Gospel: Mark 8:1-8
The
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in
Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will
prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of
the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the
whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to
him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged
their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his
waist.
He fed on
locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is
coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
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Reflection:
What if
John said that he is already the one and no one anymore is coming after him?
John could have fooled a lot of people but John did not take advantage of his
new found celebrity status. He instead fulfilled the prophet Isaiah’s
proclamation that he would prepare the way of the Lord.
How did
John prepared the way for Jesus? He called for renewal and repentance he
coupled this with his humility, simplicity and not with judgment, arrogance and
frivolity. For these reasons, John was
very successful in his mission of leading others to Jesus.
This
gospel invites us also to reflect on how we lead others to Jesus, if at all we
are doing something to lead others to Jesus. This is for the reason that we may
have not done anything yet to lead others to Jesus.
How
should we go about in leading our fellowmen to Jesus? In our own little way we
should become another John in the environment where we are right now. This
means that we must also do something to prepare the way of the Lord. This we
could best do by our humility, simplicity and genuine worship for Jesus.
We can
lead others to know Jesus by how we live. For example, if our friends have a limited
knowledge of Jesus it may be through us that they would know Jesus deeply by how we live our faith. And
it may be through us that they might have a personal encounter with Jesus.
During
this second Sunday of Advent let us ask ourselves these questions: Have I done
something concrete to prepare the way of the Lord? Have I already led other to
Jesus through my words and actions? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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