Once again this coming Sunday we have a Gospel lesson in which S John the Baptist plays a significant part. I thought I'd rework some of the thoughts from last Sunday's homily, especially for those who weren't able to make it to mass.
It is critical to note, in the description of the ministry of St. John the Baptist - and we hear this more clearly this Sunday even than last - that he was called to prepare the wilderness for the message of Christ; he was not not called to prepare the message of Christ for the Wilderness. He was called to prepare the wilderness.
It is one of the uncomfortable messages of Advent, that the Mystery of Christ is timeless and unchanging - it is the wilderness of the world, and the wilderness of our hearts that must be prepared for it - not it for us.
Too often we think our task (or even our right) as Christians, and as the Church, is to prepare the message of Christ so that it can be better accepted by ourselves, and by the wilderness of the world around us. We like to soften the edges so that its demands, its claims and its inevitable implications for our lives will be more tolerable. But I’m convinced that to think of things in this way is a grave mistake - not just because its wrong, but because thinking about the Mystery of the revelation of the Truth of Christ in this way actually moves us away from under its power to convert us, to change us, to save us, and to us bring to life.
There are those (and there always have been those, in virtually every generation) who would persuade us that the old forms of Christian belief and life are antiquated and irrelevant: we must keep up with the times. There are those who claim that a new spirit is abroad, and that we must move with it. But over each generation also hangs the words of St John the Apostle: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they be of God: because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
I said earlier that the timelessness and unchangingness of the Mystery of Christ is a reason for discomfort. It is, and there’s no getting around that fact. But thats only because of our blindness, our stubborness and our fundamental misunderstanding of ourselves. The truth is, the timelessness and the unchangableness of the Mystery of Christ is actually the source and reason for our joy at Christmas.
We rejoice in Christmas, because it shows us that amid all the confusions and uncertainties of our lives, amid all the fancies and fads of this world's gyrations, there is the fact of God's coming. There is the revelation of the mystery of God with us. This is the mystery of which we are ministers and stewards; servants of a returning Master, "Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts."
It is critical to note, in the description of the ministry of St. John the Baptist - and we hear this more clearly this Sunday even than last - that he was called to prepare the wilderness for the message of Christ; he was not not called to prepare the message of Christ for the Wilderness. He was called to prepare the wilderness.
It is one of the uncomfortable messages of Advent, that the Mystery of Christ is timeless and unchanging - it is the wilderness of the world, and the wilderness of our hearts that must be prepared for it - not it for us.
Too often we think our task (or even our right) as Christians, and as the Church, is to prepare the message of Christ so that it can be better accepted by ourselves, and by the wilderness of the world around us. We like to soften the edges so that its demands, its claims and its inevitable implications for our lives will be more tolerable. But I’m convinced that to think of things in this way is a grave mistake - not just because its wrong, but because thinking about the Mystery of the revelation of the Truth of Christ in this way actually moves us away from under its power to convert us, to change us, to save us, and to us bring to life.
There are those (and there always have been those, in virtually every generation) who would persuade us that the old forms of Christian belief and life are antiquated and irrelevant: we must keep up with the times. There are those who claim that a new spirit is abroad, and that we must move with it. But over each generation also hangs the words of St John the Apostle: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they be of God: because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
I said earlier that the timelessness and unchangingness of the Mystery of Christ is a reason for discomfort. It is, and there’s no getting around that fact. But thats only because of our blindness, our stubborness and our fundamental misunderstanding of ourselves. The truth is, the timelessness and the unchangableness of the Mystery of Christ is actually the source and reason for our joy at Christmas.
We rejoice in Christmas, because it shows us that amid all the confusions and uncertainties of our lives, amid all the fancies and fads of this world's gyrations, there is the fact of God's coming. There is the revelation of the mystery of God with us. This is the mystery of which we are ministers and stewards; servants of a returning Master, "Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts."
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