Luke 3 :: Now & Later

Luke 3

As I read through the first six verses today, I was reminded of these:

Do you remember these candies of greatness?  The problem I had with the Now & Later was that when you put the candy in your mouth NOW, you sure weren't going to finish it until LATER.  Those candies were hard.  Now they have soft versions of the candy that is much better.  But what does that have to do with the first six verses of Luke?  Glad you asked.

The baby born in chapter one is now grown up and making quite a stir along the Jordan River (I'm sure Cameron has a story about standing right where John preached!).  He underlines his message of life-change and the forgiveness of sins with words from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah:

Thunder in the desert! 

"Prepare God's arrival! 

Make the road smooth and straight! 

Every ditch will be filled in, 

Every bump smoothed out, 

The detours straightened out, 

All the ruts paved over. 

Everyone will be there to see 

The parade of God's salvation."

When Isaiah wrote these words for the Israelites, there was no Messiah on the horizon.  The Messiah was not in a back room and just about to bust onto the scene.  When they heard these words, they were definitely LATER.

So now John is quoting these words, but the people have heard this already.  They had been longing for this day to come and no one had spoken a word from God for 400 years.  The people hearing this did not know anything but anticipation and now they are being told that what they have been waiting for all this time is now here.  We know that the Messiah was in their midst, but they didn't know that.  For them, it may have been, "Yeah right.  We've heard this before."  It's still LATER, but it's really NOW and they just don't know it yet.

When we read it today, we may be tempted to hear it like they did - as LATER, also.  When Jesus comes back he will smooth the roads, fill in ditches, smooth out bumps, straighten out detours, pave ruts over...what a parade that will be!  For us the LATER is definitely the NOW... & LATER.

I love this because this is what makes the good news good news.  We don't have to wait until we die, but Jesus brought the kingdom of heaven here to earth and our eternity.  Because of Jesus, we don't have to settle for potholes and detours, in hope for a better tomorrow LATER.  We can have a better today.  The hungry can get food NOW, the thirsty can get water NOW, the captive can be set free NOW, the blind can see NOW, the crippled can walk NOW.  That's good news.

But why do we still settle for potholes and detours?  It doesn't appear to be about Jesus as much as it is about us.  There are definitely things that seem to be LATER things, but I'm afraid that by focusing on LATER that we may be missing out on the NOW.  How can we be about the Father's business on earth as it is in heaven?  

But those are just my ramblings for today.  What did you see?

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