The Second Sunday of Advent
There is an old truism that points out that you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. And that makes sense. Kindness and gentleness have within them the power to persuade and attract. But that isn’t at all what we find in the words and actions of John the Baptist in this Sunday’s Gospel.
John is confrontational and uncompromising.
There is nothing gentle or attractive about him. He demands repentance and he demands it urgently!
And yet, the people flocked to him! Saint Matthew tells us: “Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.”
What did they find so attractive in his message?
The Dominican Scripture scholar Sister Barbara Reid points out there was the “clarity and integrity of John’s message and his wholehearted commitment to God’s Reign and the Coming One who would usher it in.” And this makes sense: when a person truly lives—embodies—what she or he proclaims, it’s hard to resist them and their message. When we encounter these compelling individuals, we get drawn in. (Adapted from Abiding Word: Year A).
Although John might have been rough around the edges and his message demanding, he was able to touch minds and hearts because his words weren’t being fueled by anger or resentment. Instead, we find in John someone on fire with a profound love of God and a passion for helping everyone be ready for the imminent arrival of the One that he knew was coming.
We also see, however, that John had no patience with those who were not sincere in their quest. Think about it… in the Gospel that we just heard, Matthew offers us our first glimpse of the Pharisees and scribes, and we have John hurling insults at them, calling them a “brood of vipers.” And as Matthew’s gospel will unfold over the course of this Church Year, we will see how Matthew casts the Pharisees and scribes as those who want to trip up and trap Jesus, like snakes coiled to spring at any false move. From the very beginning, John exposes their poisonous intent.
John recognized that if they were not authentic seekers, because, if they were, their lives would bear “good fruit.”
But, what are these good fruits that John is looking for?
I think to answer that we can look to the words of Isaiah proclaimed in the First Reading as he describes the divine gifts that will be poured on the God’s Promised One:
Wisdom and understanding will enable him to rule with competence and insight;
Counsel and strength will ensure that he seeks and acts with justice;
Knowledge and fear of the Lord dispose him to humble reverence for God, ensuring that his reign will be faithful to God
This One-Who-Is-to-Come will “see beyond appearances” and will be a champion for the poor and the meek. All of these things will work together for the transformation and renewal of all creation.
“On that day,” there will be justice. Predators and prey will dwell together in oneness as they did in the Garden of Eden. The vulnerable will have nothing to fear. Snakes (like those denounced by John) will no longer attack.
There will be “no harm or ruin” on God’s holy mountain because the whole world will be filled with the knowledge of God.
At the time when Isaiah would have offered this “oracle of salvation” the people believed that this “Promised One” would be a new king (like David centuries before) who would rise up from the ravaged “stump” of the conquered house of Jesse, and he would be the one to bring about a new “peaceable kingdom.”
And so, the people waited…
And when the proper time came, John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the one who would bring this to fulfillment. But John’s message for us this Sunday also presents a clarion call to a new hope and to conversion as he reminds us of the necessity of repentance.
The biblical meaning of the “repentance” to which John calls us means much more than simply being “sorry” for sins and failings. This kind of repentance implies a radical change in our attitudes and our hearts.
John is calling us to a return to righteousness, to lives of integrity, and to relationships that are rooted in honesty and respect.
It is this grace of repentance that allows those divine gifts offered to Isaiah’s promised king to also take root in each of us who have been anointed and sealed with the gifts of the Spirit in our baptism and confirmation: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.
We may not exercise these gifts in the same way an ancient king of Israel might have, but this Sunday we are also being reminded of how essential these gifts are for living out our Christian vocation:
We need competence and insight in every walk of life;
we are all responsible for establishing and safeguarding justice in society;
we all owe God our humble reverence and our commitment to God’s reign.
Isaiah’s vision for a messianic king may have been fulfilled in Jesus, but this Sunday we are being reminded that these divine gifts are also offered to us, becoming the “good fruit” that we are called to cultivate as we seek make the Reign of God a reality in the world as we seek to “prepare the way of the Lord” and “make straight his paths” in the here and now of our lives.
Almighty and merciful God,
may no earthly undertaking hinder those
who set out in haste to meet your Son,
but may our learning of heavenly wisdom
gain us admittance to his company.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent
Homily prepared for Old St. Mary’s Church, Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, and Ss. Peter and Paul Church, Milwaukee, WI
