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In the name of the Father and of
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the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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Amen.
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Making a straight path
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Malachi and Isaiah had
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proclaimed it clearly
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behold,
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I send my messenger before your
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face who will prepare your way,
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the voice of one crying
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in the wilderness.
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Prepare the way of the Lord.
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Make his paths straight.
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The road to the Kingdom of God
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would go straight and direct.
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No curves, no detours,
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no labyrinthian mazes.
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So John appeared,
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baptizing in the wilderness and
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proclaiming a baptism of
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repentance for the forgiveness
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of sins as Malachi had
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prophesied. Behold,
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I will send you Elijah the
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Prophet before the great and
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awesome day of the Lord comes.
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Here's the new Elijah,
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the forerunner of the
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fulfillment of Ezekiel's
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prophetic promise of
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God's Kingdom.
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I will sprinkle clean water on
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you and you shall be clean from
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all your uncleannesses and
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from all your idols
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I will cleanse you.
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I will give you a new heart
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and a new spirit
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I will put within you. And I will
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remove the heart of stone from
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your flesh and give you
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a heart of flesh.
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And I will put my spirit within
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you and cause you to walk in my
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statutes and be careful
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to obey my rules.
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The straight path to
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the Kingdom of God.
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Jesus sends the disciples on
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that straight path and he called
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the Twelve and began to send
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them out two by two and gave
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them authority over the
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unclean spirits.
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So they went out and proclaimed
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that people should repent and
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they cast out many demons
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and anointed with oil,
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many who were sick
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and healed them.
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The path must have seemed
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relatively straight to the
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Twelve at that point.
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Perhaps it does for you.
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Students arriving on campus to
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begin their new progress toward
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the office of the ministry and
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the office of deaconess.
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Students returning for a second
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year of study students gathering
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again on campus from Vicarage
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for a final year of preparation.
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Graduate students walking the
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path toward expanded awareness
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of the Kingdom. Faculty
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and staff
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entering another blessed year of
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teaching and service. Within
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the seminary quad
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the path seems unparalleled
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in its straightness.
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The path might be narrow,
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but its directness
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is not in doubt.
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Or is it?
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As Peter,
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James and John were coming down
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the Mount of Transfiguration
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with Jesus,
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they asked him,
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why do the scribes say that
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Elijah must come first?
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And he said,
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Elijah does come first to
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restore all things.
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But I tell you that
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Elijah has come.
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And they did to him whatever
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they pleased,
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as it is written of him.
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Herod,
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Antipas and Herodias certainly
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did to him whatever
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they pleased.
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It's one seemingly massive
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curve in the road.
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Antipas makes a rash and
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reckless promise following the
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lustful viewing of his
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stepdaughter's lustchevius dance
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and Herodius capitalizes seeking
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through her daughter the head
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of the beloved John.
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And the daughter delivers it
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spitefully on a platter.
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Herod won't touch it.
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He's morose about the
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whole affair.
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This isn't the head of
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Medusa after all.
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Herod used to hear John gladly,
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but now his tongue is silenced.
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So much for the straight
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path to the kingdom.
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How many seeming curves
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in the road
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have you encountered?
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A number of years ago,
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I taught a week long course at
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the fledgling Lutheran seminary
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in Bishkek, the capital,
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Kyrgyzstan.
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I remember one dirt road that I
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wondered how my driver was
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ever going to negotiate.
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There were potholes
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strewn everywhere,
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like a master gardener had just
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scattered them on the road
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indiscriminately.
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Not the garden variety we
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see here in St. Louis.
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No potholes with gravitas
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four, five or more feet deep.
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Potholes that would make
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a semi driver weep.
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Potholes you could park yourself
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in for a picnic.
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Potholes that could swallow
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a compact car's whole.
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But my driver knew exactly how
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to avoid them and carve a
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straight path down the street.
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Fortunately,
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the problem didn't lie with
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driver or what he saw.
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The problem was in my own eyes.
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I couldn't see the straight path
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through the potholes and I
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presume there was none.
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All those seeming curves and
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detours to arrive at
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this seminary.
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All the roadblocks you might
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have experienced on vicarage or
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that will obstruct your path and
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your view of the path in
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ministry and service following
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your call.
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We should know
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it's all part of the
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straight path.
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That's because it is the path
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that our Lord himself walked.
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As he said to the disciples
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walking down the path from
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the transfiguration.
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And how is it written of the Son
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of man that he should suffer
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many things and be treated
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with contempt?
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Jesus knew the straight
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path to the kingdom.
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It didn't swerve at all.
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The Son of man is going to be
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delivered into the hands of men
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and they will kill him.
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And after he is killed,
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three days later he will rise.
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The straight path is always
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one that leads to death.
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The hands of sinful creatures.
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John the Baptizer knew it.
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The end of his prison chain were
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the hateful hands of Herodius
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and the vacillating and reckless
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mind and mouth of Herod.
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The end of Jesus'journey
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were the hands,
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mouths and hearts of his human
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creatures that would
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not receive him.
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The road to the kingdom of God
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walks through the valley
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of the shadow of death,
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even through beheading.
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Yet the straight path
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doesn't end there.
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See,
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we are going up to Jerusalem and
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the Son of man will be delivered
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over to the chief priests and
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the scribes and they will
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condemn him to death and deliver
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him over to the Gentiles.
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And they will mock him and spit
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upon him and flog him
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and kill him.
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And after three days
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he will rise.
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That's the straight path
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the forerunner walked.
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It's the straight path your
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Lord Jesus walked.
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And it is the straight
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path you walk in Him.
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The seeming curves and potholes
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and obstacles.
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All your suffering, your sorrow,
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your dying.
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The Lord is preparing his way,
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paving his path
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for you.
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This path may seem one detour
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after another for us.
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If we had been there in
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the prison with John,
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we might have thought so
00:08:59.875 --> 00:09:00.754
ourselves.
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But I imagine John
00:09:02.201 --> 00:09:03.865
would have said,
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fear not that beheading
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that is coming
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after me comes one who
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is mightier than I.
00:09:15.970 --> 00:09:17.298
In the words of Joseph,
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the hymnographer about the train
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of martyrs never flinch
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they from the flame,
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from the torment.
00:09:25.206 --> 00:09:28.218
Never vain the tyrant's sharpest
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aim vain each fierce endeavor.
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For by faith they saw the land
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decked in all its glory
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where triumphant
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now they stand with the
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victor's story.
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Christ's path is straight
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and so is yours.
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In the name of the Father and of
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the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
00:09:55.954 --> 00:09:56.490
Amen.