Advent XIII (The Hard Choice)

After the First Sunday in Advent with its emphasis on Jesus coming again, we go to church looking for someone less threatening to us and we get John the Baptist.  The Second Coming of Jesus may speak of a judgement to come, but with John the Baptist we get judgement in the now.  John's message is one that does not beat around the bush.  "Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near."  (Matthew 3:2).   Some translations translate "has come near" to say "is at hand."  The point is the Kingdom is nearer than we figured when we got up this morning.  It is inching closer.  It is nearer.  It is at hand.   

What John tells us to do in light of this reality is to repent.  Repentance is a tough word for our culture.  It is a tough word for us.  It means that we acknowledge that there is something wrong.  It means taking responsibility for the sense of wrong in us that causes us to feel somehow separated from who we were created to be.  It means there is a brokenness in our life.  Perhaps, harder than taking responsibility for those attitudes and deeds which we allow to exist in us that separate us from our Creator and His intentions for us is accepting the fact that there is nothing we can do to make what is wrong right.  We can therapy ourselves to death, but at some point we have to come to the hard moment of repentance.    

To repent not only means we have chosen the wrong path, it is not only about acknowledging our sin against God, but it means turning away from the wrong choices to ones that affirm life and declares that we belong to God.  To repent literally means turning around so that our life is directed toward a different goal.  It means depending on what Christ has done for us on the cross instead of what we are trying to do for ourselves. When we hear John's call to repent, we hear a word which calls us to turn away from anything which separates us from God.  We look that way no more.  Our eyes are focused not on accomplishing our will, but upon His.