ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 MONITE NOVEMA 6, 2023

John the Highway-Builder

Ko Sione - ko Tufunga ‘o e Hala Pule’anga ‘a e ‘Otua

ISAIAH 40:3-4

A VOICE CRIES: "IN THE WILDERNESS PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD: MAKE STRAIGHT IN THE DESERT A HIGHWAY FOR OUR GOD. EVERY VALLEY SHALL BE LIFTED UP, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL BE MADE LOW; THE UNEVEN GROUND SHALL BECOME LEVEL, AND THE ROUGH PLACES A PLAIN."

‘AISEA 40:3-4

3 Ko e le‘o ē ‘oku kalanga,  Teuteu ‘i he toafa ‘a e hā‘ele‘anga ‘o Sihova, fakatonutonu ‘i he fonua mamate ha hala tanu ma‘a hotau ‘Otua. 4 ‘Ilonga ha tele‘a pea ‘e tanu, pea ko e mo‘unga mo e tafungofunga ‘e holoki: pea ‘e liliu ‘a e hangatāmaki ke tokamālie, mo e koto makatu‘u ke lautoka:

They plied John with questions: "Who are you? The Christ? Elijah? Spit it out. Who are you?" He gave them only one answer: "I  am a voice. A hill-leveling, valley-filling, way-straightening voice. I'm a highway-maker. That's who I am" (cf. John 1:19-23). Inside John's mouth roared God's motor grader, excavator, and asphalt paver. He built the Messiah's m'sillah, his "highway." The ancient peoples had their roads, like the King's Highway that ran from Egypt to Damascus, on which the Israelites once traveled (Num. 20:17, 19). John's road was shoveled with nouns and paved with verbs. His preaching of baptism and repentance constructed a m'sillah from the Jordan to Jesus.

Elsewhere Isaiah calls it "the Way of Holiness" (35:8). On it the weary feet of those exiled in the land of sin and death make their way home. "The redeemed shall walk there," "the ransomed of the LORD" who return "to Zion with singing" (vv. 9-10). By faith we walk this road as baptized pilgrims, pointing our feet toward the New Jerusalem, to our great God and King, Jesus the Christ.

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion" (Ps. 84:5).