Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 5th December
Message from Fr Paul for Sunday, 5th December 2021
The great protagonists of the Advent Liturgy are the Old Testament Prophets, especially Isaiah, the New Testament Prophet, John the Baptist, and Our Lady. Then there are those in supporting roles, Joseph, the husband of Mary, and the parents of John, Elizabeth and Zechariah, to some extent transitional figures linking the Old with the New. I have always been fascinated by the Nativity Narratives in Luke and Matthew, that tell of the conception and birth of Jesus and his precursor John. I find they excite my imagination and instinct for investigation, combining the historic, the scientific and the spiritual. Today, Second Sunday in Advent, we focus on John the Baptist and read from Luke, (Lk 3 1-6). It’s an interesting Gospel passage for many reasons. It’s so short, let’s read the whole passage at once.
“In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley will be filled in,
every mountain and hill be laid low,
winding ways will be straightened
and rough roads made smooth.
And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.”
What strikes us immediately is that, at the very beginning of the Gospel account of the life of the adult Jesus, we are introduced to all the characters we’ll be meeting again later in the Passion Narratives and in the Acts of the Apostles. It seems strange that in Advent, which we consider to be a preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, the Christ Child is not yet lying in the manger and yet we’re already thinking ahead to his Passion and Cross. John proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but Jesus, the Saviour of the world, baptises us with the Holy Spirit, making us sons and daughters of God, temples of the Holy Spirit and living stones making up the Body of Christ. Luke also speaks of John’s mission as fulfilling the dramatic words of Isaiah, as being someone who goes ahead of the Lord to prepare the way for his coming. For this reason, John is known as the Forerunner or Precursor, in Greek Pródromos, a popular name for boys in Greek speaking lands. When I lived on Mount Athos for four months in Spring and early Summer 1968, I became friends with lad my age named Pródromos, who worked on the Holy Mountain. It always struck me how very much like John the Baptist he was. I really admired his love for Jesus. I’d pray that my faith could be like his. May we all prepare the way for Christ and may his kingdom take root in our hearts. Amen.
