John the Baptist – A Beacon of Hope
As I began this reflection, I smiled at the thought of John the Baptist. Just getting a picture of this wild man from the desert proclaiming the need to repent and turn away from sin. He must have been a sight.
John the Baptist plays an essential role in our faith history. He is the precursor to Jesus. John claims no glory for himself but spends his life calling others to look at their lives and change their hearts. He calls them to prepare for the coming Messiah.
The Israelites had been waiting for a long time for the Messiah. They wanted to be set free from Roman rule and have self-authority. So while John the Baptist looked unusual, he promised them that the waiting time was ending. Beneath his demand for a change of heart, he actually promised hope.
For the Israelites, John promised hope that they would be freed from the bonds of slavery and once again know themselves as God’s chosen ones. It was a hope that God would be theirs, and they would be God’s.
For us, the hope John promised is not a superficial hope for good weather tomorrow or our favorite team winning some big game. Instead, it is “gut hope.” Gut hope for us is hope that lives deep inside us and promises us that we are not alone. It is a hope that assures us that God knows our name and our heart is carved from His heart. It is a hope that God loves us so much that He wants to be absolutely and completely one with us. Gut hope is so deep within us that we find it hard to find words adequate to describe it. Gut hope is an overpowering gasp that we know at the birth of a child. It is the brightness of the light at the promise of love when an engagement ring is shared. Gut hope is the abandon we feel when we are privileged to share the moment when one we love is embraced by God in death.
Gut hope is what John was promising the Israelites and us. But gut hope does not come cheap. Gut hope comes when we let go of all that holds us bound. It comes when we abandon our egos, grudges, prideful judgments, wants, and needs. Gut hope comes when we allow God to fill us as God chooses, not as we desire.
John was preparing the way for the one who would fulfill every promise God has made to His people Israel and, in turn to us.
Advent is about far more than a memorial or an act of remembering. Advent is about today. It is about changing, recommitting, and living as beacons proclaiming the love of God to our world that suffers.
We must be far more than observers of Advent. God calls us to be John the Baptist in our world. He wants us to proclaim His kingdom with reckless abandon and call all people to be new. We are to be living signposts that show others the way home to Love. We must be the living personification of gut hope in our daily actions so that others trust our faith and our love.
God wants us to plant hope in our world’s heart—to welcome Jesus as we did the first time. If we can do that, we, as a world community, will turn away from greed, selfishness, and despair and embrace the hope and love God promised.
It seems like an impossible task, doesn’t it? Probably it felt that way to John the Baptist and Jesus too. They did it anyway, and so must we.
In God’s Unending Love,
Gwen
