Third Sunday of Advent

The words from John in our Gospel today are incredibly powerful as both a statement of humility, and as a proclamation of authority as the one chosen by God to be His herald when He came to us as man. The words that he speaks – “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord” are indeed forceful. Yet this bold statement is proclaimed after a full admission that he was not one of the authoritative sources that those questioning him supposed him to be. Moreover, he stated that he was not even worthy to untie the sandals of the one coming after him. In the Jewish culture this is a profoundly humble remark. Yet for all this, there is an undeniable passion in his words that proclaim his mission. Words that we would do well to draw close to ourselves as an example of our own mission as followers of Christ – to evangelize and to proclaim the good news to those who may not be familiar with it, and so prepare them for when He comes again.  

Yet sometimes there is the danger of our efforts becoming sluggish or losing momentum. John was a man on fire, and so we should be as well. Yet in our second reading Saint Paul makes a statement of caution that should continually resonate for us to remind us that we too need to maintain the fire within ourselves. He tells us “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances.” What he is cautioning against is the tendency to let the world distract us so that the flame within us becomes dim, and the very mission we are charged with – to continue to proclaim the words that the prophets passed along to us, becomes inconvenient, even distasteful to us. We can become poisoned by the world so that the very words that have the power to save can become something we despise because we are afraid to proclaim them since they may not be well received initially. We fear rejection and derision from those who have no real power over us, and forget the One who has power over all. We may no longer seek to prepare the way for Him to enter the hearts of others, and so save them. In this season of Advent, as we hopefully spend time in reflection, we need to ask ourselves where we stand. Do we seek to proclaim Gods word and prepare His way first and foremost, or have we let the world convince us that there is actually something in our lives that is more important?