Isaiah 11:1-10 Romans 15:4-13 Matthew 3:1-12 Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Every year on the second and third Sundays of Advent, our focus is John the Baptist.  Why is that?  Why is it necessary every year that this humanly frightening wilderness man, speaking harsh words, interrupts our merry thoughts of the coming joys of Christmas.  How do we make a place for this creature whom we picture as more beast than man, horrendously groomed and unkept, dressed in camel’s hair and eating bugs, spewing fanatical language?  Ugh, “Alexa, let’s have another round of quiet Christmas piano music.”

John the Baptist, so we learn from scripture, was a cousin of Jesus of Nazareth, John being the elder cousin by six months.  From his mother’s womb, Cousin John was the first of any earthly creature to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, leaping in his mother’s womb as the expectant Mary, the mother of our Lord, entered the presence of her cousin Elizabeth, mother of John.  As we prepare to celebrate the first Advent – the coming of God to earth in the human person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnation, the Word made flesh – we focus with renewed attentiveness, preparing ourselves to recognize and respond to the presence among us of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.  The unborn John leapt with exhilaration in his mother’s womb at this expectation.  Oh, that we, too, might leap with the same awareness and exhilaration in response to God’s presence here and now.

We know little to nothing of the intervening years between the births of John and Jesus and the adult years of their ministries.  John remained in the distance, appearing only infrequently in our scripture references – infrequently, yet with quite significant impact that sparked bitter controversy with political and religious leaders.

As our Gospel lesson emphasizes, John’s preaching and baptizing brought skepticism and consternation rather than awareness and exhilaration to the Pharisees and Sadducees (the recognized religious leaders) of his day.  Who was this deranged man from the fringes of society acting so boldly as to demand repentance and baptize those who confessed their sins?  In religious tradition, matters of redemption of the people and the act of baptism were reserved for and controlled by the high priests, specifically the high priests in the temple in Jerusalem.  This marginalized preacher/prophet, unconnected to the inner core of the priestly caste system, represented a menace to their authority – a threat that required immediate inspection and elimination.

And so, with furled brows and dubious intent, the Pharisees and Sadducees journeyed to the wilderness feigning a desire to be baptized along with those who had gathered around John.  John, like his cousin Jesus, recognizing their disingenuous mission, had his strongest words of condemnation for these religious leaders, publicly condemning them for exploiting their positions of religious power for their own self-serving desires, forsaking their sacred positions as representatives of God, maliciously strong-arming the very children of God whose spiritual lives had been entrusted to them.  What could be a more condemning description than “Brood of vipers?”  Sit with that for a moment.

Perhaps in our journey through the season of Advent, we too, need this time in the wilderness.  We, too, need to hear and heed John’s harsh words of condemnation of our wicked ways.  We, the Church, need to reflect more seriously on the sincerity of our mission.  Yes, at this particular time of expectation and preparation, it is essential that we go to the wilderness of Judea to hear the exhortations to repentance spoken by John the Baptist and to be cleansed by a renewed sense of our baptism by water and the Holy Spirit.

From early history, wilderness for the people of God has represented revelation.  God revealed himself and his holy law to the people of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness of Sinai.  Those lacking in faith who hardened their hearts to God’s grace and mercy perished there.  But, those remaining faithful throughout their long brutal captivity in Egypt, their bold Exodus through the Red Sea, and their grueling 40-year sojourn in the desert, were renewed as the result of this extended wilderness journey, under God’s guidance, into the Promised Land.

And so, we see that this wilderness brute John the Baptist is an essential character of our Advent preparation for the coming of our Lord – our Lord who came first in a feeding trough of a cattle stall in Bethlehem where no one was willing to give up lodging for his expectant mother.  And, our preparation for the second Advent when our Lord returns at a time ordained by our creator God.  We spend time in the wilderness with John; we find there, redemption and renewal, essential preparation for the way of the Lord, making paths straight for our awareness and exhilaration.  Hold on to that deep sense of awareness and exhilaration in the presence of the Messiah, that awareness and exhilaration first experienced and expressed by John the Baptist as he leapt in his mother’s womb.

Moving into this state of awareness and exhilaration in the ever-presence of God; awareness and exhilaration in the affirmation of the Incarnation, which we will celebrate in just 16 days; awareness and exhilaration in our preparation for the second Advent promised by our Lord; moving toward this state of awareness and exhilaration requires that we, too, spend time in the wilderness hearing John’s words of exhortation.

So, as you complete your seasonal decorations, amongst the images of cheerful carolers, and chubby cherubs, and sweet-faced shepherds, add the figure of the beastly-bearded, fiery-speaking John the Baptist and hold his words fresh in your memory.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near… Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”  And, leap with exhilaration.