The preaching of John the Baptist
It’s the second Sunday of Advent and in the Holy Mass today, the priest will light up the second candle of Advent, which means we’ve got two weeks before Christmas Day. Today’s gospel reading comes from Matt.3:1-12 and it talks about the preaching of St. John the Baptist, the precursor of the Messiah.
3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way for the Lord,make straight paths for him.’”4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 “I baptize you with [b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
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In verse 4, “John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” This is the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the cousin of the Blessed Virgin Mary who was destined to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah.
When we went to the Holy Land, one of our destinations was the place of the Visitation, which happened in the house of Zechariah. So you may ask, why did John the Baptist leave that house? There could only be one explanation — they had to flee because John the Baptist was a first-born son and therefore a target of King Herod who killed many innocent babies. So he probably ended living in caves in the Judean desert near the Jordan River and wore clothes made of camel’s hair. He only ate locusts and honey, which means he did not live a life of luxury.
He called upon those who walked from faraway Jerusalem asking them to repent their sins, or a better word is “metanoia,”which refers to far more than a simply being or saying one is sorry for past sins, far more than mere regret or remorse for such sins. It refers to a turning away from the past way of life and the inauguration of a new one, in this case, initialized by an act of baptism. The Jews who were fed up with the Pharisees flocked to John and asked to be baptized in the River Jordan.
But John was an honest man and did not make any pretension on his Baptism of Repentance when he said, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
John’s Baptism of Repentance brought about many repentant Jews from as far as Jerusalem. In those days, repentant Jews were asked to go to the temple in Jerusalem and offer animal sacrifices. The Judgment of God was offered to all who would seek forgiveness of their sins. Actually, the message during his time is the very same message we are getting in our own time. Repentance after all is the key ingredient to our salvation so that our souls will be worthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
For Christians, they are satisfied with repentance. But for Catholics, we need to take Holy Communion for the Lord Jesus Christ said in John 6:54, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal; life, and I will raised them up at the last day.” So for the up and coming celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, I exhort our readers to go to confession and ask for the forgiveness of your sins. We must believe that we men are all sinners and need the sacrament of reconciliation so that after confession you can go to Holy Communion and be reconnected to our Lord and Savior.
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