December 4
Second Sunday in Advent
“Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.”
Reflection
Each year in Advent we are prompted toward deeper conversion by the holy Forerunner, St. John the Baptist, who points out to us the Lord and his closeness to us: “There is one among you whom you know not” (John 1:26). Repent is the challenge of John’s preaching, literally, metanoia in the Greek, which is a call toward a complete change of one’s mind or perspective. Through his baptism of repentance, John calls for a decisive, fundamental change of direction in one’s life who needs radical reorientation. This is why his words and appearance are surrounded by a sense of urgency, and another reason why we meditate on him during the season of Advent. Continuing from last Sunday’s invitation to ‘wake up,’ our preparation through Advent helps us to reorient our lives and priorities around the One most deserving of our love and attention.
Much of our Gospel today needs unpacking, but we won’t get carried away! Details of John the Baptist’s clothing and why people were leaving the towns and surrounding areas to journey far into the wilderness to meet John at the Jordan River is laden with Old Testament prophetic imagery and fulfillment. It was long foretold that God would lovingly draw his sinful people back to a renewal of covenant, and that God would speak “to their heart” in the desert (Hos 2:14). Both his clothing and message connect him to the long-anticipated return of Elijah, and all this greatly drew the anticipation and attention of onlookers. When the Pharisees and Sadducees show up to investigate, it is clear they are not there with the same desire for repentance. John speaks rather sharply to them because of their misconception that simply their ethnic identity provided them membership in God’s covenant family. John lays out clearly that repentance is necessary to be a part of this family, and that God can bind anyone to himself who repents from the heart.
Ultimately, John recognizes though that his baptism of repentance pales in comparison to the Baptism that Jesus will offer, and the reality of who Jesus is. John’s baptism was merely a visible expression of one’s repentance or desire for complete reorientation in preparation for the coming messiah. Rather what makes Jesus’ Baptism so powerful—what makes the baptism we have received so different—is that through Jesus, an identity has been imparted to us that we could never have earned on our own. By our Baptism, God freely grafts us onto his family, wipes away the stain of sin and fills us with his Holy Spirit, literally making us his children. It gives us the power to live in a new way that we could not do on our own. The Sacrament of Baptism is not merely an expression or symbol of desiring to live a better life—it actually changes a person, it unites a soul with Christ’s death and resurrection, filling it with divine life, so that as a result we have the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit. May our desire to be reoriented toward the Lord this Advent bring about in us great consolation, a desire for ongoing repentance, and ‘wake up’ our awareness to His presence constantly breathing life within us!
Peace,
Fr. Foley
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