Second Sunday in Advent

Bar 5:1-9
Phil 1:4-6, 8-11
Lk 3:1-6

John heard a call. John heard a call urging him to out and preach repentance, a call urging him to bring people back to God, and to prepare them for what was to come. John was to prepare the way of the Lord. John was o prepare the people for the one who was to come. John knew that someone was coming, but I don’t believe he knew when. The one who was to come surely must have been close, but as far as John Knew it could be tomorrow, or next week or next year, or in a hundred years. It didn’t really matter, his job was to get the people ready, no matter when the one who was to come would arrive. I wonder if at times John wondered if what he was doing was worth it. Did he ever wonder if he was wasting his time? Yes, big crowds came to hear him and to see him, and John had a loyal group of followers. Just because a lot of people came, it doesn’t mean a lot of people heard what John was saying. Many came from simple curiosity. Let’s go look at the wild man in the desert, it ought to be a good time. Remember, they didn’t have movies or television, so maybe John feared at times that he was no more than cheap entertainment. It may have all seemed difficult and pointless until the day the one John preached about came. He came, and John knew that all he had been doing was worth it. He had done his best to prepare the way of the Lord.
We have that same call. We are called to prepare the way of the Lord. Whether it be through preaching, or simply through the way we live our lives, we are called to make ready the way for the one who is to come again. It can be difficult to live a life devoted to following God. You will be seen as different, you will seem, at times, out of place. People will disagree with you, mock you, or just ignore you. After a while it can seem pointless. It would be easier to just give in. After all, unlike John, we haven’t seen him yet, he hasn’t come back around, or so we may think. But he is with us, he is with us everyday, he comes to us every day. He come to us each day in the celebration of the Eucharist, he is made manifest to us in the Most Blessed Sacrament. He is with us, he has, does, and will come to us. When the struggle begins to seem pointless, go to Jesus, present to us in that Eucharist. Just like John, we can see the one who was promised. We simply must look.
Deacon John
Second Sunday in Advent
Dec. 10, 2006