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Today’s Gospel is a love story. The word “love” is not mentioned, and yet I see love pouring from every curved letter and every straight letter that make up the words of the majestic and tender sentences of today’s story. It’s John the Baptist’s love story with Jesus, that paves the way for our love story with Jesus.
At this point in today’s story, we don’t know much about Jesus’s life. Luke’s gospel starts with John the Baptist, and it stays there, immersing us in earthy details of this prophet’s life. Then, we see Jesus born, presented in the temple as a baby, and then lost and found in the temple at the age of twelve. But then, we don’t see Jesus for nearly twenty years of his life. And when we do pick back up with Jesus, it’s only for about the last two or three years of his life.
As Gerald O’Collins, a Jesuit priest, states in an article on the historical Jesus, he writes, “…We can’t really construct a biography of Jesus with the materials we have (which hasn’t stopped us from trying). Our knowledge of Him is practically restricted to the last two or three years of His life. Even for these years very little chronology can be established. The sources we possess make it notoriously difficult to penetrate His inner life.” [Gerald O’Collins, S.J, 1971 article on the historical Jesus.]
So, what this tells us is that much of Jesus’ life is hidden from us. Yet that doesn’t diminish what we Christians are called to do: we are called to follow his teachings and to love him.
But if much of Jesus’ life is hidden from us, how do we love someone we don’t even know?
That’s where John the Baptist comes in. The love story between John the Baptist and Jesus Christ begins before they were even born.
Earlier chapters in Luke tell us their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, were relatives, who were pregnant at the same time. It describes when Mary went to visit Elizabeth, and she heard Mary’s greeting, the child in her womb, John the Baptist, leaped for joy. And it says Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let’s just sit with that for a minute.
While John the Baptist was in the womb, he had a reaction to the unborn Jesus who was right nearby. Not just any reaction…a response of joy. Plus, John the Baptist’s mother who was carrying him, was filled with the Holy Spirit. Which means that he likely experienced the Holy Spirit too. John the Baptist was that close to God. To be that close to God, while God is becoming incarnate. Can you imagine?! No wonder he loved him!
And the love story between John the Baptist and Jesus continues ~ Their mothers Elizabeth and Mary were both pregnant when they lived together in Elizabeth’s family’s home for three months. It is likely that John the Baptist and Jesus grew up together, or at least spent some of their childhood together. Their love did not stop there, because as adults, John was the one to baptize Jesus.
I think John’s baptism of Jesus was pivotal (as all baptism’s are) ~ it moved Jesus’s story from being somewhat hidden to us, to showing us how Jesus was forged while he was in the wilderness, to revealing to us what Jesus came to do.
Today’s story says “the word of God came to John.” John the Baptist knew Jesus was nearby, he knew Jesus was coming. Perhaps when John the Baptist was in the wilderness, that’s what he was preparing for. Which is what we’re called to do in this time of Advent – anticipating the coming of Jesus Christ.
That makes me wonder something: When the word of God comes to us, what makes us listen to it?
I love that today’s story might offer us an answer.
One thing that could make us listen to the word of God coming to us…is when someone is there to point the way.
What John the Baptist is doing – is pointing us to Jesus. John the Baptist’s whole reason to be alive is to say, “Here he is.” He’s been pointing to Jesus Christ since before they were born.
In our lives, sometimes we need someone to point our way to Jesus. When we orient ourselves to Jesus, we become more attuned to who God created us to be and what God is wanting us to do within the context that God has placed us.
The second thing this passage makes me wonder is how do we share that Jesus is coming to us? We do what John the Baptist and other prophets did. We tell someone.
John the Baptist’s ministry was to tell people that our God of love was on the way.
That’s what you do when you love someone. You tell people. This was John the Baptist’s mission, it was his calling. He was providentially placed in the world to announce Jesus!
Advent invites us to have a similar role. It’s to say that Christ is near. And Christ being near is not a one-time event. Jesus is coming to us constantly. And we don’t stop at just telling that.
We show that love according to the context that we are providentially placed in. Because love wants to be known. And for love to be known, it has to be enacted with someone.
In our culture, we can get kind of squishy when it comes to professing and showing our love. We treat it like such a big deal! My husband Darius and I have experience with this. Years ago, we’d been dating only for one month, he told me that he loved me. After only one month! I said to him, “How can you love me, when you don’t even know me?” He responded, “I know enough.”
In a way, our love story with God is similar. Why does God love us and we haven’t done anything. Many people might not think they are loved by God. Or maybe they felt that love and got hurt. For some their relationship with God might not feel like a love story. But the love story that we are part of during Advent and heading into Christmas started before we were even born. That’s why we are called to be people who point others to Jesus.
As Christians, our love story doesn’t begin with us knowing God. It begins with God knowing us. God has loved you from before you were born. God loved you before you knew yourself. And because God loves us, that’s why we love others. Whether we know each other a little or a lot, we are called to love one another. I think this is God’s imperative of love.
Here’s are last things, the things we’ve been waiting for – Even though this time of Advent is a time of waiting, we don’t have to wait to point someone to Jesus, nor wait for someone to point him to us. Don’t wait in showing love to others. Do your part in showing the love. Don’t wait in considering how we can be John, how we can be a voice crying out in the wilderness, voices that carry the story of how we know Jesus and how we love Jesus. This is God’s love story for us. And it’s not a straight path.
No one takes the straight path in life. We all take the crooked path. Life is bumpy and messy, with twists and turns and stops and new starts.
But here’s the thing – the path doesn’t matter when you’re walking with someone. After all, what we know here at Epiphany is that relationship is primary. God has a love story with each of us and we’re here to do our part.