(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
John the Baptist’s mission, to prepare the way of the Lord, made people uncomfortable. His ascetic life shocked them out of their material comfort. His words to the Pharisees and Sadducees — “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” — severed those men from the comfortable conviction that they were already saved. As John created discomfort then, so also he does now, and with good reason.
Our culture, first of all, is addicted to comfort. We easily forget the spiritual challenge of Christmas, namely, that we become holy, partakers of the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). The gentleness with which God comes to us, as a Child in His mother’s arms, tempts us to treat Him lightly, even carelessly. Thus our culture has reduced Christmas to just an occasion for indulgence and extravagance. Consequently, Advent has become a time for shopping rather than for spiritual preparation.
John the Baptist reminds us of the gravity and the true purpose of Advent. “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” He reminds us that the Child we await is the Lord Himself. “The one who is coming after me is mightier than I.” This Child comes not so much to make us comfortable as to make us holy. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” John the Baptist functions as the necessary corrective to our sometimes frivolous and silly tendencies at this time of year.
Moreover, John the Baptist recognized the danger of comfort in religion. He understood that if we grow too comfortable in our religion, we lose the ability to repent and the desire for holiness. This was precisely the error of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They presumed that because they were sons of Abraham, salvation was automatically theirs. They had grown so comfortable they no longer reformed their lives or sought God. For this reason, John the Baptist warns them, “do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’”
As members of the New Israel, the Church, we face the same danger as the Pharisees and Sadducees. We may grow so comfortable with the Church — Her teachings, Her sacraments, Her devotions and prayers — that we fail to repent and seek holiness. We should not presume to say to ourselves that we have the Church as our Mother. Unless we acknowledge our sins and repent, the Church’s blessings are wasted on us. God certainly desires these gifts to bring us some measure of comfort in this world. Yet He intends them ultimately to help us overcome sin, struggle for holiness and come to the eternal rest of heaven.
John the Baptist resembles the high school commencement speaker who said to her jubilant graduates, “I wish you discontent.” She did not mean that they should be miserable, but that they should never grow so content that they cease striving for greatness. Perhaps this summarizes John’s message as well: we should never allow comfort — in the world and in our faith — to blind us to sin and deter us from holiness.
However out of place John the Baptist may seem in December, he is essential for the season of Advent. He remains the necessary forerunner of Christ. As he announced the coming of Christ 2,000 years ago, so he appears before us now, to prepare us for Christmas.
