Current challenge: Prepare the way for the Lord!
The call of John the Baptist is relevant even at the turn of the millennium
. Do you realize how much information, messages, calls, and announcements we hear per year? What a year in one month! And in a week? Even just for one day? From television screens, radio receivers, magazines, and newspapers, from interviews, at home, at the workplace, and on the street, they directly attack and want to win us over to their side. How good that we know ourselves and can stop, think, consider things and events, reevaluate, and choose essential, important, and good things for ourselves. We know that it is not simple, easy, and sometimes unpleasant.
We are also aware of this when listening to John the Baptist. He says, “Repent! … Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight! … Snake breed, who showed you how to escape the wrath to come!? So bear fruit worthy of repentance! … The ax is already laid on the roots of the trees…” (Mt 3,2.3.7-8).
John the Baptist is the greatest preacher of Advent. His words speak of the nearness of the expected and predicted Messiah. He is a true Herod – herald of the Messiah. Just as the words of Jesus Christ do not lose their relevance until the end of time, the terms of John the Baptist are still timeless. Those who responsibly approach their life’s advent find a souvenir for themselves in the character of Ján. The Gospel speaks of the forerunner of the Lord Jesus as a man of action. He prepares the way for Jesus by ministering the baptism of repentance: not our sacramental baptism, which was instituted only by the Lord Jesus, further with his sermons on the change of life, return to God, and conscious repentance. He says it is not enough to base myself on the fact that I am a descendant of Abraham. John’s words are prophetic: “God can raise children to Abraham even from these stones” (Mt 3:9). For the Jews, it is precisely the people from paganism who are such stones, but He, who comes gifted with the Holy Spirit, can make them children of God. John also points to the power with which this will happen: “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3, 11). By fire, he means God himself. God, in his love,e sends his Son to earth, who will remove all selfishness from human hearts. But for those who reject God’s love, who consciously and freely decide to remain chaff, the fire of love will become the fire of judgment: “… it will burn the chaff in unquenchable fire” (Mt 3:12). God is a purifying fire. Whoever does not want to burn with the light of his love, that fire will burn for all eternity. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11). By fire, he means God himself. God, in his love,e sends his Son to earth, who will remove all selfishness from human hearts. But for those who reject God’s love, who consciously and freely decide to remain chaff, the fire of love will become the fire of judgment: “… it will burn the chaff in unquenchable fire” (Mt 3:12). God is a purifying fire. Whoever does not want to burn with the light of his love, that fire will burn for all eternity. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11). By fire, he means God himself. God, in his love,e sends his Son to earth, who will remove all selfishness from human hearts. But for those who reject God’s love, who consciously and freely decide to remain chaff, the fire of love will become the fire of judgment: “… it will burn the chaff in unquenchable fire” (Mt 3:12). God is a purifying fire. Whoever does not want to burn with the light of his love, that fire will burn for all eternity.
John’s words are a call to return to God. The challenge is to change a life. The sight of John, his life, life story, words, and place by the Jorattractsract the inhabitants of distant Jerusalem and the entire vicinity of the Jordan. God is God’s sign for all. The Pharisees and Sadducees also come, although he speaks most harshly to them. He reminds them of their unbelief, the indifference with which they lead and teach the nation. John lived as God asked him to. He was a harsh lesson for all aware of their unfaithfulness to God. At the same time, he is a role model for changing life.
After the baptism of repentance, many leave the Jordan changed. Fixing life is possible. Sinners change their lives. They leave their sin. Advent reminds us that it is only a preparation for death. Expecting the coming of Christ into the world is a wider truth. Our life and liturgical Advent, when we correctly listen and accept the words of John the Baptist, is in the renewal, reform and correction of life, but it must come from within us. Change should take place within us and not require change only in the surroundings. The challenge is about our relationship with God. Changing our mindset should bring visible fruit to our lives. The one who fears him and acts righteously is pleasing to God. What kind of Advent would it be if we didn’t use it to change our lives in relation to God, our neighbor and ourselves? It is right to experience Advent like those who left the Jordan determined not to live in sin any more. We cannot speak of a Christian Advent that is not realized by a return to repentance through the confessional, and it is not a Christian Advent when it is not realized in a real return to God, a meeting with God, even if on the feast of the Nativity of the Lord Jesus we had the most beautiful tree, many gifts and even though we would sing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs. Today is the time to start fulfilling the words of John the Baptist. To distinguish his words from the words of false prophets, although we have been such prophets to ourselves or to others until now. Let’s not blame the world around us, but let’s eliminate the evil in ourselves. Why did even his enemies follow Jesus, those who could not agree with his behavior because of their public life? Because John was not a prophet only with his mouth, but he was a prophet with his life. And John will say about his relationship with Jesus, for whom he is preparing the way: “I am not worthy to carry his shoes” (Mt 3:11). And wearing someone’s shoes meant being entirely at the service of the one to whom the shoes belonged. In humility, John did not even feel worthy of that. For repentance, correction, and return, the humility of the predecessor of the Lord Jesus, St. John the Baptist.
He asks us to undertake the healing of our relationship with God. This is how our physical and spiritual life will be healed, and our relationships with each other will also be healed. The cause of our unhappiness is our sin, which we commit consciously and voluntarily. Leave the old way of living in sin and start the path to the Lord. “Make his paths straight” (Mt 3:3) is a call to fulfill your duties faithfully. It is not enough to take commands only as a means of coercion but as a joyful response to God’s address to us. It is not enough to imitate the external way of life of St. John when we do not adopt his interior, his attitude towards everything that God asks of us. The spirit of Advent is supposed to be joyful. Not coercive. After all, we are waiting for God, who alone can honestly give us what will enrich our life on earth and become a guarantee for eternal life.
Pope John XXIII. said: “There are two doors that lead to freedom, to paradise: innocence and repentance.” Who among us sinners would dare to open the door as an innocent? However, they can be opened by repentance. That is the surest way to freedom.
Bonhöffer explains Advent with the words: “In a dungeon, the door can only be opened from the outside.” Such a dungeon does not have to be built only of walls. Illness can also be a prison from which there is no way out. There is absolutely no door that we can open with our strength. There are events in life that cannot be avoided. Profession, marriage, own abilities, or inabilities can become our prison. Before throwing himself under the train, I knew a young man who wrote: “I didn’t see any other way out.” Advent can also be like this. No option, no solution. No one comes to open the door.
In our case, there is a solution; there is hope, and there is a possibility! We hear the words of John the Baptist. They are addressed to us. With God’s help and grace, we can do it. Advent lived with Christ is already time lived with Christ.
We know that a meeting can leave positive traces for a long time and a lifetime. Indeed, many contemporaries of the predecessor of the Lord Jesus recognized it. And so it is today when we open our hearts. It is enough to pay more attention, see, listen, meet, change, return, and heal, which has touched us as young Miss Jarka.
What were the difficulties with her in the family? She was already twenty, but she would need a maid. Untidy with her things, indifferent to her surroundings, irresponsible with her duties, calculating and selfish… How much her parents and younger sister talked her down! Only once – a change. From a specific time, he can notice those around him. He even says thank you and asks if there is anything that needs help. On Saturday, without anyone asking her, she started cleaning the apartment, not only her room, her things. And do you know why? What caused the change, correction, and healing in her life? She fell in love. You found a boy. And she invited him to their home for the first time on Sunday.
We have known liturgical Advent for two thousand years. How old are we all ready? Let’s answer each other. And how many Advents have we lived through? Yes, we should be aware of the timeliness of the words of the Advent preacher St. John. Order is the business card of human culture. Loyalty to God is the most beautiful response we can give to God. Get your ego in order. A particular element of return is that we can discover the truth in our lives. When our faith is not only a holiday obligation but especially an inner conviction of love for the goal of our life, the return will be realized when we accept Christ, who alone can mobilize our forces. Therefore, we recognize that the words of John the Baptist are a personal matter for each of us. Returning means living your life with Jesus every day. To make everyday day pleasing to God and worthy of yourself. It is only possible if our Christian thinking is by the call of St. John the Baptist. A Christian’s heart is not to be treated for lack of love. Advent is a time of waiting for love. He who waits for nothing is already dead. On the gate of Hell, Dante wrote: “Give up hope! There is eternal death.” Advent is the hope that we will respond to the call in accordbyords and implement them in our lives.
Has such an incident happened to you? You were sitting on a train at a railway station next to another train. You were waiting to leave. Finally, it moves slowly and silently. After a few seconds, you’re in doubt and wondering which train is going. Yours or the one on the sidelines? What will you do at that moment to find out the truth? It is simple. Just look at something fixed that isn’t moving, like a tree or a house.
Yes, it is necessary to find a fixed point to find out the fact. We can also use this principle on our journey through Advent. John the Baptist is a fixed point in our life and liturgical Advent. A look at him and our realization of his words in our life will tell us whether we are following Jesus or still standing, trampling in one place.
Our life is often compared to travel. We also hear or see many challenges at airports and platforms. It is fitting that we can distinguish which belongs to us and to which we can respond promptly and appropriately. What is a year, month, or week in history? But even one day means a lot in our life. One day, one hour, and one minute. That year’s Advent will never happen again.
