John the Baptizer not only personifies for us the message of Advent as preparing the way of the Lord who is coming, he also represents to us the need to be involved with Jesus’ works of restoration and reconnection that concretize the presence of God’s reign among us.
Good fruits as evidence
Last week we saw John the Baptizer challenging the Pharisees and Sadducees approaching him for the ritual washing in the Jordan to produce instead good fruit as evidence of their repentance. Now, himself in prison for standing up against King Herod’s immorality (Matthew 14:3-4), John heard “of the works of the Messiah” and he set off a clarification necessary for him and for us all. “Jesus, are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Why the question? John’s own vision of what was to come underscored judgment, punishment and vindication, but he was at the moment languishing himself in prison waiting for his end like a helpless pawn to the capricious malice of an evil woman. What was John with his disciples looking for in the coming of the Anointed One? What are we ourselves looking for in the coming of the Lord?
Jesus points to his works, to answer the question. John’s own stringent criterium for religious leaders: “produce good fruit as evidence” (Matthew 3:8) and Jesus’ standard for true prophets: “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:16) now come to apply. The works of Jesus lead us into an awesome understanding of His mission and of His program of action. His works are examples of restoration, restoring creation wounded and thrown into chaos by the fall of Adam, reconnecting people with God and with one another. The sign of the new order in the reign of God is a whole human person: seeing not blind, mobile not lame, cleansed, hearing, fully alive and energized by the good news of God’s saving love. Is this Jesus with His deepest desires for humankind the one for whom we are waiting?
The least in the kingdom of heaven
Jesus turned the attention of everyone to the deeply personal question of what each one is truly looking for. “What did you go out to the desert to see?” In the desert of self-examination and back-to-the-basics, in your confrontation with the Lord? Three times the question, trying to uncover the deepest desires of the heart, for only in true self-understanding can one make an authentic response to Jesus. Nobody really wants someone who is a plaything of every outside influence, or a model of pomp and circumstance, of empty glitz and luxury. We are not even looking for just any prophet with some sensationalizing message to the public, but for a true prophet, a God-grounded person who does the will of the Father in heaven (Matthew 7:21), what the least in the kingdom of heaven surely does.
The people then and we today need a prophet, a voice in the desert, preparing the way of the Lord. One who does not only criticize sin and even go to jail for it, but can actually point to redemption, to Jesus, who is ultimately the one we all are looking for in the “desert time” of Advent. Some people may not know it yet, but Jesus is the one who does the deepest desires of our hearts: sight restored, life moving again, one’s person cleansed, ears open, poverty enriched, human existence empowered—wholeness and renewal, new life in redemption. “Shall we wait for another?” Only if we miss to see and hear and experience Jesus and His works. What are we looking for? If we uncover the deepest desires of our hearts, we will answer our own question and know Jesus is the one.
Alálaong bagá, anyone blessed by God does not take offense at the work of restoration and renewal as identifying the mission of Jesus Christ, the ongoing divine creative activity and what each true believer must join and participate in as the ultimate purpose of Advent and the whole season celebrating the coming of the Lord Jesus, God’s loving presence flooding into the world. The deepest desire of the human heart is to be connected to God. We have strayed from our communion with God, and we now go out to see the invitation in Jesus Christ to reconnect with our Father in heaven.
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