2nd Sunday in Advent (C)

Sunday 8 December 2024
Lk 3,1-6

“In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene… the Word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins… ‘Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth. And all humankind shall see the salvation of God’”
(Lk 3,1.3.5-6)

This is a very particular event at the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry, an event that takes place in a very precise historical, political, religious and geographical context, narrated in great detail by Luke the Evangelist. Whilst in the desert, in a desolate place, the Word of God “came to John”. The proposition translated as ‘came to’ more literally means ‘confronts. In a metaphorical sense, it indicates something that touches and penetrates his person: in this case, that something is the Word. John is taken or possessed by the Word of the Lord, just as had happened to the ancient prophets. For example, think of Jeremiah, to whom the Lord had said: “Behold, I place my words in your mouth” (Jer 1:9). This is why John is described as the VOICE: because the Word is Someone else! The encounter or clash with the Word of God doesn’t leave us indifferent. Each time we listen to it, we enter a new event of revelation and communion with the Word, which is none other than Christ Himself. After this event, John the Baptist “went through the whole Jordan region preaching a baptism of conversion”. He puts his voice at the Word’s disposal. That which was the prophets’ prerogative, with the birth of the Church, becomes the privilege of every baptised believer. We are a prophetic people and the Word of God dwells in us. Without our voice, the word of salvation cannot be communicated. How urgent and so necessary it is for each of us to be a John the Baptist!

p. Giuseppe