We read in the Book of Genesis that when God created the world, it was all good. And after creating men and women God saw that it was all very good (Genesis 1-2). It was all love, peace and bliss in the Garden of Eden where they were located, until sin entered the world and changed the entire picture. The hearts of men and women were now ruled by selfishness, hatred and corruption. They were alienated from God and from one another. They were even alienated from the natural environment that was so wholesome and friendly at the beginning. Human beings abused, exploited and manipulated one another. They also misused and destroyed the other elements of nature, which now became hostile and vindictive. The beautiful world which God created out of love now became a jungle, a wilderness, a wasteland. Human beings were lost and damned in this jungle of hate whose regular features were oppression, domination, slavery, violence and war. Men and women sowed in tears. Their fathers ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth were constantly on edge. They could not help themselves. They needed divine intervention.
The prophets of the Old Testament envisioned a time when a Messiah will come around to right all wrongs, to restore creation to its pristine purity and to save men and women from the destruction which they have brought upon themselves through sin. They envisioned a time when humanity will once again be reconciled with God, a time when love, mercy and compassion will reign in the hearts of men and women; a time when the lion will lie down with the lamb, and the small child play into the hole of a cobra and no harm will be done.
The appearance of John the Baptist marked the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He summed up in his person the whole salvation history of the Old Testament. He pointed to Christ in a manner that was more direct and more powerful than any of the Old Testament prophets. He was according to Jesus Christ, the greatest of them. He was the voice sent to the wilderness, to speak about the restoration that now wishes to bring about. He spoke about filling up the valleys and leveling down the hills. He spoke about pruning the wild trees weeding off the evil grass. He spoke about sifting and sorting through the mess. He presented the image of a bulldozer that is sent by the town-planning authorities to demolish illegal structures!
John the Baptist is not just another prophet. He is the precursor of the Messiah. All the prophets gave witness to the coming of Jesus, but John’s witness was unique. His witness was direct and powerful. It called for an urgency that was never before seen in the prophets before him. He announced that salvation is now available to all who embrace the coming Messiah. This salvation is not for the Jews alone. It is universal. Also the salvation which John’s ministry prepared for is not only eternal happiness. It is the deep inner peace here and now which comes from God’s gift of his son Jesus Christ. John’s baptism for the remission of sins, is essentially preparatory for the coming of the Messiah. His ministry brought to people a sense of joyful expectation. Abandoned to their wits, human being are bound for destruction.
Wise men and women through the course of history have recognised that left on their own resources human beings cannot bring about their own salvation, no matter how hard they try. If because of technological advancement we were ever tempted to imagine that human progress was endless or that we can perfect the world ourselves, then the Aids epidemic, the energy crisis and the ecological crisis are enough to make us begin to think differently. Many of us now recognise that the resources for human salvation do not lie within human history. They can only come from God. Thus the message of John is that soon, very soon, he indicated, the Lord was going to intervene powerfully. The reign of darkness is going to be dislodged, and men and women shall once again be free.
Advent is the time to get into the mood of preparation for Christ’s first coming, while also kindling anew our expectation of his second coming. John preached total repentance. By calling for the mountains to be brought low, and the valleys to be filled up, he urged all his listeners to make it easy for God to come to them. He wanted the obstacles removed so that God’s love for us could flow freely into our hearts. John’s message of repentance is an open invitation for men and women to make themselves open to the new dawn to be brought about by the incarnation of the Son of God. Everything opposed to Jesus and his way of holiness and righteousness must give way. All hatred and bitterness, all selfishness and greed, all forms of promiscuity and sensuality, and all forms of pride and arrogance. They must give way if Christ is to take control and liberate the individual and the human society.
Human beings find it hard to change. None of us is born again easily. Habits and lifestyles die hard. Change is usually slow to come. Yet, to be part of the new dispensation, we must change. And when God calls for a change, he promises a glorious and wholesome future as a stimulus for the change. We must be ready to abandon the familiar territory and “plunge” into the unknown as it were. We need to have faith in the future, to see the power of God at work in and through the desired change. We need faith to understand that God will not abandon us to our own feeble efforts. We need help from prophets like John the Baptist to imagine ourselves differently. We need help to appreciate what kind of persons God wants us to be. We need help to be the best we are meant to be.
John the Baptist allows for no illusions. We cannot meet God without a conscious, deliberate, and willing act. We cannot meet God without a conversion experience – a turn-around experience. We cannot meet God without surrendering ourselves and our past, and plunging into him. The word “baptism” signifies just that – plunging into water outwardly to remove all stain, and to urge the soul to spiritual purification. Those who accept baptism are declaring publicly that they want to change their life completely. Those who accept baptism are declaring that they immerse their previous life completely under water, to drown it, to put it to death, so that a new life may be born in them. Thus baptism is the willful drowning of the old man so that a new man may be born (Romans 6:6; 7:7); Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9-10.
Christian repentance is not just turning away from sin. It is turning to God. And turning to God has many implications for our moral and social lives. Turning to God means that we are making a commitment to fight against selfishness and greed, against injustices of all kinds, against materialism and hedonism. Turning to God means the rejection of all forms of slavery, including slavery to money and pleasure. Turning to God means the acceptance of all that Jesus Christ his Son stands for. It means embracing an existence of love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness.
At the heart of our Advent celebration is the voice of hope which encourages people to change their ways and grow, because good things will come out of it. As we read in prophet Baruch, our dresses of sorrow shall be thrown away. Wonderful things are about to happen. Soon, we shall no longer be in bondage. Soon we shall no longer be sowing in tears. Soon we shall return to our own land, full of joy, carrying the harvest of goods, and wrapped with the cloak of integrity (see Baruch 5:1-9). Advent invites believers to imagine the best in God and in themselves. We are invited to make room (through repentance and conversion) for the best to take charge of our lives.
