Another Advent has begun. We will follow the same routine, sing the same Advent hymns and listen to the same Advent Scriptures. We will decorate our homes and assemble our stable scenes. We will be sure that all our decorations are in their usual places, and arrange our manger with all its players---Jesus, Mary, Joseph, animals, angel, shepherds, and star---all images of a long-ago event. Yes, another Advent has begun, but will this Advent allow us time to rethink where we have been and where we are going? We have only a few days left to complete the journey.
We celebrate the birth of the infant Jesus in Bethlehem, but often forget about the ever-present Jesus among us now. We focus on Jesus’ coming, in the past, but often forget his presence with us every day, and his coming at the end of time. Cardinal Dolan called this reality: “The Jesus of history, the Jesus of mystery, and the Jesus of majesty.” Theologian Karl Rahner phrased the same idea in this way: “…in the liturgy of Advent, the present and the future of Christian salvation are mysteriously interwoven. The incarnation of the word of God took place in the past and still continues in the present. Christ’s return to judge all men and women and to complete his redeeming work is an event of the future, and yet he is constantly on the point of coming.”
In our Gospel, we hear the voice of John the Baptizer calling us to repentance and conversion. “Reform your lives,” he commanded, reminding everyone that repentance and conversion are required if we are to “prepare the way of the Lord.” John is a difficult person to emulate, but his dedication and persistence is clearly the mark of a committed follower of Jesus. His call to conversion will require a complete change of mind and will. This process is not only a personal decision to improve, but also a complete reversal of old ways, and a dramatic turning around to travel in a different direction. Such a life-change requires that our thoughts, words and deeds reflect our conversion.
Obviously, the Word of God, as spoken by John sent a powerful message to his contemporaries, but how does that word speak to us this Advent? A twenty-first century prophet might put it this way: “If we believe that Jesus is God’s wisdom and understanding, then all our dealings with one another are to be guided by a divinely dictated norm rather than by the norms of Wall Street, Madison Avenue or Capitol Hill. If Jesus is God’s justice, then justice must inform our minds and hearts and be translated into deeds that defend the rights of others. The One we await dictates the character of our waiting.”
Obviously the way we wait is reflected in Jesus’ response to the question asked by John’s disciples. “Are you the One who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” His answer described the character of our waiting. Among us, do the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, and the poor receive the good news? Certainly our conversion this Advent will require much more than regular church attendance. What will be required is a radical surrender to Jesus in all our believing, our loving, and our serving. As John reminds us today, “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.”
~ Deacon Wilson Shierk