The Unexpected One

Advent is the season of surprises.  The first big surprise comes on the first Sunday of Advent when Jesus shows up in the clouds on His return instead of showing up in the manger of Bethlehem for His birth among us.  While still reeling and fussing about the first disappointment, the second Sunday of Advent comes.  Expecting Jesus to show up, we are surprised again as John the Baptist strides on center stage.  Finally, we thought baby Jesus would start stealing the show and we get that wild looking man from the wilderness.    

The truth is the church is never really ready for John the Baptist.  The lectionary gospel lesson and tradition bring him forth every year about this time, and as always, he is both an unexpected and unwanted presence in  the church.  We simply do not want him or his message.  Physically, he is a mess dressed in homemade camel hair clothing, unkempt with honey matted beard and locust breath, and breathing a message that there is something wrong with all who hear his message.  His message is not about love and peace, but sin and repentance.  There is something we must do to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ and it is not decorating a tree or running a string of gaily colored lights across the front of the house.  We err in thinking that Advent is about celebration when it is really about a spirit of preparation that allows itself to be taken over by a waiting, expectant, and repentant heart.  

The message of repentance which John the Baptist preached is a word which called the people of his day and our day to turn away from those things which hinder us on our journey toward oneness with God.  There were things in the lives of those first century listeners and there are things in our lives even today.  John the Baptist says we need to look at ourselves, see what it is that hinders us in our walk with God, and turn away from it.  Only then will we be ready to come to the manger to see the Christ child.