If you are a builder, or if you simply have built something at some time in your life, you know that “smoothness” matters. If you’ve ever gotten one of those pesky splinters from sitting on a wooden chair or sliding your hand across an antique table, you might be silently muttering against whoever it was who didn’t sand all of those ragged edges out, because now your hand has been neatly skewered by a slivery (and often elusively hard to remove) fine bit of wood that will silently torture you under your skin until it eventually works its way out. Splinters may be tiny, but they can be enormously painful and can cause significant infection if not promptly removed.
Sanding rough boards therefore is a “must” to smooth out splinters and bumps before using a plank of wood in any kind of construction. But far from a mere chore, many find sanding wood a helpful outlet. There’s something about that sanding and smoothing activity that also soothes the mind and quiets the spirit.
A similar kind of smoothing needs to happen when building a road. Roads require a laying process that includes most often dirt, gravel, bitumen (a tar like substance), lime, and a top layer of either large smooth stone or macadam. What the road is made of depends upon what century you are talking about, whether in early times or today. However, no matter when the road was or is built, the process still requires “smoothing.” As in wood constructions, in road construction too, smoothness matters.
Any of you who have driven over (or shall I say into) potholes, ditches, and into stones on faulty or worn-out roads know that this kind of road is not only uncomfortable but dangerous. And those driving on them may be prone to accidents and tire damage.
Road building therefore is a major industry in any developed city or country.
In the time of Jesus, the Roman Empire was undertaking massive road-building projects. Romans were master roadbuilders, and a good “tekton” or craftsman (mason) could always find work in nearly any part of Roman ruled territory working on their complex road system.It’s no wonder that Jesus, a tekton himself, would have used the metaphor of “road construction” in several of his explanations to his disciples.[1]
Rome was bringing innovation to the entire area, increasing travel capability, and making way for national and foreign commerce throughout the empire. The Romans were amazing architects and were known for their masterful road construction. Their roads were straighter and smoother than any roads to date and would be better and more intricately constructed than any other roads in the world until the late 18th century. A well-paved Roman road could last nearly 70 years with no needed repairs.[2]
To engineer a smooth, straight road, the Romans developed paving practices and a four-layered roadway.They first laid a graded soil foundation. Then they topped that with a bedding of sand or mortar. They created asphalt or mortar from sand, gravel, and bitumen (tar). On top of that, they laid a series of large, flat stones. Then a layer of gravel mixed with lime. Finally, they added a thin surface of flint like lava. The roads were about 3-5 ft thick. They “graded” the surface until absolutely smooth, that is, they smoothed and leveled it with equipment made for these kinds of roadways. Underneath the roadway, a combination of stones in various sizes allowed for water and air to filter through. They measured carefully and provided drainage on the sides of the roads.
The Romans were not the first to build roads. The earliest road in the holy land dates back to Ur in 4000 BCE. In 2000 BCE the Minoans built a paved road from near North Crete to the southern coast of Greece using sandstone bound with clay and gypsum mortar and covered in flagstone. In 2500 Egypt built a paved road that led to the Great Pyramid. But the Romans perfected road technology, building a vast interconnected system throughout their acquired empire, opening up trade routes to every known city and town. In 2000 BCE, the Kings Highway connected Damascus and Palestine. The Via Appia was the first Roman-designed road, built in 312 BCE.
By the time of Jesus in the first century, the Romans had built about 29 major highways. All in all, the Romans built about 53,000 miles of roadways during that time. By the end of the empire, they had built about 200,000 miles of stone paved highway, much of which rulers, such as Augustus and Pilate oversaw.
Like today, not all roads were highway material however. Back roads and country roads, mountain roads, and roads connecting small villages remained leveled earth or gravel surfaced. While the stone paved highways collected tolls, many preferred the back roads, which remained a bit of a rougher journey.
Under Roman law, the public could use any of the Roman roads, but each district was responsible for the maintenance of their stretch of the roadway. Therefore, keeping roadways in good shape was important for every town connected to the infrastructure to ensure adequate trade, commerce, travel, and supply chains. Roads were the new technology. And they largely funded Roman expansion.
Within this context, John the Baptist constructs an image in his message to the people of Israel about the “good news” of God, who would be sending a Savior and King through the power of the Holy Spirit.
John quotes Isaiah: “See I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
John’s message is one of repentance, and his baptism a baptism of repentance. Jesus, the coming Savior would baptize by the Holy Spirit.
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,” John cried.
As a result, people from all over the Judean countryside came to repent, confess their sins, and be baptized in the River Jordan.
The message from John to the people is to essentially “straighten up” and fly right! But it’s more than that, and the metaphor of the roadway gives us a hint just how deep John’s message goes and the weight it carries.
As you know from our prior construction metaphor, you can’t build a house with splintery boards. Nor can you build your spiritual house with rough edges. Likewise, you can’t travel a road that leads to salvation unless you first smooth it out and make it straight. To smooth a road, especially one of the rough back roads that many Israelites may have traveled, required smoothing, removing grit, leveling the road, and removing large stones and imperfections, grading it carefully, so as to remove extraneous stuff that would cause one to stumble and fall while traveling.
Remember Jesus’ metaphor of the stumbling stone (the skandalon)? Jesus Himself is the stumbling stone that will trip up those who do not take God’s journey seriously.
And while Jesus’ salvation will ultimately purify and renew us, we still have a role to play in preparing ourselves for His coming into our hearts and lives.
Before we can accept Him into our hearts, we must engage in a sloughing off process, a repentance process. There is no salvation without repentance. This is the message that John so direly needs us to understand.
And it’s the same message that Jesus will drive home throughout his 3 year ministry to His disciples, the Pharisees, and others. To prepare our journey with Christ, we must prepare ourselves by repenting of our sins, the things that trip us up and make it hard for us to walk with Jesus in a consistent and long-term way. We must remove from our lives all of the debris and distractions that lure us off the road that leads to Life. We must seal our lives in relationship with Him, so that nothing can tear us apart from Him, not just now, but in the long-term of our lives.
To prepare a “straightway” for Jesus in our lives, is to accept that the Way of Jesus is the only thing that can make us “straight” –for He is our foundation, the living Stone and the only foundation that will last.
Advent is a time of preparation. And more than ever this season, we need to focus on our own imperfections. To focus on Jesus. And on making ourselves ready for Him to take over the driver’s seat of our lives. It’s time, as John might say, for our road construction to begin. Because good news is coming. HE is coming soon.
Ruth Graham, wife of the famous preacher Billy Graham, had etched into her uneven tombstone the following words: “End of Construction –Thank you for your patience.” All of our lives are spent in allowing Jesus to form and reform us into disciples of God’s heavenly kingdom. While we never reach perfection in this lifetime, we must continue to repent of our sins, and allow Jesus to smooth us out and keep us from stumbling.
John’s voice is a voice of urgency, warning us that the time is coming soon. Repent, he says. Straighten out your life. Make way for the adventure of your life!