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2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle B
December 10, 2017
Mepkin Abbey
Choose Your
Savior: John or Jesus?
By (Rev.
Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
John: Not a Disciple
Have you ever wondered why John the Baptist never became a
disciple of Jesus?
No question, John respected Jesus. In today’s Gospel he
humbly states that he sees him as one mightier than he and isn’t even worthy to
stoop down and untie Jesus’ sandal straps.
Even with this perception and esteem for Jesus, there is
no evidence that John ever becomes a disciple.
So, the question I’d like to raise is; “Why doesn’t John become a follower of
Jesus? What’s the difference between the two of them?”
Why? Kingdom
The answer seems to lie in how John and Jesus each viewed
the Kingdom of God.
In one respect, both of them preached the same message. “The Kingdom of God is here in our
midst.”
However, it was their respective idea of the Kingdom that was
very different. John and Jesus both
agreed that God would make his presence felt in the near future.
The idea of God becoming personally and immediately
involved in the world was a common expectation of the time, but that is where
the agreement between John and Jesus seems to end.
John and Kingdom
John the Baptist held a very
traditional understanding of God’s Kingdom.
He believed that God would come to
his people primarily as a judge, one who would separate the good from the bad –
like the wheat from the chaff.
Furthermore, God would reward
the good and punish the bad. God would
include the good and exclude the bad from his Kingdom.
In the end, God would defeat all
of the enemies of his people on earth and the Kingdom would be triumphal and
mighty.
Jesus and Kingdom
Now Jesus’ understanding of the
Kingdom of God was very different.
In fact, Jesus himself was the Kingdom, so it is in him as a person that we see the
difference.
No question, he would address
evil and darkness. No question there would be an accounting for our personal
behavior.
What’s very different, however,
is Jesus’ way of accomplishing this and the Kingdom is very different from
John’s expectation.
For starters, Jesus comes to
save, not to condemn. He comes to
invite, not to force by fear.
Jesus tends to understand where
others are coming from, and he does not judge.
He relates with others and does not distance them.
In fact, Jesus singles out and even
has meals with those whose behavior or thinking is seen as sinful or wrong. In short, he includes all and excludes no
one. No one!
So Jesus’ approach, his way of
being the Kingdom of God, is very different from John’s expectation. It’s little wonder that John does not become
a disciple!
Whom Do We Choose to Follow?
So, what am I to do with all of
this?
Both John’s and Jesus’ approaches
are present in Christianity today. And this
probably accounts for much of the division and tension both between and within
Christian churches today.
I suggest that whatever our
vocation, job, or life situation is, we are all to embrace the Kingdom in
basically the same way and as it is proclaimed by Jesus and not John.
This would mean, for example,
that we are to draw to the monastery or church adults who are not formally
practicing faith or those whom we see as going in the wrong direction.
We are to engage them in
respectful conversation about life and faith and not by coercing them with
guilt, shame, or diminishing them as persons.
We are to view a life of faith
not just as fulfilling obligations and agreeing to doctrines, but more as a
matter of relationship, community, empathy, charity and social justice.
We are to reach out and not
leave a stone unturned for reconciliation with family, friends, or members of
the community, opportunities to forgive or be forgiven.
We are to avoid getting stuck in
having to be right and making the other person wrong, leaving it for them to
come to us.
We are to include and never stop
including anyone seen as outside family, friendships, and even our Church. We don’t exclude under any circumstances if,
for no other reason than that it does no good for others or for ourselves.
Conclusion
John the Baptist urges
repentance and conversion as a condition for communion with God. Jesus, to the contrary, practices communion as a prelude to a deep
experience of God and God’s love.
All of this is something of the
Kingdom of God as we seen in Jesus.
And before celebrating his
birth, embracing this Kingdom of Jesus and being his follower would sum up our
Advent.
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