Fr Paolo Consonni MCCJ
I still remember the shock I had in my twenties, when (rarely in those years) I went to confession for some heavy burdens on my conscience. I was expecting a pat on the back, but the old priest had only harsh words for me: “You are too wishy-washy. Don’t try to find excuses for your behavior and stop it! Otherwise, it’s useless for you come again to ask God for forgivingness!” I have to admit that the priest’s unconventional rebuke did somehow reorient my life. I knew I had to do some serious soul searching before going to confession again.
We love to hear comforting words, not scolding; reassurances, not challenges. But John the Baptist was hardly a crowd pleaser when exhorting about conversion. Why then does this Sunday’s Gospel describe his uncompromising message as “Good News”?
As a matter of fact, when we are stuck with our problems, overwhelmed by events, trapped in our realities, with the feeling that “my life will never change,” we don’t actually expect sympathy, but someone to offer us a way out. We need someone to give us a push out of our seemingly hopeless situation.
The advice of John the Baptist was quite basic. Share one of your cloaks with someone without one. If you are a tax collector, do your job and don’t be corrupted. If you are a soldier, do not use violence and be content with your wage. Yet, if you pay attention, you can see that all of these actions imply a movement from the “self” to the “other.” This openness is the essential condition to recognize and welcome the One sent by God, and to find our way into the Kingdom.
Remarkably, at the question “What should we do?” John did not prescribe any “religious” act, like “recite some more prayers” or “do some more fasting.” Maybe he understood that our devotions are not really life-changing if we lack the openness to tackle both our naked reality and our relationships, which alone can allow God’s Grace to enter and transform us.
At the same time, John the Baptist did not ask the tax-collector or the soldier to quit their job and find a more meaningful occupation. Take into account that, according to the Law, their line of business automatically made them ritually impure, unfit to stand in God’s presence. Yet, neither did Jesus request Zaccheus (Lk 19) or the Centurion (Lk 7) to change their profession. They might have done it, but at a later moment. The Kingdom had already entered into their lives through their concrete acts of compassion, of care, of justice, of restoration of people’s dignity. The resistance we feel in making some concrete changes in the here-and-now of our existence can give us some useful insight about what’s wrong with our lives and in what direction God wants us to go.
Pope Francis recently wrote: “Work is a means of participating in the work of salvation, an opportunity to hasten the coming of the Kingdom, to develop our talents and abilities, and to put them at the service of society and fraternal communion […]. Working persons, whatever their job may be, are cooperating with God himself, and in some way become creators of the world around us. ” (Patris Corde 6)
If even a corrupted tax-collector or a soldier of a brutal occupying force can do something concrete to live a more meaningful life for themselves and the people around them, then… why can’t I? We are not victims of our circumstances. A change is possible, even for me, because God is coming, even for me. He cares about my life. That’s John’s Good News and this week Advent invitation. Even tax collectors and soldiers could tell us we have no excuses to refuse to do some small changes. (Image by smoms_h from Pixabay)
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