Third Sunday in Advent, Cycle B
Is 61: 1-11; 1 Thess 5:16-24; Jn 1:6-28
Unlikely prophet; imperfect genius
Recently I happened to watch the film,
Steve Jobs, which was released in 2015. I was struck by the fine rendition of this genius, co-founder of Apple computers: his inimitable creativity, his inextinguishable energy, and his absolute bluntness sometimes - or perhaps most of the time - in his dealings with his own team mates. But what I found even more striking was one of the secondary characters, his daughter Lisa. We see her at different moments in the film, first at a five-year old, then as a 9-year old and finally as a 19-year old. Throughout the film, we see her challenging her father Steve to accept the truth - whatever it is in the film - and yet he rejects it till the very end. Steve he is lost in his own projects, his own creations and his own successes. We see Lisa tell her father that all his achievements do not mean anything if he is not ready to accept the truth in his own life. It is only
at the very end of the film that Steve Jobs finally accepts to listen to his daughter, admits the truth and realises that now he can experience a gentle but lasting joy, noting like the temporary and artificial happiness that popularity and power can bring with it.
Like a voice crying in the desert
I like this particular character of Lisa because it reminds me of who we are called to be. We are called to challenge others to others to accept the truth and to do so simply and unflinchingly. Like Lisa, whose words of truth were ignored by her father for nineteen years, we too can often feel as though we are just like a voice of one crying in the desert. (Jn 1:23). Nevertheless, in a society where trends, style, image, number of followers and of likes seem to be what matters most, we must never cease remind ourselves and others that there is a difference between popularity and truth, between success and happiness.
Called to be John-the-Baptists
At our baptism, we have been given the vocation to be John-the-Baptists. As we have heard in today's Gospel, John the Baptist testifies - gives witness - to the light (Jn 1:7) and urges his listeners to accept Christ in their life by making straight the way of the Lord (Jn 1:23), in other words, to remove all obstacles that can hinder us from really embracing Jesus in our life. At our baptism our parents or godparents have been given a candle to symbolise the light of Christ we are called to bear witness to in our life and the priest or deacon makes the sign of the cross on our ears and lips that we may receive the truth of God's word and announce it to others.
Challenged and changed
I cannot do this however, if before I have not first accepted the truth in my life, perhaps a truth that I have always resisted, that I have always turned away from. In order to bear witness to the light, and to testify to the truth, I must first have accepted the light and the truth in my life. The symbols of the candle and the sign of the cross mean little if I have not really internalised them and made them my life project. They make perfect "
instragrammable moments" but have no significance. In other words, today's readings challenge us with the question, "Who is John the Baptist in your life today?" "What is the truth that you have always resisted?" John the Baptist will cross our paths today not in a man wearing camel skin and eating locusts but perhaps in a timid voice of a co-worker that I have chosen to ignore because it is an uncomfortable voice.
Counter-cultural prophets around us
Prophets are uncomfortable voices because they are not happy with the way things us and urge us to change our life. In a society as diverse as ours where everybody seems to be living an
alternative lifestyle, it is hard to speak of being counter-cultural. We can almost say that nowadays, to be mainstream is to be counter-cultural! However the counter-cultural prophet, the John the Baptist of our time is he or she who embodies within them the Gospel values of understanding, mercy, forgiveness, generosity and selflessness. These are the sort of counter-cultural prophets that the world desperately needs.
Christ: the Light and the Truth
Finally, there is the Light, the Truth, which Christmas is all about: Jesus himself. Jesus, who is the light of the world. The power of the truth that Jesus is the Light has, I believe - since the harnessing of electrical energy and the generation of artificial light - been somehow lost because we have taken light as a commodity for granted. Darkness is no longer a problem for us because we have it at our fingertips. John the Baptist says, "There is one among you whom you do not recognise" (Jn 1:26). In the first reading we have the Prophecy of Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me..." (Is 61: 1). You would recall that these are the same words that Jesus uses to describe himself and his mission at the very beginning of his ministry in the Synagogue in Luke's Gospel (Lk 3:18-19). Jesus was indeed among his people and they did not recognise him!
Conclusion: Joy and the Third Sunday of Advent
Let us make sure that this does not happen to us! Today we are celebrating the Third Sunday of Advent, and the liturgical colour used is pink because it reminds us of the joy Jesus brings. Not simply the joy that Christmas is now approaching fast. Even more than that: Christ is already here among us and we are given the opportunity once again to recognise him again. We are invited to stop hiding from Jesus behind the clutter of our life or procrastinating till tomorrow, but instead start experiencing the joy that comes from accepting and embracing Jesus from this very moment here and now.
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