Reflections on the Second Sunday in Advent, “Make His Paths Straight”

Sometimes people proudly proclaim, “I have no regrets!” This is kind of like the person who proclaims, “I don’t care about what other people think!” These assertions seem to almost illicit a kind of admiration, “Wow! That’s a strong person who has no regrets and isn’t insecure about what others think!” But such admiration would be misplaced. These are not positions to take pride in. In Mark 1:1-8 John the Baptist prepared people for the coming of Christ by urging them to “repent!” Over the years I’ve taught the meaning of metanoia as changing one’s mind (about sin and Christ) and “turning around” (from sin and towards God). These definitions aren’t bad, but “repent!” may also be translated in a very simple way (in terms of the narrow sense of the word): “to think after, to regret.” Christians should have plenty that they sincerely regret. We Christians should be able to look back on our lives (as far back as we can remember and as recently as today) and see countless things (sins actually) that we regret. To say we have “no regrets” is the height of arrogance; to confess that you have many regrets is to know the humility that the Lord seeks in His people who truly need Him and the forgiveness of sins He gives. The Gospel in Mark 1 is all about demonstrating our great need precisely because we are people filled with regrets. John comes crying in the wilderness. The wilderness reminds us not only of Israel’s wanderings, but of our own in our own wildernesses of sin. He calls us to make straight paths, because our sin has caused crooked paths. John came baptizing and we are mindful that our baptism was essential to bury our own sinful self bent on destroying us. And then we see the people coming to John and doing what? Answer: “confessing their sins.” All of these images teach us about the healthy thing about regret. At the end of the day these things remind us of our great need for Christ. And for us regretting people Jesus comes. And when the Law does its devastating work filling us with regret, His Gospel informs us that He takes up all of our sin which is responsible for every ounce of our regret. For this reason John said He was unworthy to even stoop down to untie Christ’s sandals, but at the same time, John knew…He knew that this Savior, our Savior, THE Savior would baptize us “with the Holy Spirit” guaranteeing God’s grace for those plagued with regret. This same Spirit shows us the Gospel: Jesus died for all sin so that we are no longer transfixed on our regrets, but on the One who did not regret giving His life for yours! In Christ, Dr. Espinosa

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