Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
John the Baptist
appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he
said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make
straight his paths. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather
belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time
Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to
him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged
their sins.
When he saw many of
the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood
of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as
evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have
Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham
from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the
fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming
after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He
will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the
chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
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Reflection:
A mother who had a wayward son would always plead him to change his
ways and repent from his sinfulness. However, the son would always turn a deaf
ear to her mother’s pleadings. The mother eventually died without seeing her
son’s repentance. After a few years the
son also died brought about by his living a life of sin.
This story is
perhaps the story also of people who lead sinful lives. There would always be
someone who would call their attention to change for the better to move forward
and leave behind their sinfulness. Some would listen and change some would be so stubborn that they would not heed the call. They will instead
continue to live their lives according to how they want it to be: to live it in
sin until the very end.
During the time of
John the Baptist he called also for repentance because the people of Judea were
living in sin. John was a Prophet who lived his life in utter simplicity and
humility. He wore clothing made of camel’s hair his food was locust and wild
honey.
Many listened to his
call because he was worthy of his advocacy, he showed the people of his
time that he was walking his talk; he lived according to what he was preaching.
We can endlessly
preach repentance to our fellowmen but if we do not live what we preach, if we
do not walk what we talk nobody would listen to us. That’s what separate John
the Baptist from us, he was a worthy herald for Jesus simply because he walked
his talk. He supported his call of repentance by living it and by shunning the
trappings and comforts of his world.
This second week of
Advent let us have a reflective self-examination of ourselves: have we called
for repentance to people who are within our circle of influence?
Are we living the
life of John the Baptist: his life of simplicity and his life of humility? –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
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