8 December Luke 3:1-6
Luke is very specific in the information he gives us! It’s the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, and Pontius Pilate is governor of Judea. But then, “Herod was ruler of Galilee…”
We will hear more about Herod the Great as the Christmas season unfolds, but he had died by the time of this story, and the Romans had split the region into different areas with different rulers, three of whom were Herod’s sons. Archelaus ruled Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea; Philip ruled Ituraea and Trachonitis; and Herod Antipas ruled Galilee. Then there was Lysanias, the ruler of Abilene. None of these men were Jews: they were all Roman puppets. What was that like to live with? The political noise of the time was deafening.
But ‘The word of God came to John, son of Zechariah’, and so began his ministry, calling the people to the baptism of repentance. Luke follows this declaration with the quotation from Isaiah: a confirmation of the validity of John’s ministry and of the continuity of God’s promise to his people. This is of God. Prepare the way of the Lord. Hush the noise?
There is a time for keeping silence and a time for making yourself heard above the noise – the noise that threatens to drown out the love song of Christmas: the song of love that includes the call to repent and prepare for Christ’s coming, whatever is going on in the world around us.
Amanda Boon
Loving God, your people have lived in turbulent times throughout history. Help us to hear your call to repent and prepare above the clamour of the world today. And help us, like John, to shout out over the noise so that others may hear and come to you this Christmas. Amen.
