The Parish of Blandford, Nova Scotia

In the book of Luke , we read that John the Baptist “…went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

It is interesting how we hear this reading. I think about the geological violence of the earth being twisted into a flat format. Of course, John is talking about the inversion of power more likely, but even so, we see the kind of violence that accompanies that shift, too. It is hardly surprising that if, the authorities linked John and Jesus, that they would both become men of suspicion to the empire. The Pharisees probably liked John better with his emphasis on a return to the ways of obedience to a rigorous understanding of the law. And they would have likely disapproved of Jesus’ open ways. For John, forgiveness had a price and that price was repentance, a turning to a thoughtful and disciplined response to life in the occupied zone. For Jesus, repentance looks more like a shift to empathy over judgement, of community over personal piety.

The two voices of these men continue to be in dialogue after these millennia. Do we understand repentance as a turn away from blame to understanding? Is there a written code that supersedes compassion? Can one be faithful and also change and learn something new that could not have been imagined in the past? Are spiritual codes guidelines to a healthy community or measuring sticks for judgement? Do we need to hear both in order to help us balance how to live a life of faithfulness, but with a system for self-examination?

Advent is the time to ask ourselves these questions as we prepare to welcome the Beloved into our hearts and minds again, but in ways that will surprise and challenge us. Are we willing to carry the intentions of the Holy One and open ourselves to the possibility of being part of another new heaven and earth?