Building the highway.

Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15; Mark 1:1-8

It is little help to see the prophet as a prognosticator or a soothsayer. The prophet's standard declaration falls more along these lines: "If you do A, B will happen. I am calling you to do C, so that D will happen instead." The prophet doesn't say a highway will show up, but, rather, cries out, "prepare the way of the Lord" and make straight "a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3).

Bob Dylan's Highway 61 is forever revisited, and folks still get their kicks on Bobby Troup's Route 66 because layers of memory and tradition have evolved from these well-worn thoroughfares. The righteous route proclaimed in Isaiah and echoed in Mark's gospel is cosmological in scope and must be rebuilt in each new era of salvation history. It is constructed by, and among, peoples who offer confession and accept forgiveness, who realize atrocities and call for a realignment with God's justice.

Sometimes prophetic utterance comes as a divine oracle offering assurance of God's blessing, as in the case of our psalm. Even here, there is a choice. God "will speak peace to his people" if they turn to him (Psalm 85:8). In those blessed times, "righteousness and peace will kiss each other." This is why John the Baptizer offers a baptism for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:1-8). We must repent, then accept forgiveness.

Following John's highway project, Jesus will "baptize you with the Holy Spirit." A baptized people, we are called to flesh out Christ's redeeming promise by becoming prophetic voices. Where can our prophetic call be sounded? Consider the recent words of Jan Egeland, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator: "We need to wake up world leaders and decision-makers to the humanitarian crises of our day. From Niger to New Orleans to North Korea--we need a consistent response."