by Rev Fr Andrew Smith
The spiritual joy that marks the Christian faith is that we are waiting for the coming of the Lord, and our entry into a life of eternal communion with God as well as our willingness to bear our share of the Christian workload, to do our bit, in our time, to realize the goals of Jesus in our world. In these times of economic austerity and budget cuts that are endlessly debated, we often need to be reminded of the blessings in our lives, our reasons to be joyful. For example, the love we enjoy with our family and friends, the pleasure of meeting new people, of awakening some dormant talent, by taking a course of adult education; the solidarity we feel in our local community when people willingly help their neighbors with their needs; the consolation to be found in prayer. Many examples can be named, to illustrate God’s blessing in our lives: reasons to be joyful. Like the writer C.S. Lewis wrote, we too can be “surprised by joy,” and re-discover gladness and meaning in life.
Isaiah 61:10 is brimful of joy and hope. Israel radiates as a joyful bride coming to her bridegroom adorned for a lavish wedding. Paul’s words in 1Thessalonians continue the theme of hope and joy in a community that lives by the life of Christ. (1Thess. 5:16-24) The Gospel of John 1:6-8,19-28, pictures the work of John the Baptist, who came to witness to God’s light upon this earth. This is not joyousness without responsibility, it’s a joy that is found when people find and carry out their true mission in life. Isaiah speaks of one anointed and sent to bring good news to the oppressed – words that were adopted by Jesus to describe his own life’s purpose – just as they should also be made real in the life of every Christian. Those privileged to share in Jesus’ spiritual life must also share in his concerns and desires.
We are called to “advent-mission”; to help the needy, to carry on “the project of Jesus” – the commitment he always showed to people on the margins- His “good news for the poor”. Those whose lives are peaceful and prosperous should not be afraid to let the pain of the needy come through to them and touch them. The sort of carefree joy that lets us shut our eyes to the seamier side of life, and “pass by on the other side,” is not the authentic joy announced in scripture. Care for our neglected neighbors may stand in a certain tension with our personal sense of joy, but the two can and should be blended into the lifestyle of anybody who wants to build their life on Jesus.
We all ask questions because, at heart, we have an instinct for seeking and searching after truth. This is a life-long search. We can never get to the point in this life where we can say, ‘I now have the total truth.’ The gospel declares that God is truth — and God is always beyond us. We can never fully grasp God with our minds or our hearts. Yet we have to be faithful to the search for truth, even if along the way we find ourselves making painful discoveries that involve letting go of long-held and cherished convictions. We keep trying to come closer to the truth, the truth about our world, about each other, about ourselves as individuals, and about God. We keep questioning in the hope that our questioning will bring us closer to the truth.
In our search for our own personal truth, two of the big questions that drives us are, ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Why am I doing what I am doing?’ We seek after our identity, in the broadest sense of that term, and we try to clarify for ourselves the ultimate purpose that drives all we do and say. How many of you, when you go out to a restaurant, cross yourselves and say grace. Why not? Are you not as grateful for that meal as you are when you dine at home? Are you afraid to identify part of yourself? In John’s gospel, two big questions are put to John the Baptist by the religious authorities, ‘Who are you?’ and ‘Why are you baptizing?’ In answer to the first question, John began by declaring who he was not. He was clear that he was not the Christ, the Messiah. John did not try to be more than he was. Later on in the gospel of John, using an image drawn from a wedding celebration, he would say of himself that he was not the bridegroom, only the friend of the bridegroom who rejoices at the bridegroom’s voice. John declares himself to be the voice crying in the wilderness; he is not the Word, only the voice; he is not the light, only the witness to the light. When John was asked why he was doing what he was doing, why he was baptizing, he declared that he baptized to make known the ‘one who stands among you, unknown to you.’ He did what he was doing to open people’s eyes to the person standing among them, to the Messiah who was in their midst without their realizing it. There was a great light shining among them that many were unaware of, and John had come to bear witness to that light. John did what he did because of who he was. Would it not then make sense to not hide who you are and why you do what you do?
‘Who are you?’ is a question we can answer at many different levels. We can simply give our name or give or parents’ names; we can answer it by giving our professional qualifications, or by naming the role or the position we have in life. Yet, the deepest level, the most fundamental level, at which we can answer that question, is the spiritual level. Who am I at that deepest, most spiritual, level of my being? Who am I before God? Who is God calling me to be? Here, John the Baptist, the great Advent saint, can be of help to us. He articulates for us who each one of us is in virtue of our baptism, who God is calling us to be. No more than John the Baptist, we are certainly not the Messiah. We are not the light. We know only too well the areas of darkness in our lives and in our hearts. However, like John the Baptist, we are a witness to the Light. Even though we are all far from perfect, we are, nonetheless, called to be a witness to Christ.
John the Baptist said, ‘there stands among you, unknown to you, the one who is coming after me.’ The Lord stands among all of us, but he remains unknown to many. Our calling is to make him known, to allow him to shine forth in our world through our lives. John spoke of himself as a voice crying in the wilderness. John used his voice to make known the light. We too are asked to use our voice to make Christ known. It does not mean that we stand in the main street and preach. Rather we use the gift of communication that we have; the gifts of speech and writing, to proclaim the person of Christ, his world view, his values and his attitudes. In what we communicate and how we communicate it, we allow the Lord to communicate through us. Who we are as witnesses to the light, as the voice for the Word, shapes how we live and explains why we live the way we do. The answer to the question, ‘Who are you?’ grounds the answer to the question, ‘Why are you doing what you are doing?’ Advent is a good time to reclaim our fundamental identity, our Christ identity. If Jesus is to be born anywhere today, it will be in each one of us. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work within us and guide us as we follow the calling to live a Christ-like life. Be who you are meant to be, what God wants you to be. Do not think about what others may think. Live your convictions. Do not be afraid to demonstrate your faith publicly. You might just change a stranger’s life. What a gift that would be at this time of year; the gift of light, love, and compassion.
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