THE VOICE OF CONSOLATION

II SUNDAY OF ADVENT: Mark 1:1-8

As we prepare for Christmas, we are confronted with the figure of John the Baptist standing tall before us, challenging with his strange behaviour and calling us with his blunt and straightforward speaking. People of all walks of life felt attracted to him, impressed by his word and recognising in him a sincere and truthful man who touches their profound inner desires for justice, peace and righteousness. He never claimed to be what he was not, and he went always straight to the point, putting his finger on the wounds that needed healing.

His message was a message of repentance and of change to people who were in need of purification and in search of a new way of life. John the Baptist lived as he preached, always faithful to the mission entrusted to him. He was the voice crying in the desert, calling for a change of heart. He came to prepare the coming of the Lord, and his message transmits the urgency of this preparation. We must be ready, because he is coming, and must welcome him with pure hearts, totally turned to God.

John’s call to repentance was accompanied of a baptism of repentance. This bath in water given by John, was much more than the ritual purification ordered in the Law of Moses for situations of impurity. John’s baptism implied a return to God, which demanded the acceptance of sinfulness by the confession of sins and led to new attitudes towards the others and new moral behaviour, concerned with truth and righteousness.

John was well aware that he was preparing the way for someone else, who is much greater than he is. He is baptising in water, but the Messiah who comes after him, will baptise with the Holy Spirit. 

John is the voice, announced by the Prophet Isaiah - a voice to bring consolation, proclaiming that our God is here, with us, and he is ready to redeem us.