Is 40:1-5, 9-11; 2Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120714.cfm
I was feeling guilty one day because I was late in picking up my eighty-five year old father and I hadn’t wanted him to wait. My sister said, “What are talking about? He waits all day; it is his occupation. He waits for someone to bring him pills, or take him to lunch, or call him on the phone. Most of the time he forgets what he is waiting for, he just knows he’s waiting.”
Barclay writes, “(John the Baptist’s) message was effective because he told people what in their heart of hearts they knew and brought them what in the depths of their souls they were waiting for.” In the context of our daily lives, we too forget what we are waiting for, namely Christ.
In this passage, Isaiah is telling the people to prepare for a return from exile. The Oxford Bible Commentary characterizes John’s message as an exhortation to prepare for a new Exodus and a renewed covenant between the people and their Lord. John’s clothes and behavior reminds us of Elijah, who spoke of new beginnings.
Because the Israelites crossed the Jordan to inherit Promised Land and John is baptizing in the same river, a rebirth is suggested yet again. In other words, these Old Testament passages, both in the first reading and those referred to in the gospel, point to a new fulfillment of an old notion or promise. So, I wait during Advent for a new beginning to fulfill an old promise from or dream of the Lord.
I am a different person than I was even last year with new experiences, thoughts and perceptions. My understanding of “I know not what I wait for,” is different than last year, or ever before. But waiting is not a stagnant whittling away of time, the growth and activities of preparation foreshadow what is to come. I just read an article on ‘Third World” Theology, and the author used three key words together; basileia, the new order; metanoia, interior conversion to it, and martyrion, overt commitment to it.
John calls people to a metanoia; however, he expects them to convert to the new order and make an overt commitment to it (baptism), before that new order has been established. They understand a change of heart is required for this “know not what,” and are open about committing to it, despite the unknowns.
I too, make a commitment through presence at mass to be more loving, forgiving, understanding, i.e. I experience both metanoia and martyion to the order of Christ, without fully grasping the extent of the Lord’s unconditional love or hope for me. My experience of this order on Earth is a foreshadowing of this new order to be fulfilled in Heaven and/or at the Second Coming.
Reflection Questions: In what ways are you different than you were last year at this time? What has happened in the past year to change your attitudes, motivations or understandings about the Lord, yourself or the world?
Writing Exercise: Retell and explore an experience or situation in which you completed the full cycle of basileia, metanoia, and martyrion.
Art Exercise: Playing with the colors or textures within your preferred medium, represent waiting, and/or the fulfillment of waiting.
© 2014 Marilyn MacArthur, all rights reserved
Writing to Pray 