Advent’s prosaic preparations for Christmas recognise God’s ability to share his joy
Posted on December 13th 2009 in Weekly messages
The figure of John the Baptist takes centre stage during the middle of Advent. He is the ‘second’ Elijah who predicts the imminent coming of Jesus, and the one who issues a particular programme of preparation. In both cases he causes confusion among his listeners and ourselves, and he himself later becomes confused as to the true nature of the Messiah. I find this heartening because it means that each year, it is necessary to reassess the meaning for celebrating the birth of Jesus.
The expression of joy that marks this Sunday, the third in Advent, and traditionally called Gaudete Sunday (lit: Rejoice) is something that reveals the heart of the Christian faith. The joy at the coming of the Messiah as prophesised by Zephaniah is not one-sided, a merely human affair, but involves God too. This divine joy is the joy that Jesus speaks about when He says ‘there will be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than ninety-nine just men’. The collaboration in joy demonstrates a subtle attentiveness to our fragile human egos, which resent the imposition by external authority of laws and rules. This divine methodology respects human freedom and conscience, and the invitation to participate in this divine joy establishes a firm foundation on which to build a human life of faith and solidarity with others.
The centre of the preparation and repentance demanded by John the Baptist is indeed the personal practice of justice and solidarity. This antidote to his preaching about burning trees that bear no fruit in an everlasting fire, does not immediately fit with the rather prosaic actions of preparation, which include giving away one’s excess property, not charging excessive rates of tax, and no extortion. One does not have to be either a tax-collector or soldier to recognise that this programme is made difficult by its very ordinariness since its individual nature is unavoidable. The answers John the Baptist gave to both the tax-collectors, a rightly maligned group at the time, and the soldiers of an occupying force, point to the fact that the Christian faith is not revolutionary in the normal sense of the word. It will be forever inspired by individuals who themselves have undergone their own conversion. In this respect no moral revolution can be imposed from above. What does come from above is the grace of God which inspires the men and women of faith to initiate and participate in this moral and spiritual revolution. Too often one meets individuals who claim that the precepts of faith are too difficult to follow, and sometime others who seek for ever more rigorous methods of religious practice and devotion. To both groups, this Sunday’s Gospel points in a different direction. John the Baptist’s message of preparation through the practice of justice and solidarity in daily is one that makes possible the unique quality of Christianity, the ability of God to share His joy, through the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ and the donation of the Holy Spirit, given to the Church at Pentecost.