The Second Sunday of Advent: Faith and Preparation
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exhalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:3-5. KJV)
In our first Advent reading, humanity waited in hope for the glory of God to be revealed. This week's passage from the Prophet Isaiah is a call to action. With faith in the promises of God, a highway must be paved through the desert for the coming of the Lord. The "voice in the wilderness" in the Hebrew Scriptures took on flesh and blood in John the Baptist, who served as the forerunner of Christ in the New Testament, preparing the way for him with radical calls to repentence. John is depicted in this wood panel triptych from Ukrainian Greek Catholic Iconographer Lyuba Yatskiv exhorting the crowds to be cleansed of their sins (on the left) and baptizing Christ (on the right). In the central panel the Baptist holds a scroll with the Isaiah text and his head on a platter, marking his death by beheading at the hands of Herod Antipas. Following Eastern Orthodox tradition, John has angelic wings in his role as a divine messenger. (John Kohan)