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"There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea." (Is 11:9)
The Gospel reading for this Sunday places us in the austere presence of St. John the Baptist, who describes himself as "a voice of one crying out in the desert." Even though we may be surrounded by people on a daily basis, there are times when we too feel like we're in a wilderness or a desert, crying out with no one to hear. We can cry out about the injustices we suffer in life, or those in the world in general. We can cry out about the violence, hatred, prejudice, immorality, and madness that seem to be engulfing our world, and the feeling of helplessness in the face of all of these evils. This Sunday, St. John the Baptist offers us an ancient message, and yet it is one that, if taken to heart, has the power to bring hope and renewal to the desperation of our modern age.God chose the Baptist as a prophet "to prepare the way of the Lord" for His first coming, and so each Advent season the Church listens attentively to the Baptist's voice that she may recognize anew the Lord "who is, and who was, and who is to come." (Rev 1:8) The Baptist challenges us to accept the very simple and straightforward message which rings out with clarity in this Sunday's Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repentance is at the heart of the Baptist's call, and it highlights the first step required of all who wish to accept the "kingdom of heaven" and its King.
Repentance leads us to turn our back on the actions, thoughts, words, and inaction which lead us or others into darkness, error, or sin. But there is a much more positive thrust to repentance than simply turning our back on darkness. Repentance is not meant to create a vacuum in our lives and end in making us dark, depressing and boring people. It is not primarily a "no" to the (destructive) "fun" of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but it is above all a "yes" to accepting the "kingdom of heaven", and is necessary if we are to be free of anything which impedes Christ from reigning within us.
In harmony with this Sunday's call to prepare ourselves to accept the "kingdom of heaven", the entire first reading talks to us of Christ's kingship. The promised king and judge spoken of in the first reading will be filled with the Spirit of the Lord: "a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord...." The biblical imagery of the reading also reveals the type of power this king will hold over all creation: "Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb", and "the baby shall play by the cobra’s den." Towards the end of the reading we discover there will be no harm or ruin on God's mountain because "the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord." Although this last phrase doesn't immediately strike us as important, it is a very powerful point. We see that the transformation of creation is attributed to the "knowledge of the Lord".
In a similar manner, this "knowledge of the Lord" has the power to transform our lives and bring about true repentance. Just as the whole of creation is transformed by the knowledge of the Lord, so we too are progressively transformed and share in the fruits of the Lord's reign through our "knowledge" of the Lord. This is not a knowledge about the Lord, as in the facts surrounding His life (e.g. where He was born, where He traveled, etc...), but it is an intimate knowledge of the Lord which comes from spending time with Him. On a side note, Pope Benedict gave a powerful teaching on the distinction between these two ways of knowing the Lord which you can read here. As we come to a deeper knowledge of the Lord with the heart, our hearts slowly undergo an inner transformation and the Lord's ways of acting, thinking, speaking, and relating to others, begin replacing our old ways. This "knowledge" of the Lord from the heart has the power to purify and recreate us from within and, in the words of St. John the Baptist in today's Gospel, "produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance."
If we look within our hearts we can find traces of all the evils mentioned in the opening sentences of this post - injustice, prejudice, hatred, lust, hardheartedness, etc... Our own heart constitutes the first place where the "kingdom of heaven" must be welcomed, and this is crux of the message for this Sunday. If our cries for change in this world are to have any real hope of producing good fruit, then we need to accept the constant challenge of repentance and seek a deeper knowledge of the Lord with sincerity of heart.
Looking to St. John the Baptist as a model, we can see how many people are impacted for the better when the Lord's kingdom finds a home within a person's heart. The kingdom of heaven certainly seems insignificant, like the mustard seed or leaven, and at times we can wonder how much good it can really do within our families, schools, or places of work. But the effectiveness and power of the kingdom of heaven does not depend on its size. The lives of the saints are a vivid proof that the kingdom of heaven can produce more good and lasting fruit than man could ever hope to produce without God. The saints had such a marvelous effect on the lives of those around them and changed their lives for the better precisely because people perceived Christ in them. The witness of their lives and their prayers continue to transform hearts today. The Lord can produce good and lasting fruit in the world through us too when we humbly seek to know Christ from the heart and live as one who knows the Lord. Have a blessed Sunday.
(Photo of "St. John the Baptist" courtesy of Dcn. Lawrence Lew, O.P.)
