Matthew 3: 1-12 John’s Preparation for Jesus dn.ca 12-5-04
When I first read today’s Gospel I felt a little un-easy, that something wasn’t quite right. After giving it some thought, I decided what was bothering me is having a message of repentance during the Advent season, isn’t repentance more a theme for Lent? To try and resolve this contradiction I decided to look at a couple basics.
For starters an understanding of repentance and the role of a prophet, the deliverer of the message, might serve the purpose. To repent simple means to turn back or to return. And while in spite of the popular understanding of a prophet, as a type of fortuneteller, they are correctly understood as ones who speaks for God and His desire for us to return to Him.
In the Old Testament times the prophets would call the people to repentance; meaning returning to the instructions of the Covenant they had with God; through the teachings of Moses.
In fact, repent is one of the words we can often come across in our reading of both the Old and New Testament. And repentances has been emphasis within our faith communities throughout time.
Today John Bp, as one of the last biblical Prophets, is also calling the people to return to fidelity with the Covenant; that told them of God’s love and desire for them. A physical sign of their starting anew was the baptism with water in the Jordon.
In addition, when John tells the Pharisees, “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance” we are given major features we can look at as confirmation that our repentance is of God.
But then, we have another question! Just what is good fruit and how do we encourage its growth in our lives? Fortunately as we continue our reading of scriptures there are different references to these fruits or qualities. The one that is the straightest forward is found in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians.
//They are referred to as Fruits of the Spirit. They are love,/// joy, /// peace,/// self-control,/// patience,/// kindness,/// goodness,/// faithfulness/// and gentleness. That is what a person of faith should look like. And they really fit quite well into the spirit of advent and give us directions in our effort to bring about true repentance in our lives.
But, it is no secret that very few of us now and in biblical times live up to the ideal of all these qualities, all of the time. That is why we need someone to remind and guide our return to our higher calling. This need is answered when John Bp presents use with //Jesus the Christ //who through His Church calls us to repentance and will lead us even further in our desire to know and do God’s will”.
Just what does Jesus offer us through the Church to nurture these fruits in our lives? The ones we are most familiar with are, our gathering together to worship, celebrating the Eucharist and the other sacraments. (And our reading and praying with Scripture.)
Another spiritual practice that Jesus, through the Church, teaches us is public and private prayer and devotion; these tend to get a backseat to others although they are not to be underrated. They play a much more important roll in our faith lives then most of us realize.
Advent is just as good a time as any to make use of as many means as possible. To refresh in our minds the practices of the church we are part of that aid us in our attempt to bring forth the fruits of the spirit; both in our lives and the lives of all our brothers and sisters in faith.
(By coming to know God through the teachings of Jesus the Christ.)
The Mission earlier this week has also given us good direction for our prayer and devotional life. And we owe it to ourselves to not let this “good start” fade so that a true Advent can occur in our lives as we return to the Lord.
///“To prepare a way for Him and, Make straight His paths.”///