Prepare the Way

Once asked which St John I was called after - John the Baptist or John the Evangelist, I responded: both!  I hope the gentleness of the beloved disciple will temper the wild flare of the Baptist in me.  Not so sure whether I am having success there, you will have to ask my friends.  It's my struggle and I own it.

Today's liturgy draws us to reflect on the Baptist - the Precursor. Jesus said that there was no greater man born than John the Baptist, and he was a force to be reckoned with.   John is referred to by Isaiah, and he understood himself to be, a voice crying in the wilderness.  Now that sounds beautiful and we can get all gushy about it, but it was hard.  In terms of job description it would not have been the most desired - and it isn't it, especially today.  Out in the wilderness, he was trying to prepare a stubborn and proud people for their Messiah.  The fact that they had strange notions of what their Messiah would be like and what he would do did not make things easy for John.  They expected a political leader, a great warrior in the style of King David and Judas Maccabeus, what was coming was far from their expectations.  In the end, it was not about nations and politics, but faith and redemption, and John had to iron out the creases to help them see that.  No easy job.

That is why John is such an attractive, and yes at times, a fierce figure.  He had to be tough because there is no greater wall to break down than human pride, but he was also a man of deep faith and love.  He was humble, because he was only the one preparing the way for Christ. As he said himself - he was not the message, but the one proclaiming it - Christ is the message, the Word, and he is greater than John, so John must decrease and he must increase.  

Today's liturgy offers us the example of John for our Advent observance for a number of reasons.  First among them is his role in preparing the way.  John is the bridge between the Old and the New - the last of the Old Testament prophets, the first of the New Testament prophets.  But we also see in his prophetic witness to the Word which was coming into the world, our own vocation as prophets in imitation of Christ - to witness to Christ in the world today and to prepare the way for the Second Coming.  As the liturgy reminds us so often in these days, we are not only preparing to celebrate Christmas, we are also reminding ourselves that our lives should be a preparation for the Lord's Second Coming.  So the voice of John the Baptist continues to roar down the centuries, crying now from heaven to us: Stay awake!  Prepare the way!