Advent Reflections

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2021

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Why does today’s Gospel begin with a list of rulers and religious authorities?

I can think of two reasons: one is historical and the other is spiritual.

(1) it helps date John the Baptist’s ministry (approx. 28 CE) (2) it contrasts human kingdoms and authority with God’s

The Gospel is telling us that, first and foremost, we owe allegiance to God. It’s plainly stated in the Ten Commandments. It was plainly stated from the moment of John’s birth. The son of Elizabeth and Zechariah had been commissioned to prepare the way not for any human lord but for the one true Lord. And John the Baptist held true to his vocation until he was martyred.

Like Moses and the voice in Isaiah 40 quoted in today’s Gospel, John the Baptist challenges us to see the desert as a place of hope, not aridity and desolation. God is calling us to leave our captors (our sins) behind and head to our true and ultimate home (Paradise) through the wilderness. John preaches that the first step on this journey toward the freedom we were meant to have before original sin entered humanity is a baptism of repentance.

What John is proclaiming is not mere regret for our past sins. It means more than saying, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” He is calling for ’metanoia’ which means a change of mind and heart, the kind of inner transformation that changes sinful behavior.

John’s quotation of the prophet Isaiah describes the change that must take place. Preparing for God’s arrival means rethinking what we see as the status quo or normal, but that God would condemn as oppressive and sinful.

And that brings us back to the human rulers, those who break and beat down the populace. Too often, the authorities of this world conflict with God’s claims. Paths that they deem satisfactory are not good enough for God so John calls us to let God’s “bulldozers” (like John) reshape the world’s social systems and the landscape of our own minds and hearts.

All too often, God’s ways are not our ways. God’s ways lead to salvation. We know this because God’s glory is revealed in Jesus, the just Judge who comes to save us. This is the news that John proclaimed. It’s God’s promise, and our hope.

- Reflection by Fr. Mathias Durette, O.S.B., Campus Minister