In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
He went throughout (the) whole region of 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: “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” – Luke 3:1-12
“All flesh shall see the salvation.” Salvation is not something we are always on the
look out for. We don’t think we need saving and yet if we reflect on our lives long enough we come to know how disjointed and out of balance we are. We are uncomfortable with ourselves, with stillness and so we keep ourselves busy so we don’t have to be alone with quiet. We need saving from our very selves, from our own incompleteness and inadequacies.
Salvation comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ. If we will prepare the way for him, if we will clear out the distractions of busyness, stuff and our need for perfectionism, he will come and save us. We will see him at work in our lives. The focus of Advent Conspiracy is to simply slow down long enough and quiet our selves so we can receive the salvation only Jesus Christ can offer us.
