Mindful and ready to change

 ‘…Prepare the way of the Lord....’ (Matthew 3:3)

Matthew 3:1-12 (Year : Advent 2)

The approach of Christmas is associated with a time of preparation, waiting and renewal. Here, in the northern hemisphere, we are closing in rapidly on the shortest day of the year, circa 21 December. When steering the liturgy of the young Christian communities in the first centuries after Christ, the disciples of Jesus were very much conscious of pagan myths and rituals especially around the times of the winter and summer solstices and spring and autumn equinox.  In the advanced religion of the Jewish people the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah , has a special place in the Northern winter around this time of the year. A festival of lights is also found among other religions including Hinduism and Buddhism. When it is darkest there is a natural human desire to witness some light.  In a striking way, this innate human desire is illustrated in a spectacular way in the construction of Newgrange some 5,000 years ago.

For us, today, Christmas stands at a secular crossroads with many roads leading to and from IKEA, B&Q, Tesco and others leading in other directions among which are counted (if we are fortunate or not) office parties, drinks, meeting up, trip back to Ireland or somewhere else, Mass once a year with the grandparents, family get-together, walks by the sea or mountains, the sales on ‘Boxing Day’ (it is still called St Stephen’s Day in Ireland), back to work, January bills etc. This time of year brings many memories to people – mostly happy and wonderful but sometimes not since a place at table is vacant or some other reminder of less than happy things in the past associated, somehow, with Christmas time.  Whatever representation Christmas presents to us we do well, I suggest, to take a trip into those dark places within us as we tread gently there with candle in one hand and an anam-chara in the other. We may stop our searching and striving for a while each day and stay there in that silent and not so bright place. Waiting and ready to receive in God’s own time and way.

This Sunday’s passage from the Gospel of Matthew might provide a short piece of text to stop and think about in that not so bright place. It speaks to us of someone who stood apart from the crowd and was not afraid to speak truth to power. Moreover, it speaks of someone who is a sign of contradiction. John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus, points to a new way of life and a new order of things which is already breaking in our world. He was no ordinary person. Clothed in ‘camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist’ and with ‘locusts and wild honey’ as his food we are picturing, here, not some finely clothed priest in the Temple or some man about society and the synagogue.  Here was someone who was a reproach to the social norms of the time. Yet, people came to him. There was something about his message and its impact. However, the cousin of Jesus plays something of a very backseat role in the gospel. Just as Jesus emerges on the scene, the Baptist fades away. Yet, his role and ministry is hugely important – like of that of Mary the mother of Jesus.  John the Baptist helped made the gospel welcome just as (though in a completely different way) Mary made the Gospel possible through a free given yes (she could have said no in which case a Plan B would have to apply as God was/is/will save as many as possible).

What do we know about John? He was a rugged, outspoken and uncompromising sort. He spoke truth to power and for this he lost his head (literally). We are familiar with the phrase ‘He/she is no shrinking violet’.  Well, John, or Yochanan (God who is gracious) as he would have been referred to, was no shaking reed in the wind as his cousin Jesus, or  Yeshua (the one who rescues) put it (Matthew 11:7).  People came to him and listened to him because he stood out from the religious and political authorities of his day. There was something about John that marked him out. For his troubles he met a violent end after a spell in prison (Matthew 14:3-5). We are told that the executioner, Herod, ‘feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet’. And so he was. But, that did not stop, ultimately, Herod and his consort taking his life away. Jesus had no illusions about what lay ahead of him. I strongly suspect that Mary had a pretty good and intuitive sense too (how much did Jesus tell Mary during those last three years of his life?).  As for the apostles – God help us!

When the Pharisees and Sadducees presented themselves for baptism, John in characteristic mode was not operating from the manual ‘How to win friends and influence people’ in declaring:

‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

This declaration is a direct assault on a religion of show, power and entitlement. Its purveyors miss the key point of real religion which is to bear good fruit born of a loving relationship with a God who is no more or no less than love. This is the meaning of true repentance – a decisive turning away from what is wrong and harmful and a turning towards what is good and wholesome.  Such a dramatic change of mentality and heart may be gradual or sudden as the case may be.  For most of us conversion – in the true sense of the term – is a slow, painful, two steps forward, one back (or one forward and two back at times) process.  To be saved is to know that peace and freedom that comes from a life well spent. It is the total of our actions and abandonments to God’s providence. In this sense, we live our baptism throughout our lives and not just at one special moment of decision (although this may also feature in the disciple’s journey).  The Baptism of John was an important sign and challenge for the people of his time. The Baptism of Jesus would not be revealed until after his death when he poured his Holy Spirit on the those who believed in him. This latter baptism is witnessed today by countless millions starting with a once-off sacramental event but not stopping there because our baptism in the Holy Spirit and in the fire of God’s love is never finished until we have run life’s course.

This advent is a time to be refreshed and to experience, again, the fruits of our own baptism. Advent is about waiting. But, it is also about openness to change. Change is possible no matter who we are and where we are at.