The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
All Commentaries on Mark 1:3 Go To Mark 1
Jerome
AD 420
Hierom. ad Pammach, Epist 57: But this is not written in Isaiah, but in Malachi, the last of the twelve prophets. The Evangelist therefore, taking parts of two prophecies, has put them down as spoken by Isaiah, and refers them here toone passage, without mentioning, however, by whom it is said, “Behold, I send mine angel.”.
By Malachi, therefore, the voice of the Holy Spirit resounds to the Father concerning the Son, who is the countenance of the Father by which He has been known.
Or, “the way of the Lord, "by which He comes into men, in penitence, by which God comes down to us, and we mount up to Him. And for this reason the beginning of John’s preaching was, "Repent ye.”.
But it is called “the voice of one crying,” for we are wont to use a cry to deaf persons, and to those afar off, or when we are indignant, all which things we know applied to the Jews; for “salvation is far from the wicked,” and they “stopped their ears like deaf adders,” and deserved to hear “indignation, and wrath, and tribulation” fromChrist.The word of prophecy also shews, that besides the wilderness, which was pointed out by Moses, where he made paths, there was another wilderness, in which it proclaimed that the salvation of Christ was present.
Or else the voice and thecry is in the desert, because they were deserted by the Spirit of God, as ahouse empty, and swept out; deserted also by prophet, priest, and king.
Or else, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” that is, act out repentance and preach it; “make his paths straight,” that walking in the royal road, we may love our neighbours as ourselves, and ourselves as our neighbours. For he who loves himself, and loves not his neighbour, turns aside to the right; for many act well, and do not correct their neighbour well, as Eli. He, on the other hand, who, hating himself, loves his neighbour, turns aside to the left; for many, for instance, rebuke well, but act not well themselves, as did the Scribes and Pharisees. "Paths” are mentioned after the “way "because moral commands are laid open after penitence.
