II SUNDAY OF ADVENT : Is 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Pt 3: 8-14; Mk 1: 1-8

II SUNDAY OF ADVENT :[B]: Is 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Pt 3: 8-14; Mk 1: 1-8

Portrait : A theologian had a painting of the crucifixion in his study. It showed John the Baptist with a long bony finger pointing to Jesus. One day a visitor asked, "What is your job?" The theologian walked over to the painting and said, "I am that finger." Do our lives point people to Christ? Or do they turn them away from Him? Before you answer, remember what Gandhi  said, "I would have become a Christian if ever I had met one."

In a recent year, Joseph Donders writes, "One third of all the books in the United States were written on Jesus."

Given that remarkable fact, can you fault the Church setting up the training camp season that is Advent at the opening of a new Liturgical year?  The Church gives us four weeks to burn off ten pounds of ugly spiritual fat. Thus we will be properly ready to greet the Nazarene on His annual Christmas visit.

Event: A school principal called the house of one of his teachers to find out why he was not in school. He was greeted by a small child who whispers: “Hello?”

“Is your Daddy home?” asked the principal.
“Yes,” answered the whispering child.
“May I talk with him?” the man asked.
“No,” replied the small voice.
“Is your Mommy there?” he asked.
“Yes,” came the answer.
“May I talk with her?”
Again the small voice whispered, “No.”
“All right,” said the man, “Is there any one there besides you?”
“Yes,” whispered the child, “A policeman.”
“A policeman? Now, may I speak with the policeman?”
“No, he's busy,” whispered the child..
“Busy doing what?” asked the principal.
“Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the fireman,” came the child’s answer.
“The fireman? Has there been a fire in the house or something?” asked the worried man.
“No,” whispered the child.
“Then what are the police and fireman doing there?”
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a soft giggle, “They are looking for me.”

It would be pretty hard for the “rescuers” to find this child as long as the child keeps hiding from them. In today’s gospel we see John the Baptist in the desert calling out to the people of Judea to come out into the open desert and let God find them. You can liken it to the fireman calling out to the “lost” child. The child has to leave his hiding place and come out into the open for the fireman to find him.

To go into the desert is to leave behind the normal props of life on which we tend to depend. Such life props we often find in our job, in relationships and in routine religious practices. God cannot do much with us as long as we hope and trust in these things as the first things that give meaning to our lives. When the heart is full no one can come into it, not even God. You have first to let go of what your heart is holding on to before you can embrace God. This letting go is symbolized by a journey into the barren desert.

Exegesis: He didn’t look like them.  He didn’t talk like them.  He was not part of the crowd that had always held power.  Yet he talked about change.  And the people listened, and followed.

John the Baptist dressed in camel’s hair and had a leather belt.  He didn’t dress like the Scribes, Pharisees and Temple priests.  He never was part of that crowd.  But John the Baptist talked about change that was certainly coming.  The thing is for the change to take place, it was the people who had to change.  If there is going to be no more war, then people need to stop hating others.  If there is going to be charity and care for all, then people needed to look inside their hearts and pull out the justice of God that resides there.  If there is going to be change, then people needed to change.

That is the change we can believe in.  “Prepare for the Lord,” John the Baptist proclaims in the Gospel for this Second Sunday of Advent.  Prepare for the Lord by preparing yourselves.  And the people from throughout the Judean countryside and the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River where John was preaching.  And they confessed their sins.  And they were baptized.  And the change had begun.

We all want our country and our world to be better.  We all want a cure for cancer and AIDS and malnutrition and every ailment or condition that is killing people.  We all want the poor to be cared for.  We all want an end to violence both that which is carried out by terrorists and that which takes place in every town and city throughout the world. We all want peace.  But what are we doing about it?  The heart of John the Baptist’s message is that if we want change, if we really want the One who will reform the world and return mankind to God’s original plan, then we need to change.

Joke: There was a congregation that was struggling to build a new church. Almost all the members had stepped forward generously with their pledges. But there was one major holdout, the town banker, and he hadn't given a penny. So, very reluctantly, the minister decided to make a personal call on the banker to plead his case. The banker responded candidly. "I know you must think I'm a cheapskate, Reverend, but I'm really under terrible financial pressures at the moment. My son's at an Ivy League school at a cost of $25,000 a year. My mother's bedridden in a rest home at $60,000 a year. My daughter's husband abandoned her and the nine kids and she needs $40,000 a year. Now you got to understand, Reverend. If I've said 'no' to them, how can I say 'yes' to you?"

This is tough.  It is just so much easier to sit back and expect the government to change, the world to change, other people to change.  But if we really want change we can believe in, the ‘we’ need to change.

Conclusion : Let us accept the challenge of John the Baptist to turn this advent season into a real spiritual homecoming by making the necessary preparations for the fresh arrival of our Lord and Savior Jesus into our hearts and lives.