CONSOLE MY PEOPLE, CONSOLE THEM!

II SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Mark 1:1-8

We cannot go through the Advent season without hearing the voices of Isaiah and John the Baptist. Isaiah comes with a message of hope based on God’s promise, reassuring us that God is faithful to his word and he will never break his promise.

This Sunday’s first reading starts with the words: “Console my people, console them”. God intends to console us from all our troubles and sufferings, and he will bring to an end our servitude, setting us free and leading us to have a share in his rest.

The Lord is coming and himself is going to take care of his people.

“Here is the Lord coming with power,

his arm subduing all things to him.

The prize of his victory is with him,

his trophies all go before him.

He is like a shepherd feeding his flock,

gathering lambs in his arms,

holding them against his breast

and leading to their rest the mother ewes.” (Is 40:10-11).

In the Gospel, John appears on the scene. Referring to him, Jesus said that he is more than a prophet (Mt 11:9); indeed, “among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist” (Mt 11:11). However, his greatness does not come from his teaching, since he taught so little. He is great because he prepared the way for the Messiah and introduced people to his coming. His message is twofold: a call to repentance and conversion, as a way for people to prepare themselves for the impending coming of Christ; and an affirmation of Christ’s greatness, since he is going to baptize in the Spirit, while his own (John’s) baptism is simply a baptism in later. John was a righteous and outspoken man who stood for truth and justice. He paid with his life the price of his courage and his truthfulness.

John is the voice of truth that cannot be silenced; in death, his voice cries out the loudest. He speaks for the voiceless and for all those who are trampled upon, challenging and denouncing the oppressors that lead people astray. John’s appearance and preaching are reassuring: God comes to bring consolation to his people.