A BETTER WORLD
Today, 2nd Sunday of Advent we reflect on Mark 1.1-8. Here we are introduced to John the
Baptist – a rugged man, leading a rugged life in a desolate wilderness.. He is the
man sent by God to proclaim the need to
prepare a highway along which God would
travel to meet His people. We also hear of
a multitude of people making their way towards the Baptist.
We must
see this as an exciting convergence of God coming to meet His people and their
making their way towards Him. Far
from being a righteous crowd they were responding to the Baptist’s call to repent
of their sins. They were even prepared to undergo the humiliation of requesting
the Baptist to duck them in the water of the River Jordan...thereby publicly
admitting their need for a spiritual cleansing.
And then the Baptist drew attention to someone
much, much greater than himself. He,
Jesus, would baptize them with the Holy Spirit. Jesus would
lead them out of their sinfulness, reconcile them with God.
Our
hearing of these people being introduced to the adult Jesus when He was about
to launch His public ministry is vital to our celebrating Advent. During this
season of Advent the Church realizes the absolute necessity of our grasping the
origin, the identity of Jesus.
At Christmas we profess our faith that the babe
in the crib – Mary’s child - was, in truth, the Son of God. This infant, Jesus,
would be the person John the Baptist
presented to the crowd at the River Jordan. This same infant, Jesus, who would later
known as the Man from Galilee, the carpenter’s son would finally be known as
the Man on Calvary – Jesus, our crucified Lord and Saviour.
The
beauty of the incarnation must never be isolated from the harsh necessity of
the Paschal Mystery – the saving, sacrificial crucifixion of Jesus leading to
His glorious conquest over sin and death through His Resurrection. It is for
this very reason that in religious art a cross often is inserted into the halo
of the infant Jesus; or a cross is painted on the wall of the birth-place
of Jesus. The Christmas Crib and the Calvary Cross are inseparable.
Consequently,
during Advent as we prepare to joyfully celebrate the serenity of the birth of
Baby Jesus we must remain aware
of the are multitudes suffering
man-made, man-allowed, miseries. Our Christmas merriment over the birth of
Jesus must not be allowed to obscure the shear nastiness, the desolation, that
some of God’s children are inflicting on others throughout the year, every
year.
Now
as our thoughts turn to this Advent, this Christmas, I refer to a message Pope Benedict XV1 gave on World Youth Day 2008. “In so many of our societies, side by side with
material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an
unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have
built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning – the ultimate
meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which
the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image
and likeness of God. It reveals humanity’s sublime calling, which is to find
fulfilment in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life.”
These words of Pope Benedict XV1 convince me that Jesus, and all He stands for, is immensely relevant
to today’s world. Jesus, the adult, is urgently needed to be its Saviour. Jesus the Saviour is the reason for the
Advent Season!
The Saviour, impossible though it may seem to us, can change, can frustrate, the values, the behavior,of those whose contentment and fulfillment depend on what is
contrary to the Good News of the Gospel. Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem, Jesus,
of Calvary, Jesus of the Empty Tomb gives us the confidence to hope for, work for, a better world! .
May you have a blessed Advent!
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