Americans love a road trip. The freedom and adventure of the highway are staples in our songs and movies.  Have you seen Midnight Run, Thelma and Louise, The Blues Brothers, National Lampoon's Vacation, or Plains, Trains, and Automobiles?

What would our music be without Springsteen belting out, "Baby, we were born to run."? "Well, I'm running down the road trying to loosen my load; I got seven women on my mind." The Eagles told us, "Take it easy, don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy." 

Johnny Cash said, "I've been everywhere, man,"

"Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Waterville.

Simon and Garfunkel were "Homeward Bound." John Denver was on Country Roads. Jackson Browne was "Running on Empty." Rihanna sang, "Shut Up and Drive." Whether we are "On the Road Again," with Willie Nelson, Truckin' with the Grateful Dead, or as Cheryl Crowe sang, "Every day is a winding road." Not to be confused with the Beatles' "Long and winding road." 

The road trip means we are going somewhere, having adventures, coming of age, and on a journey toward transformation. However, if you ever had to commute to work, you know the reality of the road is not so glamorous. Crossing the bridge in Wiscasset on a July weekend does not feel like freedom or transformation. Sometimes the only song we hear is "Are we there yet?" We might end up on:

The Road to Nowhere with the Talking Heads

"The Streets with No Name" with U2

Highway to Hell, with AC/DC

Every trip has a challenge, a test, a quest to fulfill. You might be trying to get around the world in 80 days or find Sweet Home Alabama. The Blues Brothers were on a mission from God, or maybe you are trying to find out who you truly are. As Charlene sang, "I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me." Sometimes, you just need to crank up Ray Charles and "Hit the Road Jack" and take a Journey (with the band Journey) where you "don't stop believing" (not to be confused with Fleetwood Mac's "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.). Life is about the quest. 

Matthew is taking us on a road trip. In our quest to follow the historical Jesus, the Risen Christ, we must find the GPS coordinates of salvation history. Jesus was born of Mary, who had to take two road trips in Matthew, first to Bethlehem and later to Egypt. Various travelers come on pilgrimage to her child, angels, shepherds, and wise men from the East. Jesus has everyone on the move; north, south, east, and west. Matthew is making a pit stop with John the Baptist. He is marking the journey with numerous road signs so we understand what this journey is all about. 

John is in the wilderness. We should immediately recognize several biblical stories. Moses is in the wilderness when he hears the voice of God from a burning bush. God calls him to free the slaves of Israel, who wander in the wilderness for forty years. They journey through the Red Sea, get manna when hungry, receive the ten commandments, and build a Golden calf for a cow god. Wilderness is a place where they move from slavery to freedom. It is a transitional space where they face adversity and become God's people. Wilderness is where prophets like Elijah go to hear the voice of God, and it is where Jesus will go for 40 days of temptation after his baptism. 

The first road sign is John as a voice in the wilderness. He is not preaching in the Temple of Jerusalem, where his message would be easily accessible to thousands. He isn't sending tweets you can read in the comfort of your home and make fun of his wardrobe choices. If you want to hear John, you must walk a day from Jerusalem and another day back. More importantly, you must re-enter the wilderness and be a wanderer, free yourself from the slavery of the past to find what comes next.

Matthew surrounds John with several more biblical road signs. He is wearing camel hair and eating locusts and wild honey. John renounces all traditions of making a living, yet he is no beggar. He is living off the land as his own man. 

Matthew places John in a rich lineage of Isaiah 40. Jon fulfills Isaiah's prophecy of a voice in the wilderness, shouting to prepare the way. Isaiah is the greatest of Israel's prophetic books, the most quoted in the Gospels. Here is the fuller quote:

A voice cries out:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

(Notice we are on the highway again, think of the Eagles lyrics, "On a dark, desert highway, cool wind in my hair…Welcome to the Hotel California.)

⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
The uneven ground shall become level,
    And the rough places a plain.

A massive construction project is taking place to prepare the way through the wilderness again. In Isaiah's day, 500 years before Christ, it is a message to the exiles in Babylon that they shall return home, back to the Promised Land. Get ready for the journey.

The third road sign is John baptizing in the Jordan River. This road sign says, "Promised Land Ahead – Pay toll ."The Jordan marks the end of wandering in the wilderness and the beginning of having their own land. Moses didn't get to cross over. The Jordan River is a core communal transition point to life without Moses, from wanderers to settlers. Some peoples, like the Bedouins, were content with the nomadic life. Could Hebrew slaves be settled people and hold their own against their neighbors? 

John is baptizing at this symbolic boundary with multiple road signs. Matthew uses every metaphor possible to say that this is a tremendous spiritual inflection point. Move through the wilderness from slavery to freedom, take the highway home from exile, cross the Jordan River, and be baptized. Pay the toll by repenting, and you can move further down the highway. We understand baptism as the ritual of becoming a part of the faith community. It was a ritual for Gentiles to convert to Judaism in John's day. This baptism of repentance implies a critic of faith, charging that people are so far from a living faith that they are like Gentiles who must become Jews again by being washed clean in the Jordan. 

The word repent has a powerful grip on our imagination. It sounds like a fearsome word full of judgment and attack. We may think of Jonathan Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the hands of an angry God," hanging us over a flame like a spider, and we must repent of our sins so God will save us. I preached in Edwards's church for nine years. A huge bust of him glowering down from the North wall, and few would sit nearby. People would come to Northampton on pilgrimage and take videos of themselves standing in the pulpit and shouting, "Repent" at the top of their lungs. 

After a few years of this, I would roll my eyes and look at my watch, waiting for them to move on so I could return to work. The truth is, the sermon bombed in Northampton, and Edwards was later fired for being too rigid and scolding. I think he did some of his better work after leaving Northampton, maybe humbled a bit. 

Let’s remove the scent of sulfur, and the sound of crackling flames from the word repent. The Greek word here is metanoia. The prefix meta means to move beyond what was before. Metaphysics means, beyond physics, discovering the ultimate source of things. The company META, formerly known as Facebook, wants to move beyond reality into virtual reality. Noia means "thought." Metanoia means moving beyond our current thoughts, changing our mind, turning around, and going in a different direction. Repent doesn't have to mean you are a miserable sinner who must sorrowfully confess everything to God. (If the shoe fits, wear it.). What if metanoia is part of the human condition? We fall short; we fail to understand, and we are constantly growing and stretching ourselves toward truth and love. Metanoia is our ongoing soul work to find our true selves in God. It is the journey we take, the path we must walk again and again. 

We must take the road trip. We move through the wilderness to find freedom; we come home from exile. In Advent, we head to Bethlehem to discover Christ among us. As we take communion, think about where you are on your journey. Where is one place in your life where you need to be a little meta to renew your mind and think differently? Prepare the way for the coming of God in your life.