The eCrozier

Advent is “John the Baptist time.” John is Ad­vent personified. Like Advent, John’s mission is to prepare the way of the Lord so we’re ready to receive Jesus as he comes into the world. John appears on the biblical stage seeming to come out of nowhere. John, however, was no outsider. He was the son of a temple priest in Jerusalem. But John rejected his temple insider status and left the city for the wilderness. Instead of the prayer shawl of a temple priest, he clothed himself in camel hair and leather. Today that may sound fashionable, but John wasn’t clothed in a camel hair blazer from Brooks Brothers or a Gucci leather belt. In John’s day this was the clothing of the poor.

John is no more welcomed by us today than he was by the Pharisees and Sadducees who first went out to the Jordan River to hear him preach. John’s arrival interrupts our holiday juggernaut when he insists that there’s a direct connection between our own repentance and the forgiveness of our sins. The muzak in the background of our lives at this time of year is playing “jingle bells,” so we aren’t prepared to hear John’s very insistent voice. Consequently, Advent isn’t a good time to invite our secular friends to Church because most are uninitiated in the ways of John the Baptist and Advent. They may come expecting the good cheer of Christmas and be shocked by John the Baptist. Who wants to be called “a brood of vipers” right before Santa comes?

A friend of mine once proposed a way of bringing John the Baptist and the holidays together. He suggested “John the Baptist Christmas Cards.” On the front there’d be a gnarly picture of John with his wild, unkempt hair and beard, clad in camel’s hair and leather. He’d just be staring wildly at you from the card. Inside the card would simply read: “Bear fruit worthy of repentance! Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays from John the Baptist” I think that Christmas card would sell like hotcakes, don’t you?

In all seriousness, it is all about our repentance. At Christmas God drops his own son into our laps and says: “Here’s the undeserved gift of my baby boy. You didn’t ask for him, but he’s all yours. Do what you want with this Christmas gift of my son.” And, of course, years later we took God up on that offer on Calvary, didn’t we? And the Good News (actually the stupendous news) is that God loves us in spite of this by using the sacrifice of his son on the cross to seal that love forever. We call that Grace.

But we can’t fully understand this grace apart from our repentance. People often have the misguided notion that repentance is about being sorry for one’s sins. Repentance isn’t about being sorry. It’s about changing how we understand the world so we begin to live life bearing the fruit of grace. The world can only be truly comprehended through the lens of God’s grace. It’s nonsensical otherwise. That’s why John links repentance with the forgiveness of sins. We can’t understand forgiveness until we change how we understand life. Until then, we may only see forgiveness as something nice people do so they can be nice to others. But forgiveness is a much more powerful spiritual force than that. Forgiveness is the fruit of grace made possible by the cross of Jesus. It’s the way God provides for us so we can learn to practice God’s very nature in our daily lives.

+Scott