Cross View Blog

I have often wondered why this highway is so crooked. Is it because it began as a deer trail and never changed? Is it meant to slow down tardy passengers speeding to board the Washington Island ferry? Or was the zigzag designed to keep the utility lines away from the trees? Whatever the reason, the road has not changed for 100 years, and it is fun to drive.

Straightening out our lives, however, is not so much fun. Straightening out crooked lives entails overcoming denial, bad habits, and negative attitudes. Ask anyone who has lived or worked in a correctional institution, a place where human lives are meant to be corrected or straightened out. They will explain how difficult it is to straighten crooked timber.

The entire Biblical story is a description of God straightening out his crooked people. God created us to be "straight up" in our relation with Him. As the crown of His creation, we were made in His image, perfectly reflecting His perfect Being. Humanity soon became "twisted" by refusing to obey and trust Him.  Lives and attitudes grew devious and evasive. Idolatry became a huge, persistent problem.

For centuries, God sent His prophets (Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Amos, John the Baptist) to insist that His people "straighten out" and live according to the Covenant (loving God with their whole hearts, minds, souls). The prophets' basic message was: REPENT! Forsake your crooked and perverted attitudes! Turn straight toward God!

Because we could not straighten ourselves out, the Father sent his perfect Son to die on a crooked-wicked cross.  Thereby, a straight way was created for us to return to God. In the wilderness of Judea, He made a straight freeway fit for a king.

It is true that God carves the rotten wood and uses crooked timber for His purposes (Luther), but that does not eliminate the need for us to change our thinking and ways. At some point, we must all stop and say, "Enough of my old life. I forsake it!" There is no avoiding repentance.

Even in repenting, however, the Father sometimes allows us to swerve off our crooked road and crash.  It is in the crash that we are given the sense to straighten out. He provides a straight way when there is no other way. He is the way maker.

 "I am the way!" He declared to His followers. "Travel with Me and you will get to your destination. The road may seem to be full of frustrating detours, unexpected turns, and hidden bumps, but in the end I will be there to welcome you home."

Paul Emmel
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
November 8, 2020
Minneapolis

Paul Emmel is a retired pastor in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, having served as a parish pastor, a correctional chaplain for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, and a hospital chaplain and a community counselor. As a retired pastor, Paul continues to serve the Lord and His people, including establishing the Minnesota South District’s “Pastors to Prisoners” ministry.  

Photo from the film "Jesus of Nazareth" (1973).