THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (B)

A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light.

Jn 1:6-8, 19-28

EXEGESIS

When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?”

In his Gospel John uses the term Jews for those who were hostile to Jesus, particularly the Jewish religious leaders.

Are you Elijah?

According to Malachi and Sirach, the prophet Elijah will return to preach re-pentance for one last time before the final judgment. “Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of the LORD comes, the great and terrible day” (Mal 3:23).

“Are you the Prophet?”

The expectation for a prophet at the end time was common. It is probably based on Deuteronomy 18:15. Moses spoke to the people, saying: “A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen.”

“There is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”

It was the job of a slave to remove the sandals of his master.

This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

This is not the Bethany where Lazarus, Martha and Mary lived.

NOTE:

The Gospel of John presents Jesus as if he were on trial. Witnesses are called forward to testify on behalf of Jesus. The first witness presented is John the Baptist.

THE DESERT

“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord.’” An alternative reading would be: “I am the voice of one crying out, “In the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord.’”

The desert or wilderness is often mentioned in the Bible.

The Israelites would not enter the Promised Land on account of the discour-aging reports of the spies sent by Joshua to reconnoiter the Land. For their lack of faith and disobedience, God punished them. None of them would enter and occupy the Promised Land. And so they wandered in the desert 40 years.

On the Day of Atonement, a goat was chosen and all the sins of the people were laid on it. Afterwards it was sent to the desert. The desert was the abode of Azazel or Satan.

During the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, those who were faithful to the Jewish religion fled to the desert. “It was reported to the officers and soldiers of the king who were in the City of David, in Jerusalem, that certain men who had flouted the king's order had gone out to the hiding places in the desert” (1Mac 2:31).

After his baptism, Jesus went to the desert and stayed there forty days and forty nights. Within that period, he was tempted by the devil. But he came out victorious.

The monks of old fled the cities and lived in desert in order to find God there. St. Anthony was the most famous among them.

The desert can teach us something about how to prepare for Christmas. While it would be impossible for most of us to go to the desert or to the wilderness, we can in some way re-create the spirit of the desert. And in this way prepare the way of the Lord.

The spirit of the desert consists of three key words: silence, solitude and spiritual combat.

SILENCE

We need interior silence in order to hear God’s voice. Where did Elijah find God? Not in the strong wind. Not in the earthquake. Not in the fire. But in the tiny whispering sound. Where can we hear this whisper of God? In the examination of conscience. In sacred scripture. But n order to hear God’s whisper, we need inte-rior silence. But this interior silence is almost impossible to achieve when there is an overpowering exterior noise. This noise is not necessarily something that the ears perceive. Anything that catches the attention of our senses is noise. Anything that takes away our attention from God during the examination of conscience or during the prayerful reading of the Bible is noise. Using a portable device to pray the day’s scripture reading (see Pray As You God website) will be for many a practical way of creating interior silence even when one is commuting.

SOLITUDE

We need some time to be by ourselves. Solitude is not being lonely. It is not even being “alone”. Solitude is being present to oneself and being present to God. We need solitude so that we may step back and look at ourselves and at our life. We need solitude so that we can get in touch with the deepest desires of our heart. And having taken stock of ourselves, of our lives and of the desires of our hearts, we can bring whatever we have discovered for discussion with God. Who knows? God may tell us what he wants us to do.

SPIRITUAL COMBAT

It was in the desert that Jesus fought his spiritual combat against Satan. It was also in the desert that the monks of old fought their spiritual combat. We don’t need to go to a geographical desert to fight our spiritual battle, for the spiritual battlefield is right in our hearts. It is in our hearts where the battle between good and evil take place. It is in our hearts where the battle for supremacy is going on. Will God be supreme in our hearts? Or will it be the Evil One? It is not difficult to find help in tipping the battle in favor of God. There are three simple but power means: confession, communion and spirit of prayer. Confession exorcises the evil from our heart. Communion gives God possession of our heart. It is not just prayer but spirit of prayer. It means that we must find ways in order to remember God throughout the day. Or in classic terminology, we must find ways in order to lift up our minds and hearts to God throughout the day.

Christmas is not just about remembering what happened in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. It is experiencing for ourselves what happened then. But what exactly did happen in Bethlehem? With the birth of Jesus God is truly with us. God is truly Emmanuel. Through silence, solitude and spiritual combat we hope to give God possession of our hearts. When that happens, is God not truly with us?