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Second Sunday of Advent
December 7, 2008 Year: B
Is 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Pet 3:8-15; Mk. 1:1-8
Prepare the way
First Reading...
"Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has
served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has
received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of
the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain
and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become
level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of
the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it
together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good
tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem,
herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to
the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules
for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense
before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd: he
will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his
bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep." [Is. 40:1-5,
9-11]
Second Reading...
"Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the
Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand
years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his
promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with
you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to
repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then
the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the
elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and
everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way,
what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of
holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the
coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens
will be set ablaze and dissolved and the elements will
melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we
wait for new heavens and a new earth, where
righteousness is at home.
Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these
things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot
or blemish and regard the patience of our Lord as
salvation." [2 Pet. 3:8-15]
Gospel Reading...
"As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, 'See, I am
sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your
way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight','
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming
a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And
people from the whole Judean countryside and all the
people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were
baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their
sins.
Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather
belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild
honey. He proclaimed, 'The one who is more powerful than
I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and
untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with
water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.'"
[Mk. 1:1-8]
When given a chance to celebrate mass to
children I usually tell them about the way they need to
prepare for exams. At times I try to dramatize saying
that they need to learn lessons, take a pen or pencil
and try to write the answer. This would certainly help
them remember the matter well. If not, only learning the
lessons, and going to write exams will have two fold
weaknesses; one, that they would not remember everything
that they studied because of heavy dependence on the
mind; second, they would lack speed to write. Hence,
learning through writing is a better way to prepare for
exams. That would ensure that they see with their eyes
what they take to their mind and then they would again
recall, and try to write with their hands, and what they
have written with their hands they would see it again,
and that would make them cocksure of the answer on the
exam day.
Well, preparation is a must for any
performance. Without preparation one would find oneself
embarrassed and weak.
WHO IS JOHN? MAYBE A CRAZY GUY?
If John lived today, the rulers would
probably not cut his head off as Herod did. They would
have had him diagnosed with some horrible sounding
mental illness, taken to a mental hospital and put on
drugs. Not that he was necessarily full blown crazy; he
simply danced to a different beat than his society at
large. "It is nice to have a well adjusted life," said
Martin Luther King Jr., "but there are some things to
which men and women of good will should be maladjusted."
John had a solid grasp of God and the traditional myth
of the Israelite people. God had a solid grasp on him.
There is an important principal that we
can learn from the story of John the Baptist. Even
though our Bible seems to have little to say about John,
he conveys to us a simple but important message that
still applies today about the repentance of sins.
How
did John ‘prepare the way’?
We are
clearly told that John was sent to ‘prepare
the way’ for the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ (Mark 1:2-3), but what exactly did he do in
preparing the way? In Luke 3:3-4, we are told, “And he
came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it
is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the
prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight.” Also in Matthew 3:1-3, “In those days
came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of
Judaea, And saying, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.”
So how
did the people cooperate with John in preparing the way
for Jesus? They confessed their sins and were baptized
as a sign that they have turned from their sins, as
Matthew 3:6 tells us, “And were baptized of him in
Jordan, confessing their sins.”
What
does it mean to ‘prepare the way’?
It
means to create a favorable environment or to make it
easy for one to come to you and operate in your life.
Let’s take a look at Luke 3:4-5, “As it is written in
the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way
of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall
be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought
low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough ways shall be made smooth.” Apparently, John the
Baptist was creating a favorable environment and making
it easy for Jesus to enter into and operate in the lives
of the people.
The
same is true on the other side of the coin. Notice how
John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ through preaching repentance and
baptism for the remission of sins. He created a
favorable environment for Jesus to enter and operate in.
The same principal is true on the other side of the
coin, where people get involved in deep sins in order to
gain spirit guides, etc. When people get involved in
heavy Satanism, they can commit gross sins such as
bestiality (sex with children, animals, and sex with the
same sex) in order to gain devils kingdom or making way
for other demonic powers. Such sins defile a person and
create a ‘favorable environment’ for the spirits to
dwell and operate. Sin ‘prepares the way’ for the devil
and his demons, while repentance and remission of sins
prepares the way for the Lord!
How
does this apply to us today?
I
believe the Lord gave me a beautiful revelation about
how we can ‘prepare the way’ for the Lord in our own
lives. John the Baptist was said to be sent fourth to
prepare the way for Jesus, but what exactly did he do?
He preached the repentance of sins and baptized people
for the remissions of their sins. He was getting people
ready for Jesus’ arrival by getting them to turn from
their sins and repent! For as Hebrews 12:14 tells us,
“...holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
I
believe a valuable principal we can to learn from this
story is that if there are un-confessed sins in our
lives, they can hinder us from ‘seeing the Lord’. We
need to repent of our sins and turn from them and
receive forgiveness (1 John 1:9). By repentance of our
sins, we ‘prepare the way’ for Jesus to operate in our
lives!
John
tells us that if we confess our sins, we not only
receive forgiveness for them (1 John 1:9), but they are
washed and cleansed from us by the blood of the Lamb (1
John 1:7). They are removed as far from the east to the
west (Psalms 103:12)! If we fail to acknowledge our
sins, however, Proverbs 28:13 tells us that we will not
prosper, “He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but
whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”
Simply
acknowledging our sins is not enough, as John clearly
rebuked the Pharisees for not living up to their
confessions in Matthew 3:7-8, “But when he saw many
Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he
denounced them. ‘You brood of snakes!’ he exclaimed.
‘Who warned you to flee God’s coming judgment? Prove by
the way you live that you have really turned from your
sins and turned to God.”. Proverbs 28:13 also makes it
clear that we are to turn from our sins, “He that covers
his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and
forsakes them shall have mercy.”
The
teaching and practicing of water baptism and repentance
never seized when Jesus was glorified. After Jesus rose
again, He appeared to His disciples and gave them the
great commission to go fourth and preach the gospel to
every creature (race, nation, etc.) and baptize them
(Matthew 28:19). Water baptism and repentance was also
preached and practiced in the early church as well, as
we can see in Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Conclusion
The
Bible doesn’t necessarily have a lot to say about John,
but we do know this, he was sent fourth
to prepare the way,
and he did that by preaching the repentance and
remission of the people’s sins. I believe that by
confessing and turning from our sins, we can prepare the
way for the Lord to move and operate in our lives as
well.
“The
wolf will lie down with the lamb, the leopard will lie
down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the
yearling together; and a little child will lead them.”
USE THIS STORY IF YOU WANT:
There was once an old artist who had two
equally diligent and gifted students. He taught them
everything he knew and, eventually, they became quite
famous. They were Master Zhang and Master Ding.
After their teacher passed away, Master
Zhang and Master Ding both wanted to explore their
artistic futures. Before they parted, Master Zhang said,
"Our teacher used to say that you and I are equal in our
abilities. Why don't we each bring our best piece back
here after five years? Then can we take a look and
decide who is better."
Master Ding said smilingly, "Of course,
that sounds fine."
After they said good-bye, Master Zhang
traveled all over the world, saw the best scenery, and
learned from various cultures. His paintings were
created one after the other. His popularity was rising
and so was the price of his paintings. Master Zhang was
really enjoying his accomplishments. He thought, "It is
not quite five years, but I have advanced so quickly. In
fact I think that my improvements are nothing short of
miraculous. On the contrary, no one has yet to mention
Master Ding. I am sure that I can easily win this
contest."
When the five year mark arrived, Master
Zhang was quite confident and brought his best painting
to where they were supposed to meet. He saw Master Ding
welcoming him with a big smile and empty hands.
He was not too happy, "We agreed to bring
our best paintings and you come empty-handed. How are we
going to make a comparison?"
Master Ding looked at his gray-haired
classmate and said, "Dear friend, it is not that I
wanted to come empty-handed, but because I simply didn't
have a picture to bring with me."
Master Zhang thought, "I bet this is an
excuse and that he is just afraid of losing the
competition." Master Zhang then asked, "Why?"
To which Master Ding replied, "Even
though I cannot bring my paintings, I can show them to
you."
After Master Ding said that, they walked
all over town. Master Zhang was very surprised to find
all of Master Ding's pictures hanging throughout the
various buildings in the town. Every picture was better
than the previous one. The little town was cozy and
quaint and filled with an artistic atmosphere.
Originally, everyone in town was not well-educated, but
now they were more refined in manners and temperament.
The way they carried themselves was just like they were
depicted in the paintings.
Every local resident respectfully talked
to Master Ding. Master Zhang was a little jealous and
asked, "They hired you to do all those paintings? You
must have a fortune by now!"
Master Ding smiled and said, "When I was
about to leave, I thought about how much hard work it
was for our teacher to teach us. I decided to give
something back to the people in this town. After I
finished my first picture, they were very courteous
towards my paintings and were moved by the beauty of my
work. So they invited me to continue to paint.
First they were afraid that I would
charge them a lot of money, but I told them that I would
do it for free except they had to provide me with my
daily meals.
Master Zhang was astonished that Master
Ding painted for free, "How come you are so foolish? You
could earn a lot of money!"
Master Ding had tears in his eyes and
said, "Actually, they were helping me. My skill was not
that good. After they saw my work, they did not know how
to pay me complements but they became more sincere and
kind. With such encouragement, my paintings have become
better and better. How can I charge any more for my
work?"
Master Zhang felt ashamed after hearing
that. In his mind, the value of a piece of art was
determined by its price. The higher the price the more
valuable the artwork.
Master Zhang said, "You have won the
five-year contest. Your paintings are invaluable and
cannot be bought with money, whereas my paintings can.
Your paintings can bring changes to countless people but
my paintings are nothing but a part of rich people's
decorations. I think that I deserve to lose and you have
allowed me understand the true value of art. Let me
learn from you! Let's work together and create more
beauty for the world!"
They then hugged each other and wept. In
the creative path, Master Ding was no longer lonely with
Master Zhang by his side. From that time on, one famous
artist disappeared in the world, but two happy artists
with their hearts well-connected were working to bring
beauty to another corner of the world
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