2nd Sunday of Advent [B] 2011
I have always been impressed with the directness and
simplicity of how St. Mark begins his gospel: “This is the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God.” We, that is I, say it so glibly and so quickly that we might miss the
importance of these words. So I want to
give them some special emphasis.
What could be more basic to our faith than our belief that
Jesus is not only Messiah and Savior, but that he is Son of God, and everything
about him is “gospel”—good news for us? That
Jesus is Son of God is one of the things that is
unique about our faith and different from all other religions. Moses, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, whoever,
are all revered as prophets who spoke for God or wise and holy people who
taught the path to God, but none are honored as God. Jesus is proclaimed
in the gospels as God (not “a” God, but “the” God, the only God, one in
being—consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit.) So Mark gets right to the essence of the
faith as he begins his gospel: “This is the good news (the gospel) of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God.”
Except for two brief references to Mary his mother, St.
Mark doesn’t spend time telling us anything about Jesus’ birth or about his
parents. We thank Matthew and Luke for
those beautiful stories we love to hear again and again about what took place
at the time of his birth. But Mark
begins from another direction by telling us about John the Baptist.
For Mark, it was important to talk about John the Baptist,
as he began his gospel, for two reasons.
First of all, many people thought he, John, was the Messiah, the Savior
of God’s people. Mark makes it clear
that that is not the case. In John’s own
words: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am
not worthy to stoop down and untie his sandals.” The second reason it is important for Mark to
bring up John at the beginning of his Gospel is the message of John the
Baptist, one word: PREPARE.
Many of you know that I am inveterate and long-suffering
fan of the Boston Red Sox. That is
easier than being a Browns and Cavaliers fan, as I am, but still not without
its challenges. Last week the Red Sox
hired a new manager, Bobby Valentine, only two years younger than I for heaven’s
sake, but that is another story. Of
course I read the columns of the Boston
Globe and Boston Herald and ESPN
Boston to get the scoop. Bobby Valentine
is a colorful and somewhat controversial figure, but almost every former player
who ever played for him made the point that no one ever out-prepares Bobby Valentine before a baseball game, and that is
the primary reason for his many successes: preparation.
John the Baptist is not talking about preparing for
something as mundane as a baseball game.
But if it works in baseball, why not in our spiritual
life? John the Baptist is not talking about preparing
our house, or our gifts, or our meals or celebrations, which we always do at
this time of the year and are delightful traditions. He is talking about preparing our hearts.
Can we open our hearts to Jesus or our neighbor any more than we already
have? Can we say we love God perfectly
and completely, our neighbor perfectly and completely?
In preparing the way of the Lord, there may not be any mountains or hills of pride that have to
come down in our lives. There may not be
whole valleys of spiritual laziness
that need to be filled in or rugged land and rough country of serious sin that
needs to be eliminated to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming. But
if we think hard, we might discover little spots here and there where we could
love God or others more.
“Prepare the Way of the Lord” was the message of the
Baptist and the message of the gospels.
We do not enter into God’s kingdom by accident or default. It’s like most other things in life—if we
want something worthwhile or to accomplish anything worth accomplishing, we
need to prepare. Many people assume that
God’s kingdom will somehow be different than everything else in life, that it
will take little or no effort from us to be part of it, that
somehow it will come automatically, almost fall into our laps. The gospels do not tell us that. With