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SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT – YEAR A

Fernando Armellini - Sun, Dec 4th 2022

Every year, the liturgy places two characters in charge of preparing us to welcome the  coming Lord. They are Isaiah and the Baptist. Isaiah is the prophet who, in the dark times of  the history of his people, knew how to instill joy and hope; he kept alive the certainty that the  promises made by the Lord would be fulfilled, even in the darkest times of history when the  events seemed to deny them; and one of his most beautiful prophecies we will hear it in the  first reading this Sunday. 

Today we have much need to listen to the words of Isaiah because discouragement and  pessimism are very widespread in our society; it is enough to listen to certain speeches that  we hear, sometimes they sound like a race to denounce more and more evils in our world;  ‘times are bad, everything stinks, the world is getting worse and worse.’ Isaiah wants us to  see our world as God sees it. And so, instead of just stopping in complaining about the pains  of childbirth, we will begin to rejoice thinking about the new creature, the new world that is  being born. The pains are not the pains that preclude the death of the world, but the birth of  a new world. 

The second character is the Baptist. The prophet which the Lord sent to prepare Israel to  receive the Messiah of God; and today, he also prepares us in two ways: with his words and  with his life. Of this personage, we are not only told about the Gospels, but also the historians. 

Josephus Flavius was born ten years after the death of the Baptist, and he testifies to us  how much the memory of this extraordinary man was still alive in his time. In his book The  Jewish Antiquities, the Baptist is described in this way: 'He was a good man; he encouraged  the Jews to lead an upright life, to treat one another with justice, to submit devoutly to God,  and to be baptized.' And then, he specifies very clearly how the Baptist understood his baptism; he says that John believed this washing was not sufficient for the forgiveness of sins;  he was convinced that it was only a purification of the body if the soul had not been previously  purified by righteous conduct. 

Let us now listen to how Matthew presents the Baptist in his Gospel: "In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” 

In Matthew's Gospel, the Baptist appears suddenly; he had not been spoken of before. Matthew does not relate, as Luke does, the birth of the Baptist to two elderly parents by the  barren Elizabeth. He introduces him in the scene as an adult and presents him not as a  preacher who delivers long speeches but as a herald, as a herald of extraordinary news, a  message of few words, as if to say: 'Open your ears, listen well, listen to what I announce: the  kingdom of God has come.'  

To speak about the kingdom of God to the Israelites of Jesus' time meant to awaken  expectations and hopes cultivated for centuries because they all knew the Scriptures, they  knew the oracles of the prophets who had promised that one day the Lord would take over  directly the fate of his people and would finally establish a kingdom of righteousness and  peace in the world. The Baptist says to the people: 'I do not announce, like the prophets  before me, a future event, but a present reality; I tell you that the time of waiting is over, and  it is near you; it is before your eyes and at your fingertips, you can take the kingdom of God  as your own.'  

The Baptist's words could not but arouse the enthusiasm of the people and, as we shall  see, they all flocked to him; many even thought he was the Messiah. What to do if the  kingdom of God is nearby? When an important event is near, we know that everything in life  changes; rhythms, behaviors, and options are different. When an exam is coming up, you  don't go to the disco anymore; you don't waste time with friends or drinking; you concentrate  on your books. Everything changes when the wedding day is approaching; that's all you think  about. The Baptist indicates to the Israelites with urgency, but he also shows today to us what  to do if we realize that the kingdom of God is near us, and we must not miss this opportunity  to make this kingdom ours. The Baptist says: ‘Now that the kingdom is at hand, be converted.’ 

To indicate conversion in the Bible, two verbs are used that must be considered; one  means conversion of the people of Israel in the Old Testament, and it is the verb '?πιστρ?φειν'  -- 'epistrefein' which means to return, to go back. In Hebrew ????' ?shuv,' i.e., the people have  turned away from God, they must return to God. This verb is never used to indicate conversion in the New Testament. The Baptist employs another verb: μετανοε?ν - 'metanoein,' which does not mean to go back, but to change the way of thinking, reasoning,  and evaluating the realities of this world. With this verb, John certainly wanted to insist on  the moral aspect, on the change of life; he was referring to ending adulteries, violence, lies,  rivalries... change your life. This was his 'metanoein.' 

Jesus will take to the letter the words of the Baptist; at the beginning of his preaching, he  will also say, ‘be converted for the time of the kingdom of God has come.’ On his lips is the  invitation to change. And the 'metanoia' will acquire a wider dimension than the Baptist. It  will mean to have a new vision, first of God, then of the world, of man, of history. 

Pay attention, the Baptist tells us, you have before your eyes two kingdoms: the kingdom  of this world, the old one, where the successful person is the one who manages to impose  himself on all, the one who subdues others, the one who makes himself served: Where everybody thinks about himself, about accumulating goods, and disregards others. It is the  kingdom of the evil one; when the evil one appears to Jesus, he says, ' The world is mine; the  kingdom is mine; I give it to whom I will.' And Jesus rejects this kingdom because he, the  Messiah, comes to initiate the kingdom of God, the new world. The kingdom of God is near  and at hand for us today, and it is the opposite of the former. In the kingdom of God is great  the one who serves, not the one who dominates, and great is the one who does not think of  himself but his brothers. 

This is what Bautista tells us today: 'This kingdom is near you, do not miss the opportunity  to welcome it; your life depends on it. The other kingdoms pass away; they do not endure the  wear and tear of time. Enter into this new kingdom accepting the proposal of God's face and  the new man that the Lord Jesus will make.’ Therefore, let us listen to the Baptist's words  addressed to us today. Now the evangelist Matthew links the mission of the Baptist with a  prophecy found in the book of Isaiah, let us listen to it: 

"It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: ‘A voice of one crying  out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” 

The quote we have heard is taken from the second part of the book of Isaiah, where the  words are from an anonymous prophet who lived with those deported to Babylon. They are  the grandsons of the children that Nebuchadnezzar had taken to his land. To these  discouraged people, the prophet presents himself as the herald of great news, joyful news. He says to the people of the exiles: 'The Lord is coming to deliver us. He will bring us back to  the land of our fathers.' The Israelites do not believe in these words; they consider impossible 

that the Lord will continue to have mercy on them. They know that he came to deliver his  people from the bondage of Egypt, but the Israelites were not responsible for the slavery;  instead, those in Babylon know that the cause of the exile was their unfaithfulness. It is not  the Lord that punished them, but the sins they committed enslaved them. 

To these people who believe that deliverance is impossible, the prophet says: 'The Lord  is faithful to the promises he made to Abraham and to his descendants, he is about to take us  to the land of liberty.’ Then he says: 'We shall not return by the way we came, the way that  goes north and then down to Babylon, more than 2000 km, no. Trace out the straight way,  the way through the wilderness, which will be much shorter to arrive quickly to Jerusalem, guided by the Lord.’  

This is the prophecy that we find in the second part of the book of Isaiah; the evangelist  Matthew applies it and sees it fulfilled by the Baptist who lives in the desert and announces a  new exodus. He says that the Lord is about to come to free us from a slavery far worse than  that of Egypt and Babylon, the slavery of our sin, from all that dehumanizes us. He comes to  bring us into his kingdom where we can truly live as human beings, not as wild beasts. 

Let us describe this desert in which the Baptist chose to live. The evangelist insists on this  wilderness because he wants to give us a theological message, and we will try to grasp it. Where did the Baptist live? Israeli scholars are almost sure that he lived at Qumram, in the  monastery where these monks lived and, in all likelihood, the Baptist lived with them for a  few years, and then, at some point, he began his mission and performed it along the banks of the Jordan, where he began to baptize. 

It is important to note the place where he later met Jesus, where Jesus came to be  baptized by the Baptist. Tradition places it Bethabara, which means 'the house of the ford'  because it recalls the place where the Israelites passed through when they left the slavery of Egypt and entered the land of freedom. The Jordan has always marked this boundary line  between the land of paganism and the land of liberty. This geographical location is important  because it has a theological significance that we will see shortly. 

You are now seeing the picture of the desert where the Baptist lived. Notice the  monastery of Qumram, where it was located; and then, in the background, you can also see  Bethabara, about 10 kilometers from the northern part of the Dead Sea. The evangelist insists  on this desert because it is a reference to the changes that we are called to do in ourselves, if  we want to be ready to welcome the Lord who comes to liberate us, to make us go through a  new exodus from the slavery of our sins, which do not allow us to live as persons, towards  freedom. 

What does the desert mean in the Bible? It is the privileged place for the encounter with  the Lord. In the desert, Moses and Elijah met with their God; it is a place of silence and  meditation; where you are not disturbed by noise, where you are not stunned by the chatter  or the nonsense circling in social networks. Only when it's quiet one can return to oneself to  reflect and question the meaning of life and what matters. In the desert, everything that is  ephemeral is relativized. The desert is the place where life is reduced to the essential, where  water is water, not Sprite. Bread is bread, not a biscuit. In the desert, you don't carry the  extra; no one is richer than anyone else; everyone is on the same level. In the desert, one  does not accumulate, and each one owns only the land he steps on at that moment; when he  steps forward, that land is no longer his; it belongs to someone else. 

We are on our way on this earth; this is what the desert reminds us: 'Do not cling to the  realities of this world as if they were absolute, those realities pass away; the important world  is another, the one towards which you are going.' The desert is not a place where you live but  where you walk towards a destination, towards the land of freedom, and you, Christian, you  are one of those who have set out on this earth; you have already left the land of the old  world with baptism. You have embarked on this journey, which is not easy; it is difficult. 

On this journey, you will also have the temptation to return to the sensuality, to the  attachment to possessions, to the craving for having and power, to the current morals  suggested by the influencers on social networks. Be careful; you will be tempted to return  because you felt some satisfaction. No... keep walking because you are going to the true land,  where you are indeed free. 

Also, the desert is the place where you don't walk alone; if you walk alone, you die; you  walk beside others; it is necessary to walk together. We experience it in our lives as Christians;  I believe that the hardest test for the Christian today is the perception of walking alone to get  to this land of freedom. Here is the importance of feeling like a member of a community of  walkers. Now the Baptist tells us how one prepares himself to receive the coming Lord, and  also by how he dresses and the food he eats. 

Let us listen: 

"John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His  food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region  around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River  as they acknowledged their sins.” 

If we read the first chapter of the second book of Kings, where Elijah is spoken of, we find  that this prophet wore like the Baptist. According to popular tradition, everyone expected  that before the coming of the Messiah, Elijah should return. It would be Elijah who would inaugurate the messianic kingdom. Introducing the Baptist dressed as Elijah, the evangelist  Matthew wants to tell us that he is the Elijah that all the people are waiting for, and after  Elijah will come the Messiah of God. This is the first message that is given to us concerning 

the dress of the Baptist, but the evangelist Matthew also tells us something else. The leather belt on the hips serves to hold the garment up to be able to walk at a fast  pace. It is a reference to the exodus, which we, too, are called to make, to leave the land of  the bondage of sin and walk into the kingdom of God. And this garment is of skin, not fine  cloth, and the camel's hair is coarse, not wool. We realize that everything in the Baptist calls  for austerity, for essentials, no interest in appearances, for extra things, the ephemeral. Jesus  will also say: “What did you go out to the desert to see—a reed swayed by the wind? Someone  dressed in fine garments? Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal  palaces.” 

The message for us: if we lose our heads in futility, if we are slaves to fashion, we are not in the best conditions to welcome the kingdom of God, the proposal of the new world that  Jesus wants to make us. 

The clothing theme is not secondary; it often recurs in the Bible. From the beginning,  when people tried to clothe themselves with a fig leaf; but in the New Testament, sobriety  and, above all, the garment that makes us truly beautiful in the eyes of all, pleasing to those  around us, is indicated: clothed with Christ, shining with his light, splendid with the light of  Christ's love. 

What happens now at the Jordan? "The whole region around the Jordan were going out  to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River.” This translation is correct; the  Greek verb is ?ξεπορε?μαι 'exporeumai' means to go out. All Jerusalem, all Judea, all that  region went out to meet the Baptist, standing on the east bank of the Jordan River. A little  context. The church you see is naturally dedicated to the Baptist; it's in the eastern part, in a  pagan land. 

I already mentioned that the Jordan River has a border value between the pagan land  and the land of liberty. This is the place where Joshua brought the people who were leaving  Egypt and, therefore, slavery, and entered the land of freedom, the promised land. What  happens now with the Baptist? All these people go out from the land which they considered  the land of liberty, the land in which they should dwell forever, the holy land, and they leave  to return to the land of slavery. 

It is a counter-exodus because then the Baptist will ask people to cross the Jordan River  again to enter no more into a material holy land but into the true holy land, the kingdom  proposed by Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, "they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River  as they acknowledged their sins.” Let us note that the evangelist Matthew does not say that  the baptism of the Baptist purified or forgave sins, no. It simply served for all to recognize that  they were in the condition of sinners; that is to say, this baptism was intended to make them  aware that they were all in the bondage of sin; to make them aware of the need to be  liberated, to come out of that condition which is not that of true people. It will be the baptism  of Jesus that will forgive sin. The baptism of the Baptist only meant an invitation to conversion  and to recognize the need to be liberated. 

And now, some people come to the Baptist who are willing to be baptized but not to  convert. They accept to perform the rite but not to change their life. Then the Baptist says  tough words, let us listen to them: “When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to  them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good  fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have  Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit  will be cut down and thrown into the fire.’” 

"You brood of vipers!" These are strong words of the Baptist addressed to Pharisees and  Sadducees. We immediately relate the viper with the deadly poison it can inject. Why does  the Baptist use this image? Because the Pharisees and the Sadducees are representatives of  two poisonous theologies about God. The Pharisees preach a just God who gave the law and  takes note of those who observe it and those who transgress it; rewards some and severely  punishes others. 

The Sadducees represent the theology of God who grants his favors, but not to all, only  to those who offer him sacrifices, burnt offerings, incense, prayers, good works, and of course,  these offerings must pass through the hands of the priests of the temple who are they. The  God of Jesus will not be a God who grants his favors only to the good; he grants them to the  bad and to the good without distinction because he is love and can do nothing else but love. 

These vipers are present even today, and we must beware of their venom, the venom of  those who preach this false image of God. They go to the Baptist to be baptized and accept  the rite, but they do not want to convert. For them, baptism is a useless rite, and this is why  the Baptist is so hard on them; they must give up these convictions of theirs. What do they  do? They flee from the fire as vipers do. If a fire is kindled, the vipers begin to scurry for safety. They must know that a fire is coming, and they are afraid, they try to escape from this fire. It  is the fire that Jesus brings into the world, the fire of the love of God; and they look for any  loophole to escape from this novelty that would force them to change their religious and  theological convictions radically, and then change their life. 

What are the escapes of the past, and what are also the ones of today? 'We are faithful  to the traditions,' 'it has always been taught this way; therefore, it is reasonable to think as  we think, and God is as we imagine him to be.' They go on with their convictions; they try to  escape the fire of this word of love that Jesus will introduce into the world and escape the fire  of the wrath of God. 

What is this wrath of God? In the Bible, God's wrath is continually spoken of, and little of  man's wrath. Wrath is a precious impulse that we all feel, and God has put it in the heart. Before a poor person being exploited, one experiences anger, an impulse leads you to  intervene, to do what you can to free the poor from this injustice. If you do not feel this anger,  you are sick. This anthropomorphic image has been applied to God, who intervenes with  furious wrath, but against whom? Not against people, God's wrath is unleashed when he sees  the evil done to his children. 

It is an image that we can take from our world: if a father does not feel this impulse when  he sees evil being done to his child, he is sick; it is a pathology. The prophets speak of this  wrath of God, but it is but an image to describe his visceral love, to say that when he sees the  danger that his children are in because of the poison of the theology of the scribes, Pharisees, 

or Sadducees, he does not remain indifferent; he intervenes to save his sons and daughters. His wrath, therefore, is not the outburst of his rage because he has been offended, no. It is  the image of his passionate love. The indifferent God is that of the philosophers; the God of  the Bible is passionately involved in every person's life. How to escape the wrath of God? Says the Baptist: "Produce good fruit as evidence of  your repentance.” Conversion and change of life are the only ways to escape God's wrath. Doing good works, fruits that are the consequence of conversion; they are what we know, the  fruit of the Spirit, mentioned in Galatians chapter 5. It is the invitation to perform these works  addressed more to the Christians of today than to the Pharisees and Sadducees of the  Baptist's time. 

It is addressed to all who are satisfied and content to be baptized. It may be an illusion,  like that of the Pharisees and Sadducees who felt good because they said, 'We are Abraham's  children, we belong to the chosen people, to whom the blessings of the Lord are destined.’ "And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’" Beware of this  illusion of feeling good because we are baptized because God can raise his children even from  stones. 

And then a threat: "Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees.” We know that in the  Bible, Israel is often compared to a fruit-bearing plant, a vine, or a fig tree. Says the Baptist,  'if it does not bear beautiful fruit' (not 'good fruit,’ as the translation says); every tree that  does not bear beautiful fruits is cut down. This is the beauty on which we insist a little. 

Unfortunately, the translations often, instead of putting 'beautiful,' translate 'good' and  change the meaning. 

What does God expect as fruit? That there be beauty, and the theology of the Pharisees  and Sadducees does not produce beautiful people, produces selfish, choleric people who are  like the God they imagine; a God who is good to those who are good and, on the other hand,  punishes those who are evil. They resemble this very dangerous God; when, on the other  hand, you adhere to the God of Jesus of Nazareth, you become 'beautiful,' you do not become  angry, you are not tense, and you are not full of fear because you fear the punishments of the  Lord. And it leads you to be tender, even with the defects, with your weaknesses, and also  with the weaknesses of others because you know that God loves you and loves everyone with  unconditional love. 

On the lips of the Baptist, these words are threatening. The Baptist intends to say: ‘Behold, the axe is laid at the root of the tree that produces no beauty’; but in the mouth of  Jesus, this axe does not cut down the people; it cuts down those unproductive branches  because, in them, it is not present that sap of the Spirit that produces beauty. The one who  the Spirit animates is a beautiful person because he can love. 

And now, the Baptist's announcement of the one who, with his baptism, initiates the new  world. Let us listen: 

"‘I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is  mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit  and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat  into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’” 

The Baptist invited all to receive his baptism, but he understood it was not immersion in  the waters of the Jordan what would purify from sin; his baptism was only the sign of a  decision of wanting to change a life; it was a preparation to receive another baptism that  purified from sin, a baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. To baptize means to immerse in this  fire of which Jesus spoke when he said: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish  it were already blazing!” What fire is it? It is the fire of his Spirit; the Spirit that is divine life, and when this fire  comes into the world, sin is destroyed. It is the fire of the Spirit that descends at Pentecost. Let us see the difference between the two baptisms in the use that is made of water. Water  may be poured upon the externals of persons or things, and then it washes them, but water  may also enter the interior of persons, of things; when absorbed and assimilated by the plant,  it becomes vital lymph. This is the baptism of Jesus; it is not external like that of the Baptist;  it is the gift of a new water, of a new life, of a new heart. 

When the evil heart that is present in people is given a reasoning heart, it thinks and is  moved like God's; then, a new humanity is born. It is the fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy. God  promises through the mouth of the Prophet: "I will give you a new heart; I will put a new spirit  within you." This fire burns up all evil and creates a new man, the son of God. 'I will put my  Spirit within you; I will make you live according to my precepts; I will make you practice all my  laws.’ That is, they will no longer be external laws that people must observe, even for fear of  being punished, no. They will be new creatures. They will be a new creature who have the  Son of God within them, who will lead them to live according to the life which is the life of the  heavenly Father. 

The Baptist again utters threats: "He who is to come has his winnowing fan in his hand to  cleanse his harvest: He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the  chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” The Baptist certainly intended to use these words  in the threatening sense, i.e., he was announcing that when the Lord would come he would  cut to the quick, would vigorously cleanse the world. When the Baptist realized that Jesus was  very tender and kind to sinners, he was scandalized and sent his disciples to question Jesus, and Jesus said: 'Blessed are you if you are not scandalized of the Messiah of God,’ who will  cleanse, as the Baptist said with his winnowing fan, but not by removing the wicked and  sinners. By changing the heart of every person, the wicked would disappear from the world. 

Behold, then, how the words of the Baptist interpreted in the light of what Jesus  accomplished by his baptism, with the gift of his Spirit, are true. There is cleansing; the sinners  are not swept away, but all evil that is present in the heart of man: selfishness, pride, jealousy,  distrust, violence in aggressive words and then in actions is removed. This chaff burns when  the Spirit brought into the world by Jesus is accepted. 

We are in Advent, and all this passage of the Gospel, on which we have been meditating,  is an invitation to welcome this Spirit with the certainty that it is stronger than all evil. This is  the invitation that is made to us, in this time of Advent, to open our hearts to welcome the  One who comes to give us this new life. 

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.

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