December 9

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler[b] of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler[ of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”


Among the four Gospel writers, Luke is the one whose favorite class in college was world history. He works diligently to get all the names of the rulers down right. In this passage he takes us on a zoom-in, like Google earth: starting with Rome, narrowing to Judea, then to Jerusalem where Caiaphas is the high priest in the Temple. These governing authorities are real, and what they do has force and consequence. Consider, for instance, what we discover later about Pilate, or Caiaphas, who will press to have an innocent man killed to “keep the peace.”

Into the middle of all this comes the word of God, to John, out in the wilderness. It may seem like a remote world, and remote word, which has little bearing on what is really happening in bustling cities like Jerusalem, where the powerful play. Yet John is a prophet who does not speak for himself. Indeed, he fits within a long tradition; he is a prophet whose message has been foreseen by other prophets. John, and Isaiah before him, are tapped into a much bigger reality which, as we zoom out to have a look, does not keep separate from, but mingles with what St. Augustine calls the “earthly city,” where people like Tiberius or Pilate or Joe Biden make their moves.

The mingling creates stories, some of them shocking, like the one about how John’s head later ends up on a platter. But John and Isaiah know that the true and ultimate ruler of the universe will not be deterred in his purpose, which is to bring peace to all. This Is not the peace of Rome, nor is it administered by the likes of Caiaphas. It is rather true peace, the kind we catch a glimpse of as we proceed prayerfully through Advent: the peace that comes when “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

King of kings, Lord of lords, in troubled times we long for your peace. Guide our attention to those places where your word has entered, and continues to enter, our world. When the peace it brings seems small and fleeting, remind us that it is your peace, and that you have promised to bring it to fullness and extend it to all. Amen.

Charlie Pinches