The Kingdom of God is at Hand

Happy and blessed Advent! So how’s your Advent going? That’s probably not a question you hear too often these days. Advent is pretty much underrated and understated in our lives today - we get through our Thanksgiving celebration with the family, and immediately set our sights on getting the Christmas decorations up and all our shopping done. And that’s too bad, because we desperately need the blessings and grace that the message of Advent offers. Because at its core, one of the key themes we should take from the Advent season is the gift of HOPE.

That message of Hope is central to our scripture readings this morning. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” John the Baptist proclaims in the Gospel. And what a kingdom it is! This Messiah will be the righteous king descended from King David prophesied in the first reading from Isaiah and the psalm. “A shoot shall spring from the stump of Jesse” [King David’s father],” and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. “Justice shall flourish in his time, and the fullness of peace forever.” And this Messiah will bring an end to all pain and suffering, all strife and conflict, throughout creation, to all the ends of the earth.

Paul’s message to the Romans in the second reading is full of hope as well. He’s writing during a time of great persecution of the early Christians, reminding the Roman church that “…by the endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope,” calling on them to band together and draw strength and hope from each other as they patiently await the return of the Messiah

Matthew’s Gospel may not seem all that hopeful though, at first glance. He brings us John the Baptist’s strident call to repentance. John echoes the words from Isaiah: “A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” And the people turn out in droves to repent and be baptized. John’s language isn’t exactly soothing, and it’s easily misunderstood. He’s a prophet on fire with a fiery message to deliver. He denounces evil wherever he finds it, and he hammers the Pharisees and Sadducees who come to be baptized – “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Sounds a lot like the old style “Fire and Brimstone” camp meeting preaching, but that’s not where John was going. John challenges the Pharisees and Sadducees not because they want to be baptized, but because they’re coming for show. He challenges them to prove their repentance through good works. It’s a lot like Confession - you can’t be absolved if you’re not really sorry. And you can’t be reborn through baptism if you don’t really repent. The word for repentance in both Hebrew and Greek literally means, "to change one's mind and heart," to make a change of direction or a U-turn. Repentance involves turning around – facing in a new direction -- with a change of heart and a new commitment. But letting go is not always an easy thing to do.

You may have heard the story of how hunters catch monkeys. They cut a small hole in a coconut, just large enough for the monkey to put its hand in, and fill the coconut with a sweet treat and leave it tied under a tree. The monkey smells the treat, squeezes its hand into the coconut, grab the treat in its paw and then finds that its fist won’t come through the hole. The monkey will not let go of the treat in its fist though – it holds itself prisoner. And while it sits there desperately grasping its treat, the hunter comes and snatches it up. All that monkey has to do is let go of the treat, pull its hand from the coconut, and run for freedom. But they just can’t let go.

John the Baptist practiced what he preached – he walked the talk. John lived a life of extreme penitence and prayer, subsisting on the meager fare that the rocky dessert offered up, and going about proclaiming God’s call to repentance and preparation. John’s words are a hard call to action. He reminds us that it’s not about what we show the world, but the internal “housecleaning” we undertake to ensure we TRULY prepare to embrace Christ’s coming into our hearts. John is calling us this Advent season to turn back to God in humility and penance. Because we “prepare the way of the Lord” not through making a show of our worthiness, but through humility and prayer. We “make straight his paths” by recognizing our sins and saying with John “You must increase, I must decrease.”

John the Baptist’s message truly IS a message of hope - because he’s reminding us that we are not alone in this struggle. Just as John lived in the desert, we too at times find ourselves wandering in a desert - the dry and barren areas of our own lives, struggling to find meaning in a world of noise and confusion. John is calling us to let go of the things holding us captive in this world – remember the poor monkey? – to turn back to God in true repentance, clear out the cobwebs from those dark recesses of our lives, and to say, “I can’t do this myself, God. Cleanse me from my sins and renew in me the baptism of new life.”

Advent is the season when we should most fully embrace the words Father David offers during the Our Father at each Mass, the season when we truly “wait in blessed hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” May your Advent be a season of renewal and hope.