Readings
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
Romans 15:4-13
Matthew 3:1-12
Who among us wouldn’t agree that we live in a broken world surrounded by a broken humanity. Whether we are talking about the ravages we have inflicted on the environment, the ever-present reality and threat of war around the world, the never-ending cycle of financial and material greed, or just the plain indifference and hostility of people around us, it is hard not to feel at times a sense of despair or even hopelessness. And, as people of faith, it is natural to reach out to God for a solution, or at the very least, an intervention.
Well, not much was different in the time of John the Baptist. It was in the midst of ever-present brokenness, violence, greed, and general inhumanity that John rose up to proclaim that the time had come to preach the coming of the Lord. It was in this time that he proclaimed that we need to prepare the way of the Lord. And how did he suggest we do that? Through a baptism of repentance.
Some were tempted to see this simply as a ritual gesture to put us once again in right relationship to God. But John referred to such people as a “brood of vipers.” No, he didn’t want religious piety, rather he wanted a change of life and a change of lifestyle. Hence the call to “bear fruit worthy of repentance.”
No this was a call to partner with God and to usher in a new reality; one in which the world would be transformed, and the vision of the prophets be realized. This was a world that would not be marked by brokenness. It would not be a world marked by greed, violence, war, or general inhumanity. No this would be a world in which God would come and clear the decks. It would be a world in which those who lived such a life as he called for would find the fullness, blessing, joy and peace promised in the scriptures. This was a world in which the old ways and those who practiced them would be swept aside and would no longer exist.
This is the message of today’s Gospel reading as we continue our journey of Advent waiting and preparation. While John was anticipating the coming of Jesus, it was more than that. He was, in fact, jarring people of out of a complacency that sought for someone to make this promised world for them. He was pushing people to move beyond their popular religious and social expectations and to take their place in what Jesus would call “the Kingdom of God.” Yes, God was coming to proclaim a new message and a way of being, but in the end the people have a role as well. We are to prepare the way for our messiah. We are to usher in the kingdom which he promises and proclaims.
You see, despite what the church began to teach in the Middle Ages and onward, the point of life is not to simply obey some arbitrary rules of piety in order to get to heaven. The point is not simply to be “good” people; however we define that. No, the point is to be the embodiment of the world that the prophets proclaimed and that Jesus proclaimed. When we are simply good or religious people, when we limit our faith to being about getting to heaven, we miss the point and are worthy of John the Baptist’s rebuke. No, the point of the way of Jesus is to live as if God is already present and to embody the kingdom that he promises to us. We are being called to do nothing less than address the ills that afflict our lives and our world.
We are being called to address climate change in which the wellbeing of every human being is considered. It needs to be a vision of global environmental care that recognizes the causes of the problems we face. We must address the issues of both global and local economic injustice and the radical imbalance of how the goods and resources of our world are distributed.
We are being called to move our world from warfare to peace. But not simply the absence of violence. We are being called to bring a peace that embodies justice. We are being called to challenge people and nations to find alternative ways of resolving conflict. All the while we must acknowledge the presence of evil in our world and find ways of addressing it as God would address it, with acts that do not seek simply to destroy or punish but seek healing and transformation.
We are being called to offer an alternative to the material and financial greed that plagues both individuals and institutions. We need to embody a way of being that offers an alternative path to happiness and wellbeing that isn’t based on the accumulation of wealth or the exercise of raw power over another. And this cannot simply be a message of charity and “do gooding.” No, rather it too needs to be transformative, first in our lives and then in the lives of others.
This is what it means to prepare the way of the Lord. This is the repentance and the life that John calls us to in preparation of the coming of Christ.
But how are we to do such a thing? Where do we start? Frankly, on the surface it feels too big and more than a bit overwhelming.
Well, our part is not to save the world, but to prepare it in our own small ways. Every transformative movement and every act of profound import starts with an individual or a small group of individuals. Never forget, Jesus was just one man and to start he only had a small group of followers. And yet, millennia later, the movement he started surrounds the globe and has positive impact on millions of people every day.
No, through individual gestures and attitudes, and through lifestyle changes that we make permanent, we can, in our own lives and in our corner of the world, prepare the Lord’s way.
We prepare the way of the Lord every time we hold a door for a stranger. We do it by letting people cut in front of us in traffic. We do it when we smile at someone or speak to someone who is lonely. We do it by being patient with salesclerks. We do it through our recycling, our reducing our carbon footprint, and by reducing our consumption. We do it by actively engaging in our political process with a positive energy that seeks justice while, at the same time, seeks to unite rather than divide. We do it by supporting, both financially and through our service, institutions that transform the lives of the poor, the powerless, and the dispossessed. We do it by making love visible and by showing kindness and understanding, and by judging less.
This advent, let us be those who repent as John calls us to. Let us be the change we seek and be the light. Let us be nothing less than those who prepare the way of the Lord and by doing so point to the one we wait for.