Why do I keep hearing about this same problem?

Little did he know, it wasn’t John, but someone even greater than John had arrived, and the word was going out.

In the time of the pandemic, and even today, looking back on that time, one of the complaints that I have heard from pastors is with regard to the restrictions that were placed upon the church by governments around the world. The government said that the churches couldn’t meet and this became a problem. At the time, several of the churches complained that they were dying as a result of the restrictions.

There are several things that could be discussed related to this concern, but certainly one lesson that we could learn is that we should consider decentralizing the church. We should prepare our people to carry on the work of the church where they are such that, if the government were to come to shut down the church, the people should be able to carry on the work of Christ where they are. People within the church should continue to grow in their relationship with Christ because they are equipped to be able to do so. Disciples should be made because the people in the church are equipped to make disciples. Churches should be started anew because, even though the government has closed the centralized church, the Church, the individual people within each of the local churches, continue to operate within the kingdom of God.

This is how the church continues to work and grow where there is persecution. As we look to China or to Iran, or in any of the countries where the church is growing in the midst of persecution, it is because the people have been equipped. It is because disciples have been made who have carried the Gospel to others. Not from a centralized work in one or more larger churches, but the strengthening of the disciples to go and be the Church, carrying the message of the kingdom of God with them, making disciples and gathering new believers wherever they go.

This is what got Antipas’s attention. Suddenly, even after he thought that he had dealt with the situation with John by killing off this person who was critizing his actions, Jesus unleashes the disciples. Now, instead of there being one person proclaiming the kingdom of God, there are 12. And the message and the miracles are everywhere! It has become decentralized. The message and the works of God are traveling everywhere.

Herod Antipas can’t keep up. He is receiving a report from one area, and then he receives a report from another area. And another. And another. Who is this, he asks?

What Jesus did with his disciples is what we must also do today. We must make disciples here in our day, in our time, so that the message will be heard everywhere. We aren’t looking for a fight with the government. We aren’t looking to disobey, but we are looking to serve the one true king, Christ himself, and have his message taken everywhere. And there is only one way to do that: To send out the disciples who will proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom such that people will ask the same question that Antipas asked: Who is this?

For the last nine years, we have lived upon nothing more than donations of people, both individuals and churches, who have supported our family to do the work that God has called us to do. Generally speaking, I have found that we do not like to talk much in the church about money and its use, but I will say that I believe that it is one of the most important topics that we should be discussing.

Why?

Because from my experience, there have been few things that have stretched me and grown my own faith than to have to live based on the donations that others have given so that we can live and do the work that we are doing.

For nearly 20 years, I worked in a corporate job, working my way through various jobs and roles, earning a salary and various bonuses as a result of my work performance. I knew and acknowledged God’s provision, but if I am being honest, I rarely thought of it. I was the one earning the money and the one upon whom my livelihood depended. I was providing for myself and for my family.

But when we sensed a call to change careers and move to Sicily to work here, to make disciples and plant churches amongst the unreached, amongst those who have not known Christ, everything changed. No one came to me asking if they could give me money. No one suggested that they had a bunch of money, and if I just was willing to move to Sicily to plant churches, then they would give it to me. No, it doesn’t work like that.

Instead, it is a discussion related to the vision that God has given to you. God had put his heart for the unreached within us, a heart to see those who have not heard the name of Jesus truly know him, and we needed to communicate that heart, that vision, to others who would listen, who would partner with us and send us. Yes, that meant prayer. We needed people to pray for us. But that also meant that we practically needed to be supported to be able to go and do the work. Money must be involved, or nothing of this vision that God had laid upon our hearts would become a reality.

I was reminded of this as I read the first few verses of Luke 8 today. Jesus was traveling from town to town and doing his work full time. How did he do it? How did he live, and for that matter, how did his disciples live and eat while they did the work? Both Jesus and the disciples were supported by those who shared the vision of what God was doing through his Son to reestablish his kingdom:

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Luke 8:1-3

The women were helping to support Jesus and all of the other disciples out of their own means! They had received from God and wanted to give to him. They wanted to provide, not only for Jesus, but also for the disciples and the others that were traveling with Jesus.

Without these funds, Jesus and the disciples would not have been able to go. He would not have been able to teach. He would not have been able to heal all of the people, demonstrating that he is the Messiah. It is a result of these funds, this support, that Jesus and his disciples were able to live and thus do the work that we read about today.

God puts vision on the hearts of the people who will go, but he also puts a vision on the hearts of the people who will send, who will support, who will make sure that those who go can live and continue to do the work that they have been called to do.

I am very thankful to the people who have listened to God’s prompting to support us. It has increased my own faith in ways that I could have never imagined as I worked in my corporate role previously. But I am reminded that this is a calling from God, not only for us, but also for each of those who support us. It is HIS work, not ours. Not those who support us, but God’s work, and he uses each of us to complete the role that he has for us.

Now, may we do even more. We must pray for more workers to enter into the harvest fields. We must teach more people to listen to the Lord’s prompting, to his calling, and to be ready and willing to give to the work of the kingdom of God, to see his work go forward, to see his kingdom continue to expand.

The centurion didn’t even show up. He didn’t even come himself. He sent some of the Jewish elders to Jesus to ask him to heal one of his servants. And then the centurion subsequently sent two more servants to say that he shouldn’t come.

If I were Jesus, frankly, I might have been a little annoyed. First, he sends someone else to ask me to come, and I do. Then I come and get close to his home and he says don’t come. What’s the deal?

The Jews in that area liked this centurion, certainly an uncommon scenario. Generally, the Romans hated the Jews and the Jews hated the Romans. It was a pretty mutual feeling between them!

But here, when the Jewish elders from that area come to Jesus, they say that this centurion “deserves” for Jesus to come. The centurion had built their synagogue and was a friend to the Jewish people. That qualified him for Jesus to do a miracle for the centurion they said. He has done good things for us, so could you help him out? Could you do just this one little tiny miracle for him?

When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Luke 7:1-10

Hmm… I’m not sure whether or not Jesus bought this “he deserves it” argument, but he did go.

But as they approached the centurion’s house, the two other servants come with the message that Jesus doesn’t actually have to come. He can just say the word. The centurion understands that Jesus has the authority to speak and it will be done.

Now Jesus is truly astonished. Although I can be convinced otherwise, maybe now Jesus believes that the centurion “deserves it”. Why? Because the centurion had done good things for the Jewish people? No, in fact, Jesus says that this centurion has done much more than the Jewish people had done. He wasn’t even a Jew and the centurion actually had faith in who Jesus is. Jesus had never even found anyone in all of Israel who had the faith that this man had.

Why would Jesus say that?

Jesus said that this man had more faith than anyone in all of Israel because he had truly recognized who Jesus was. Yes, the centurion knew that Jesus could heal his servant. The Jewish elders also believed this, but they didn’t believe that Jesus could just say the word. They saw Jesus as a mere prophet. They saw him as one who one need to show up, on site, and talk to God about the centurion’s servant.

Yet the centurion saw the situation differently. He knew that Jesus could merely say the word and his servant would be healed. He saw Jesus is a completely different light. Only God would be able to do what the centurion knew that Jesus could do. Only God would be able to simply say the word and it would be done. Only God would be able to command spiritual forces in the way that the centurion believed Jesus could do.

And so it was for this reason that Jesus stops and commends the centurion’s faith. Wow! Jesus hadn’t heard of this kind of faith in all of Israel! This man believes! This man actually realizes that I am who I have been showing myself to be: God who has come in the flesh.

So Jesus cures the centurion’s servant. Right then and there. In fact, we don’t even see that Jesus says anything more other than commending the centurion’s faith. He thinks it and it is done. No magic words. No on-the-spot rituals. A thought and it is done.

It is interesting that this Roman centurion came to the conclusion of who Jesus truly was on his own. Today, we frequently hear people repeat what others have told them. The Muslims repeat what they heard in their mosque. The Catholics repeat what they have been told from their catechism.

This Roman centurion didn’t have anyone else to tell him what he should think. He came to the conclusion on his own. He figured it out by simply observing Jesus, by simply listening to him and seeing the works that he was doing, and he learned that God was walking around on the earth in the form of a man. He knew that the things that Jesus was doing were things that only God could do.

And what about each of us? This is the most important question: Who is Jesus? We must not only explore this question, but we must dig into it deeply. And we must look to see Jesus for who he shows himself to be. He is God, who has come as Immanuel, God with us, here on the earth. That is who he has shown himself to be, that is who he claimed to be, and he is the one around whom we must orient our lives, because he truly deserves it.

Jesus is teaching the crowds with a sermon that, today, we call the Sermon on the Mount. He has called his disciples and now he is teaching the people what it means to live as one within the kingdom of God.

As he is wrapping up his teaching, Jesus admonishes and warns the crowd that they shouldn’t just listen to what he has to say and move on. No, instead, they should go and do what he said, and if they do, then they will be building their lives on a strong foundation:

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Luke 6:46-49

I have a couple of thoughts on what Jesus is saying here:

First, as the crowds frequently noted, Jesus teaches quite differently than the Pharisees or teachers of the law. Jesus says that the people must do what he says. Note the emphasis here. Jesus isn’t just reading the scripture and telling the people to do what it says. He is telling the people directly, using his own words, what they must do.

This is very different than what a regular person would do. This is different from what a teacher would do. And furthermore, this is very different from what a true prophet would do! Each of these would recognize that there is an authority much greater than themselves and that they are simply a teacher or a carrier of a message instead of the authority themselves.

But that is not how Jesus speaks. He speaks with authority. He says that the people must put his words into practice. This is not how a teacher teaches. This is how God speaks. He speaks with authority. He is the Sovereign. He is the Lord, and when the Lord speaks, that is what must be done.

So there is an issue of identity for Jesus in what he is saying here. Jesus truly is Lord. He is God who has come to earth to show himself in the flesh, amongst his people. He is Immanuel, God with us.

Second, Jesus says that we must do. We must act. We must put his words into practice. That is how we can stand upon a firm foundation. We don’t stand firmly because we have a good philosophy, or even because we understand all of the right teachings. The knowledge of Christ will give you a good start. It helps you know what to do. But the practice is what will allow you to have the foundation upon which you can stand.

Jesus says that you can weather the storm. You can stand even when you are beaten down. But you can only do these things if you know Jesus’s words, and you do Jesus’s words. If you put them into practice. Only in this way can you truly stand upon a foundation that will not move. Otherwise, if you know what Jesus says but you haven’t actually put them into practice, you will be destroyed. The sands will shift underneath you and you will collapse. And you will be destroyed.

So, let’s not simply call Jesus Lord, Lord. Instead, let us be a people who do what he says, who put into practice what Jesus has called us to do, and in this way, when the storms come, we will stand.

Luke has written an account of Jesus’s life, but as we already saw in Luke 1, even before Jesus, Luke wrote about John the Baptist, who would play a critically important role in Jesus’s ministry. John’s role was to prepare the way for Jesus to come.

Luke quotes Isaiah, saying that John was the one that Isaiah wrote about in Isaiah 40 when he said:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

Luke 3:4-6

Isaiah had written this originally to the people of Israel in Isaiah chapter 40. Just before he had written that, though, in chapter 39, Isaiah had written about the coming of the Babylonians who would come to destroy Jerusalem and conquer the Israelites, including, this time, the Kingdom of Judah, the southern kingdom of the two Israelite kingdoms. The Babylonians were to come as a punishment upon the Israelites for their infidelity to God and for the sin that was rampant amongst them.

Yet now, in Isaiah 40, Isaiah says that the Israelites should be comforted. They should know that the Lord is coming. Their sins have been paid for, twice over in fact, and their Lord is coming to them. It is a picture of a coming king, a conquering king. One who is worthy to have all imperfections of the road upon which he is striding be prepared and repaired prior to him coming so that his travel will be smooth and his glory to be clearly seen. This is the king that will be coming to the Israelites.

And yet now, Luke says that John is the one that Isaiah is speaking of when he talked about the one who would come. John is the one who is announcing that the Lord is coming. He is the one calling for the valleys to be filled in. He is the one crying for the hills and mountains to be made low. He is the one shouting for every crooked road to be made straight.

But what does that mean? Did that ever happen? Did John get the Romans to go out and knock down the hills? Or fill in the valleys? Or make the windy roads of Israel straight?

No, this is a reference to the spiritual reality of our lives. John’s message was of repentance. He called the people to repent, to leave behind their wicked ways, to leave behind the sinfulness of their lives. John called them a brood of vipers and he called them to come to God in repentance.

By repenting, the hills and mountains in their lives would be made low. By repenting, the valleys would be filled in. By repenting, the crooked paths of the people’s lives would be made straight. And by repenting, the way of the Lord would be prepared so that he could come. Jesus would come to the people who have prepared the way for him to come, in repentance. And Jesus’s glory would be made known both within them as well as through them.

This, in fact, was the same message that Jesus gave to the people as he came:

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Mark 1:15

If we want to prepare the way of the Lord, there is one way to do it. It starts with repentance. It starts with leaving behind the sin of our lives. It starts with declaring that we no longer want the things of this world, but instead wanting God himself. We prepare the way of the Lord, the coming of Christ in our lives, in one way: through repentance.

Yesterday, I noted and wrote about the fact that God had given John the Baptist his name. I learned that the name John means

Yahweh is gracious.

The angel Gabriel had come and announced John’s birth to Zecchariah, the father in John’s case. But in Jesus’s case, Gabriel comes to Mary, the mother, to announce Jesus’s birth.

Reading in Luke 2 today, I noted the reference back to Gabriel’s discussion with Mary where Luke says:

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Luke 2:21

God, through the angel Gabriel, has now named both John and Jesus. He is clearly sending a message to his people. The name Jesus means

Yahweh saves.

So there is a clear message. God’s people have been rebellious toward him, but God is sending John, a man who will prepare the way for the Messiah, and his name means Yahweh is gracious.

But what is even more, and of even greater importance, is that the one who will save the people from their sins will be named Jesus whose name means Yahweh saves.

God named both of these children before they were conceived. They were given the names that God himself had given them so that the Lord’s message is clear. God is coming. Yahweh himself. He is gracious. And he is here to save his people.

This is the same message that we receive today. Just a few days ago, we celebrated Christmas, the celebration of Christ’s birth, the celebration of God’s entrance into the world in the form of a man, in the person of Jesus. This is the reality that we live within today. Jesus has come and so we must look to him, give ourselves to him, and live for him. His name and its meaning, as well as that of the name of John, is clear. Yahweh has come, and if you will let him, he has come to save.

We haven’t even come to the worst yet. Even though the seventh seal has been opened and four of the angels have blown their trumpets…

Even though fire and blood have been hurled onto the earth…

Even though a third of the earth was burned up…

Even though a third of the seas were destroyed along with the fish and creatures within them and the ships upon them…

Even though a third of all of the fresh water sources, the rivers and the springs of water, were destroyed…

Even though a third of the moon, a third of the stars, and a third of the day and the night were now without light…

As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”

Revelation 8:13

…Despite all of this, in his vision, John saw an eagle fly over and heard him crying out woes upon the earth in advance of the last three angels yet to sound their trumpets.

What could be worse? The earth and the universe are not only destroyed, those that are left are suffering because of the lack of one-third of the entire ecosystem required to maintain balance and live. It is gone and nothing will work correctly. And yet there is more to come?

Woe to us here on the earth that won’t heed God’s direction and acknowledge him for who he truly is, the creator and king over all things! God’s judgment and wrath are coming. Let us be prepared for it in Christ!