Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega.  He is the beginning and the end.  “In the beginning was the Word…” (Jn 1,1)  Jesus is the beginning of the road for all who wish to travel on the way that leads to eternal life.  He is the Way that leads all believers through the desert of our earthly life and into the promised land of eternal life in heaven.  Jesus is the end point towards which all of time and space are moving.  “In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.” (Eph 1,8-10)  What was begun in him and through his Word will one day find its completion in him and in his eternal Word.  As Paul says to the Philippians:  “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1,6)  We are all a work in progress.  There is always some “road work” that is being accomplished in our spiritual lives.  

    Advent is a season for “road work”.  John the Baptist is the architect of the work that needs to be accomplished in our lives.  As the greatest of all the prophets, “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.” (Luke 3,2)  God reveals to John at a very precise moment in human history, what is needed to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus the Christ onto the human landscape of history and into the human hearts of all who are longing to “see the salvation of God.” (Luke 3,6)  John proclaims “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 3,3)  John is “A voice of one crying out in the desert:  “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths…The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.” (Luke 3,4f)  John calls us to straighten out the roads of our lives.  If we want to see the salvation of God then we need to walk on straight paths in our lives.  Hebrews instructs us, “So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.  Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.” (Heb 12,12f)  Sin twists the road of our life around in many different directions until we don’t know what direction we are following.  Repentance straightens out our life, makes straight our paths and heals the weak knees that we have developed in walking the rough roads of life.  John knows that God wants to show us the paths of life like the Psalmist proclaims:  “You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.” (Ps 16,11)  John is a beautiful witness to the “path to life” in living a simple life centered on the word of God.  

    Our lives are often filled with ups and downs.  We struggle to climb the mountains in prayer and virtue and too often find our road descending into the deep valleys and ravines of our selfish pride and arrogance.  Baruch shares with us that “God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground.” (Baruch 5,7)  Our pride and selfishness needs to be leveled out by humility and selfless service.  John cries out that the paths of life need to be made more consistent in our walk with the Lord:  “Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.” (Luke 3,5)  

    If we do the road work that John the Baptist calls us to do in our lives, then we will be able to see the salvation of God.  Isaiah the prophet promises, “They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.  Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened:  Be strong, fear not!  Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.” (Is 35,2-4)  Jesus is the “adventus” the one who comes to save us.  If we are to prepare for his “advent”, his coming, then we need to repent, straighten out our ways and walk humbly before the Lord.  Our repentance is not a single event in time but is a continual turning toward the Lord throughout the course of our lives until the work that God has begun in us in the coming of Christ is brought to completion in our salvation.  Repentance is a continual and ongoing work project on the road of our life until at last we arrive at our destination and God is “all in all.” (1Cor 15,28)