In today’s scripture we hear the voices of two great prophets proclaiming the coming of a new world order.  We hear Isaiah’s words of comfort and consolation to the Jewish exiles in Babylon as the prophet proclaims that God’s deliverance and their liberation is imminent (Isaiah 40: 1 – 11).   Isaiah assures the Jewish people that even in their waywardness, God has not abandoned them.  Like a loving shepherd, God will gather his people and lead them back home.  In the gospel we hear John the Baptist proclaiming another imminent deliverance as he speaks about the coming of  Jesus (Mark 1:1-8).  And with Jesus comes the true and final liberation of all mankind.  And both Isaiah and John tell us what needs to be done. We need to “prepare the way of the Lord” – we need to open our hearts and minds to Christ, allow his Spirit to penetrate us, to flood us. We turn our lives over to him with trust in his will for us and with hope in his promise to us.  We turn away from our own waywardness and back to God.  We allow Jesus, our loving shepherd, to gather us and lead us home.