When our daughter Allie was in her senior year at Lumen Christi, she had a part in the musical Godspell. Watching the performance night after night, the opening song still rings almost hauntingly (but jubilantly) in my mind:
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”
It is sung by the character of John the Baptist as he invites people to prepare for the arrival of Jesus.
This preparing for the Lord begins long before John the Baptist, of course. In the New Testament, we can quickly think of Joseph and Mary and their preparations as they surrender, acknowledging the announcements of their angelic visitors to be ready for the arrival of a son. And so many times in the Old Testament we see the prefigurement of Christ through others, slow preparations of building expectation and longing.
In the book of Isaiah, John the Baptist’s call for preparation is clearly foreshadowed:
“A voice proclaims: In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” (Isaiah 40:3)
Each year when we read the opening Gospel passage before the Palm Procession, the text brings to mind these same words—words of a people preparing for the Lord and His plan to make all things new:
“The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road.” (Matthew 21)
They ready a glorious path as our Lord nears the gates of Jerusalem. On one level, their preparations of cloaks and branches are gestures of praise, greeting Jesus with honor as He passes by, recognizing His strength and power. On another level, they are preparing Him for battle—a rally cry for their king, even though few understood what that “battle” would truly look like.
And then, soon after, the battle begins.
In a striking contrast, the same symbols—cloak and reed—are used not in praise, but in mockery:
“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him.” (Matthew 26)
Ironically, even these soldiers play a role in preparing the way of the Lord. This does not excuse their actions, just as we do not praise Judas for his betrayal. Yet within the mystery of salvation, God works all things for good.
As Fr. John Riccardo explains in The Rescue Project and in his book Rescued, God sent His Son as an “ambush predator”—one who came to wage war in order to rescue us. God became man to fight, to rescue us, to win back His creation. He entered into the world hidden in humanity, and through suffering, nails, and the cross, carried out a plan the enemy never saw coming.
In this way, Christ entered into death itself and, from the inside, destroyed its power.
Preparation is defined as “the state of being ready to act when the need arises.” Being ready. Acting.
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we see people preparing the way of the Lord in response to God’s call. We see Jesus Himself preparing the way as He aligns His human will with the Divine Will in the Garden of Gethsemane.
This Holy Week, we are invited to reflect more deeply:
How am I preparing the way of the Lord in my own life and in the lives of others?
What is my role in this ongoing story of salvation?
Preparing the way of the Lord must first begin within us. That is what Lent has been about—emptying ourselves so that we can more fully welcome the Risen Lord.
And now, with hearts filled more with Christ than with ourselves, we are ready to act.
We prepare the way for others through simple but powerful acts: answering faith questions with patience, inviting others to encounter Jesus, sharing our personal stories, and walking alongside others in daily life.
These are the paths that lead others to Christ.
Prepare the way of the Lord—and have a blessed Holy Week.
— Shayne