Thursday, December 15, 2011
Luke 7:24-30

So after attending 11:15 Mass today, I remember having some very interesting thoughts about the gospel. I really should have written this post before dental surgery and then accompanying painkillers.

Once John's followers were out of earshot, Jesus confirmed a different identity: John's. To John, Jesus said that he must remember the clarity he felt in the desert even in the prison. To believe the evidence of his eyes if the clarity of spiritual confirmation wasn't coming to him anymore.

Lest there be confusion, I suppose. Or perhaps because Jesus wanted to affirm John but knew that he needed to be reminded that he already knew who he was, Jesus waited until his messengers had gone to explain exactly who John is. And, in the unspoken running theme of this Advent of reminding me of popular movie and TV show tropes, I can't help think of the wise-ish man proclaiming after the Hero has gone, "That's not a priest, that's a prophet" or "That's not a ranger, that's a hero" or something to that effect. Presumably because that kind of information would just go to the hero's head/he already knew that, thank you very much.

Jesus turns back to His followers - what was it that attracted you to John? Because it was nothing of the worldly about him. He lived way out in the desert, so he was hardly on your way to yoga. You didn't go traveling around the world to find yourself by seeing other cultures and awesome architectural sights - or driving semi-aimlessly across the country. You sent to see a prophet, a voice crying out in the wilderness, because you were thirsting for God. You were thirsting for a connection to God.

And John the Baptist paved the way for him. He gave you a new chance and tools to be better - harsh lesson, but not as far reaching as those to come when Jesus hit the scene. You were starving for God's presence in your life - proof that God cares enough to send us someone who can tell us how to know Him better.

But Jesus came among us. Instead of holding court in the desert, He went out among those who couldn't or wouldn't travel to see a holy man. Those who would not make a sacred pilgrimage. His message was for all. And He purified us through His own suffering and death.

The desert is important, as my last few blog entries have been saying, but God reaches out continually even to those who would never wander out into the middle of nowhere to find a wiseman to explain the basicis of God's love to us. Jesus cam down so that we could get that just around the corner at our local church*. Daily if we so choose.

*Seriously, Staunton - is it a city ordinance that there has to be a church on every street corner? How do you fill them all?

All the voices crying out in the wilderness have been replaced by an eternally and sometimes exhaustively everpresent God in our lives - the teachings of Jesus, the influence of the Holy Spirit, the glory of God the Father all around us. Now He is not only in the clarity of the wilderness - be it thunderous lighting or roaring flames or gentle wind. He is everywhere; He is reaching to us from everything around us; He is in every step we take.

The lowest in the Kingdom of God built on that kind of relationship with God is more privileged and blessed that even John the Baptist- the ultimate (in both the sense of "final" and "most epic" although that one I am too drugged up to debate) prophet who required the clarity of the desert for closeness to God.