She Reads Truth: EmmanuelSample

John the Baptist Prepares the Way for the Coming Christ

Reflection

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” - Plato or Ian MacLaren (depending on who you ask)

Everyone is on their way someplace. We are all travelers, when it comes down to it.

John the Baptist appeared, a human messenger of the divine, preaching and baptizing and telling all who would listen of the Messiah to come. He was nutty, by anyone’s standards, with his camel hair clothing and locust snacks. I can picture him, wild-eyed and shaggy-haired, beard matted with honey, feet dirty from incessant walking, voice hoarse from constantly crying out. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!”

Whether or not people thought he was crazy, I doubt he was easy to ignore.

John was a traveler preaching to travelers. The Christ is coming, he’d say. If you’re hungry for my teaching, just wait ‘til you meet Him. He’s the ONE.

We are preparing our hearts this Advent season. We are making a way for the Christ to come, for the One who puts on flesh to become God with us. Many of us have met Him. Many of us are setting the table, lighting the candles, readying the celebration for the day everything changed.

But are we preparing His way for our fellow travelers? Are we forgetting our lives and our lists long enough to look up and into the eyes of the ones we journey beside?

We are all fighting a hard battle. We are all traveling a long road. What a different journey this will be if we remind each other along the way: This One. He is the one you’ve been waiting for.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, as we prepare your way in our hearts this season, may we not fail to prepare your way to the travelers around us. May we remember to look up and see the faces of the people in our lives, may we dare to speak your name, may we reach out to others with kindness in the name of Christ. Amen.

Advent Action

Do an unsolicited act of service for someone today in the name of the One who gives undeserved grace.

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