Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear friend,

Today’s reading from the Gospel Matthew reminds me of Christmas – “In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.' This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."' Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers!' – sounds just like Christmas, right? Well, maybe Advent is more like it. Part of the beauty of the Liturgical year is that even in the midst of Ordinary Time, we are being pointed toward to primary moments of salvation history, toward the Incarnation of the Word of God, Jesus, toward the holy years of his ministry on earth and the Spirit's persistent calling, and toward the eternally-reality-changing moments of Holy Week.

The texts that have parallels to this readings, Mark 1:1-6, and Luke 3:1-6, along with Matthew 3:1-12, are all appointed for Sunday, Advent 2 in the Lectionary cycle, so we hear a Gospel passage with this narrative contained each year on our journey through Advent. The call to repentance that echoes throughout the year, too, points us toward the seminal moments in the God-eternal-and-yet-in-time-and-history reality that we proclaim. Looking toward the Crèche and the Cross as the how of our lives and salvation, we hear “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand-the voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord,” as a call to self. Not self as self-aggrandizement or congratulations, but recognizing what we are made to do, to pray, to be in relationship, to worship this God of both Crèche and Cross.

In Christ,
Mtr. Taylor