John the Baptist seems an unlikely focus of the gospel as we are getting ready for Christmas in just a couple weeks. No sign of a manger or baby. Just a wild-sounding strange character, yelling at people in the wilderness. How is this going to lead to Christmas?
The weeks of Advent finds us preparing for God to break into the world to transform and heal it (and us). John’s role in this remarkable story (where God becomes human and comes to us) is to point to the messiah and call folks to prepare by turning around, shaping their actions to align with God’s priorities (more on that when we revisit John again in next week’s gospel).
John is out in the wilderness, a place of trial and testing, where people in scripture consistently encounter God and/or God’s messengers. John is a wild and outspoken prophet. The people seek him out for a water-ritual of baptism and new beginnings. When he sees religious leaders among the crowd, he questions their motives. In harsh language, he challenges their presumption that God is pleased with them because of their lineage, insisting they should live lives that “bear fruit worthy of repentance,” lives that demonstrate their focus on what God wants for the world, rather than their privileged position in it. John wants them to set aside the presumptions that they already know what God’s intentions are for the world. John’s words can leave us wondering about the “wrath to come” and images like axes at the root of trees, winnowing fork, a clear threshing floor, and unquenchable fire.
In the months ahead, we’ll keep looking at how Matthew’s gospel tells the story of Jesus. We’ll unravel some of the harsh and troubling passages that have caused trouble for Christians and people Christians have used his words to criticize. But here in Advent today, we remember that John is not the messiah, but the one who points to Jesus. John gets peoples’ attention so we are ready for Jesus when he arrives on the scene to heal and transform the world. Today, we resist the impulse to join John in criticizing others and instead look at ourselves. How can I turn to God, the one who creates and redeems and empowers me? How can I live in ways that reflect my commitment to God’s priorities for the outcast and powerless? How can I be part of healing in the lives around me, and the wider world?
These are big questions for a busy season like Advent, pre-Christmas, and the last week of classes. So, let’s start with smaller questions like, where can I bring hope today? How can I be kind to someone in need? How can I use the power or gifts or advantages I have in service of others? Of course, these aren’t easy questions either. Maybe that is why John is so extreme – he’s riled up and calling people to see that God wants so much more from us. Fortunately, our whole lives will be spent “bearing fruit” that reflects how we have turned toward God and God’s priorities. At Advent each year, we revisit the beginning of the story.
Peace to you, in this busy and overwhelming time. May John’s ranting remind you that following Jesus and joining in God’s transformation of the world will be what we do our whole lives, even as we begin today.
Peace,