Homily for Second Sunday of Advent, Year A

What a strange figure John the Baptist is! He is so intriguing and at the same time somewhat perplexing. It is hard to imagine that he would have been such an attractive figure 2000 years ago. Certainly, if John the Baptist were among us in person today, he wouldn’t be the most popular person around. For starters his rough appearance and clothing would put people off. The Gospel says that he was living in the wilderness and was dressed in a garment of camel hair and eating locusts and wild honey. But what would be most disturbing about John the Baptist would be his preaching and message to us.

Interestingly, this person, who clearly would not be the most appealing and comforting person to have around, is regarded as one of the greatest saints. Jesus himself said of him, that of the men born of women, none is greater than John the Baptist.

What then is the attraction concerning John the Baptist? Why did Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole Jordan district make their way to him to listen to his preaching and receive his baptism of repentance? What was it about John? What were the people feeling and experiencing within themselves that they flocked to John the Baptist in the wilderness to confess their sins and be baptised?

As we listen to this text this Sunday, we are meant to identify with these people who flocked to listen to John the Baptist. So, what was this movement all about and what does it have to do with us?

Well, the first thing to say is that the mention of what John was wearing is not an arbitrary detail. Rather, what he wears links him to the prophet Elijah, who in the Second Book of Kings is described as wearing exactly what John is wearing. Just imagine that for 400 years there had been no prophet, and now John’s voice thunders in the desert. The Jewish belief was that Elijah would return before the Messiah came, and that he would be the herald of the coming King. The prophet Malachi proclaimed, “I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.” In the Gospel text for today, St Matthew identifies John with the prophecy of Isaiah that he is “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

Consider too the significance of this location, the Jordan River, in the middle of the Judean desert. The Jordan River and the Judean desert were powerful symbols of hope and new life for the Jews. God had done great things here. Remember the entry into the promised land after the Exodus took place by crossing the river at this place. It was from this place that the prophet Elijah was assumed into heaven. It was here that Naaman the Syrian general was cured of leprosy. Also, the Old Testament prophets foretold that God would lead his people back to the desert to renew his covenant with them.

The call to go to the desert and the Jordan River to be baptised by John would have signalled for the Jews that everything they had been longing for was about to be fulfilled. In what way can Advent be our spiritual Jordan for a new beginning?

John the Baptist, and the message he preached, is meant to get to us, unsettle us, challenge our mediocrity, make us want more and hope for more, like the people who flocked to the Jordan River to confess their sins and be baptised. In what ways are we settling for less? In what ways are we just surviving rather than flourishing? St Irenaeus said that the human person fully alive is the glory of God.

Beyond the extraordinary circumstances and location associated with John the Baptist, in true prophetic fashion, he fearlessly preached the truth about people as individuals and about society as a whole. Those who listened to him or heard about him recognised the truth about themselves in the words he spoke. Not only did John fearlessly speak the truth to the people, he told them of the coming of the remedy for their failing human condition, the Messiah, the Saviour. What is the truth about ourselves that we need to face? What does John point out so that we know we need Jesus to forgive and save us?

John knew the truth about people and as God’s prophet he called them to welcome salvation into their lives by confessing their sins and receiving the symbolic washing of the baptism of repentance. Hearts were laid bare before him. For us it would be as if he knew us and our situation personally; that he was speaking directly to us. Perhaps as we hear his words this Sunday, we can allow God to speak directly into our lives, personally and individually. What is God saying to me and you?

This Sunday we are told that the most appropriate Advent response, the most significant way to prepare for the coming of Jesus, is through repentance.

John the Baptist calls us to live as if Jesus’ coming were soon. Surely it is true to say that if we really believed this, we would make some serious changes to the way we are living at the moment. If we were convinced of the closeness of Jesus’ coming, we would concentrate on the really important things. If we knew that Jesus was coming soon, we would live the commandments of God, and take the Gospel command to practice charity seriously.

To be ready to welcome Christ, there are things that we need to stop doing and things we need to start doing. We need to repent of our sins and bear fruit that shows our repentance, in the words of John the Baptist. The greatest danger in the spiritual life is thinking there will always be time. It is the outlook that causes us to procrastinate, to postpone that which we know we should do.

Our repentance would mean a profound turning to God in all aspects of our lives. We would in the words of St Paul in the second reading from the Letter to the Romans, live in harmony with one another, and welcome one another. We could not just sit back and rely on labels like Christian or Catholic, as the Pharisees and Sadducees relied on being children of Abraham.

John says he is not worthy to carry the sandals of the coming Messiah, and the Messiah will baptise with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Our preparation for the coming of this mighty Messiah means listening to John the Baptist’s call to repentance now. Today, and this Advent, let us consider what it is in our lives that we need to change, that we need to do and to say, in order to be prepared for his coming.