2nd Sunday of Advent

Gospel Reading: Mark 1: 1-8

1 The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: Look, I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare your way.

3 A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

4 And so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

5 All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins.

6 John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey.

7 In the course of his preaching he said, 'Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals.

8 I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.'

Meditation

On this Sunday and the next, the church gives us John the Baptist as the model of the prophet calling people to move from the wilderness or place of despair to a state of hopeful and trusting expectation. Jesus himself was someone who knew how to wait.

Like last week's, this reading should be read in sections. Omit verse 1 which is an introduction to the entire gospel of St. Mark rather than to this part of it.

In verses 2 and 3 you can focus on the fact that the story of John the Baptist was already written in the book of Isaiah, or you can look at the content of the verses. The first two lines are from Malachi, and the pronouns must be interpreted correctly: they are saying that when God is about to come into the life of a person or a community he always sends a messenger to prepare the way for him.

In the next part of the prophecy be sure to interpret correctly the meaning of 'cries in the wilderness' which means that God's prophets always announce confidently to those who are in the wilderness that they must not despair, but rather act as if God's grace will come to them at any moment.

Verses 4 and 5 summarise the mission of John the Baptist who touches a community or nation so that the people commit themselves to a renewed life, recognising their former sins.

Verse 6 speaks of the Baptist's simple lifestyle, in sharp contrast to the extraordinary success of his preaching in the previous verses.

In verses 7 and 8 we get a glimpse of the humility of John the Baptist, a model of waiting. John may have said these words

•  at a time of triumph, showing that he did not let success go to his head,

•  at a time when he was feeling frustrated and knew he must be content to wait for God's moment of grace.

Prayer 

By excluding death from our own life we cannot live a full life, by admitting death into our own life we enlarge and enrich it.
Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jewess who died in Auschwitz in 1943

Lord, we celebrate today our conversion experiences:

•  we turned away from drink or something else that was destroying us;

•  we took up our courage after a bout of depression;

•  we moved from self-centredness to a life of service.

We remember with deep gratitude the messenger you sent before you who was to prepare your way:

A sermon, a friend, one of our children, an illness.

At the time, we were in a wilderness, drifting aimlessly, not going anywhere.

Then, as it is written in the books of the prophets,

a voice cried out in our wilderness

that we were not destined to remain there forever,

that we could expect a moment of grace.

In the body there is a little shrine.
In that shrine there is a lotus.
In that lotus there is a little space.
The whole universe is in that little space, because the creator, the source of all, is in the heart of each one of us .
Upanishad

Lord, we thank you for our John the Baptists:

•  a Life in the Spirit seminar;

•  a national leader;

•  a new parish priest or a new principal of our school.

The whole community, all Judea

and all the people of Jerusalem ,

we made our way to him,

we let ourselves be baptised in the river Jordan ,

recognising how we had become lazy, self-satisfied and grasping,

and we put the past behind us.

We pray for those who have given their lives

to making society more just

and who at this moment find themselves

becoming bitter and resentful, and are tempted to violence.

Keep them humble like John the Baptist.

Remind them that it is your sacred work they are doing,

that they are unworthy servants,

not fit to kneel down and undo the straps of your sandals.

If they feel they are not achieving much, you are following them;

if they feel powerless, you are more powerful.

They baptise with water,

but you will baptise with the Holy Spirit.

Lord, we thank you that in many countries today

your church is bringing hope to the lowly,

so that once again John the Baptist can cry out good news

to those in the wilderness:

•  those who have failed so often that they have given up hope of bettering themselves;

•  those who have been written off as unemployable;

•  those who are being deprived of the minimum resources necessary for survival,

announcing to them that they need not despair,

but can be full of hope

because they will now experience that you are in their midst

and they are free, creative members of the human family.

Lord, we are anxious that all Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem

should make their way out to us and be baptised,

but we think it can be done through money or earthly power,

forgetting that your prophets wear a garment of camel skin