Thoughts from the Second Floor Front II Sunday of Advent December 4, 2022 At that time 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.
Where is everybody going? St. Matthew tells us that John appeared in the desert. That is where everybody is going, out to the desert. And he means it literally. Matthew cannot deny his Jewish roots, nor should he. Remember that it was in the desert after they were freed from slavery in Egypt that the people of Israel were constituted the people of God. The forty-year trek through the desert and eventual arrival at the Promised Land was the fulfilment of the Covenant God made with Abraham.
Deserts are not pleasant places to be. Deserts are places of harsh extremes of temperature, rugged conditions, little water and lots of heat. There is nothing there in terms of support or the social infrastructure that would have existed within the Holy City. Why would they deliberately go to that challenging environment and leave the comfort of the city? They went because of John the Baptist, the herald of Jesus. And what did they hear John tell them? He told them to repent. He called their leaders a brood of vipers. He warned them to expect a purgation when the Messiah comes. John could, at times, be a rough character delivering a tough message.
Human beings tend to seek comfort rather than the extremes of a desert existence. The desert is an appropriate image for Advent. It is a minor penitential season in the tradition of our church and our spirituality. The major penitential season, of course, is Lent. I have stated in this space in previous writing that I believe we have lost the meaning of Advent. We are still holding on to Lent, but for the most part Advent has slipped through our hands. Basically it is because we are reaching for something else. There are a variety of reasons for this sad reality and most of it has to do with the very opposite of going to the desert.
The liturgical season of Advent is the precursor to the liturgical season of Christmas. But somewhere along the way it has been the victim of a strange sort of reductionism. Advent suffers from the immense machine we call materialism. Not many of us would admit to being a materialist but there are a few undeniable indications that many of us, while not conscious of being materialistic, are too easily caught in the trap that modernity sets for us. Go into the desert? Well, sure as long as I can take my iPhone and laptop with me. Will there be connectivity in the desert? What would the password be? Will they have cable? Will Amazon be able to deliver? After all, I am a Prime member. And Starbucks! I have to have Starbucks. And do not forget WaWa! Gotta have a WaWa.
Do we need all the things that we think we cannot live without? Isaiah the prophet describes what has been called the Peaceable Kingdom in which harmony reigns overall. That harmony is an interior disposition and a lived reality made possible only by Grace. You love your family members. Love is a spiritual entity that cannot be contained it can only be expressed. The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is apathy. Indifference harms more relationships than antagonism or aversion. Years ago, our Holy Father Pope Francis, made a clear assertion about indifference and the harm it does. The Pope stated simply that if the stock market drops ten or twenty points it makes major news. A homeless person dies on the street of a major city and people walk over or around the body. We are called to live the gospel marked by intentionality not indifference.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This great season of Advent calls on us to be renewed, not with things but with, in and through Christ.