What must we do?

3rd Sunday of Advent - Year C (16 December 2018)

Zephaniah 3:14–18. Isaiah 12:2–3,4,5–6. Philippians 4:4–7. Luke 3:10–18.

“One mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.”

For the last few days we have been reflecting on the figure of St John the Baptist. And today too we continue to do so. We need to realise that the role of John, the cousin of Jesus, is more important than we imagined before. John is Jesus' starting point, therefore our faith and understanding of Jesus could very well start from an adequate understanding of this humble personality John the Baptist.

But some of you could get impatient and say that even without dealing with John, we could as well go straight to understanding Jesus. I agree. But if our Saviour (and consequently our church liturgy) has given enough time, space, and significance for John's role we too could do it. If the journey is important, the preparation for that journey is equally important if not more. Without having prepared well we could get stuck in our journey, or our journey could become uncomfortable. Jesus is the journey, John is the preparation for that journey. If Jesus is the main story of the movie, the supporting character John is in an introductory role. Picture shuru (the movie starts), but with John the Baptist.

Let us always remember that John's role has always been to point to the Lamb of God. John goes to the background as soon as we hop on to this message of his!

In today's gospel people approach John the Baptist with their questions and yearnings. “What must we do?” they ask. John replies in uncompromising language that the secret is to commit ourselves to God’s way and in so doing find our inner peace. Only God can give us true peace, but peace is not an end-product, it is a by-product. There is no way to peace, but peace is the way. If we want peace in our families we need to embrace peace in our language and behaviour, words and deeds. Praying for peace also means doing peaceful and gentle activities. That is the only way to achieve peace, though slow and gradual. There is no magical or automatic peace, there is only a process towards it.

Similarly, happiness comes from doing good, being honourable and showing concern for those in need. Experience shows that the giving of what we have will certainly make demands on us. John the Baptist is very vociferous and radical about the duty of sharing. He tells us, “Whoever has two coats should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.” If we live like John the Baptist, we will surely get into trouble. But that's Christianity for you. It is not meant for the faint-hearted, it is meant for those who are willing to give up their own selves. Following Christ is a radical option, no convenience by any stretch of imagination. Joy is attained by a life of sharing and caring, not hoarding and grabbing. No one who has ever experienced this joy would exchange it for all the pleasures and comforts of this world. That's why Jesus and his way are not yet outdated; and will never go out of vogue, I believe.

Our governments and nations worldwide need to do something urgently for the poor, but can't we start sharing our resources and abilities today with the less privileged? Instead of waiting for better policies and better governments in all our countries, why can't we start in a humble way a life of sharing? I know we can't do much to change the world scenario of poverty, but we can certainly make a difference to a family or two by our life of sharing and caring. It's not difficult, it only needs a willing heart!