Bartholomeus Breenbergh, "The Preaching of John the Baptist (detail)," 1634, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Open Access
Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent – December 4, 2022
Readings:
Is 11:1–10
Ps 72:1–2, 7–8, 12–13, 17
Rom 15:4–9
Mt 3:1–12
By Fr. Kenneth M. Dos Santos, MIC
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”1
These words of John the Baptist recounted in the Gospel passage today speak about repentance, the renouncing of one’s sins that one be united more closely to God and all His ways. And, within the New American Bible, this statement is accompanied by a corresponding footnote. Repentance is “a change of heart and conduct, a turning of one’s life from rebellion to obedience toward God.”2
John’s mission as precursor, obedient to the God who created him, is to make straight the way of the Lord. The central way in which John lived out this calling was to preach repentance to all he encountered, urge that they recognize their sinfulness and realize, with all of their heart, that they must renounce their sins and follow after the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.
Be merciful
And, within the Gospel of Luke, this is what the multitudes are seeking as they search for the Baptist in the desert that they might inquire, “What then should we do?” to which John replies: “‘Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.’ Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He answered them, ‘Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.’”3 Here John states nothing less than that we have a responsibility to be merciful to those less fortunate than ourselves. We should avoid sin, we should repent, renouncing our sins and imploring God to turn our lives from rebellion to obedience, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The word Heaven here literally means the Heavens, since this word was used as a substitute for the name of God. Using the Hebrew name for God was strictly avoided by devout Jews, out of reverence for God.
In stating that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, the Baptist is making the point that the Kingdom of God is upon them, because Jesus, the Son of God, has taken on flesh and is walking in their midst. And, if the people are about to see Jesus, they are about to see God, and if they are about to see God, the proper state for entering into His presence is freedom from sin.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons describes the power of seeing God in this manner:
“For as those who see the light are within the light, and partake of its brilliancy; even so, those who see God are in God, and receive of His splendor. But [His] splendor vivifies them; those, therefore, who see God, do receive life. And for this reason, He, [although] beyond comprehension, and boundless and invisible, rendered Himself visible, and comprehensible, and within the capacity of those who believe, that He might vivify those who receive and behold Him through faith.”4
The Father rendered Himself comprehensible and visible in the Son, so that we might see Him and believe in Him through the eyes of faith. In seeing Him and believing in Him through the eyes of faith, we will receive life, He will vivify us.
It is for this reason that the Baptist warns the Sadducees and the Pharisees that, if they are unwilling to change their hearts and bear the fruit which can only come from a repentant soul, they will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
The Pharisees were known for their clear adherence to the letter of the law, both written and oral; and the scribes, who were experts in the law, typically belonged to this group. The Sadducees, however, were born into the wealthy class and were priests. They only accepted the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament). They rejected the oral legal tradition, and were against any teaching outside of what is found in the Pentateuch. One of the more notable teachings the Sadducees rejected was the resurrection of the dead. Both sects appeared outwardly pious, adherent to the Law, but in their hearts they remained unrepentant.
Sin defiles
This is the reason Christ goes on to explain that what defiles a man is sin:
“It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one. . . . Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.’”5
John takes great care to warn the Sadducees and the Pharisees that it is not enough to hold to the letter of the Law through an outward show of piety. Instead, they must rend their hearts and repent of what originates from the interior; then they will begin to bear the fruit that befits repentance.
The fruits of repentance are forgiveness, love, and true charity. It is the humbled heart, through genuine repentance, that receives God’s transformative grace, the facility to be forgiving, loving, and charitable to others. John is attempting to impress upon the Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, and Israelites that they cannot hide behind the idea that they will be saved simply because they are descendants of Abraham. John reminds them that God can raise up descendants of Abraham from the nearby stones. Rather, it is a repentant heart, God’s grace, and deep faith that will save them, as St. Irenaeus asserts:
“All who have known God from the beginning, and have foretold the advent of Christ, have received the revelation from the Son Himself; who also in the last times was made visible and passible, and spoke with the human race, that He might from the stones raise up children unto Abraham, and fulfill the promise which God had given him, and that He might make his seed as the stars of heaven (cf. Gen. 15:5), as John the Baptist says: ‘For God is able from these stones to raise up children unto Abraham’ (cf. Mt. 3:9). Now, this Jesus did by drawing us off from the religion of stones, and bringing us over from hard and fruitless cogitations, and establishing in us a faith like to Abraham. As Paul does also testify, saying that we are children of Abraham because of the similarity of our faith, and the promise of inheritance” (cf. Rom. 4:12; Gal. 4:28).6
Those who have faith in Christ are children of Abraham, a faith not of fruitless cogitations, but one born of the heart like Abraham’s. And we cannot possess true faith along with the barrier of our sin; this is the Baptism John wishes to bestow on the people — a Baptism of repentance.
Thus, we must realize, John’s Baptism of repentance differs greatly from the Sacrament of Baptism. As John states: “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.”7 The Sacrament of Baptism “seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation” (cf. Rom 8:29; Council of Trent (1547): DS 1609-1619).8 “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte ‘a new creature,’ an adopted son of God, who has become a ‘partaker of the divine nature’ (cf. 2 Cor 5:17; 2 Pet 1:4; Gal 4:5–7), member of Christ and co-heir with him (cf. 1 Cor 6:15; 12:27; Rom 8:17), and a temple of the Holy Spirit” (cf. 1 Cor 6:19).9
Changed forever
In other words, we are changed forever once we receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and through the Sacrament of Baptism, we become adopted sons and daughters, co-heirs, partakers of the Divine nature.
Jesus gave His life that we be saved through the grace of the sacrament; yet we must will to be saved. As we hear in the third chapter of the Gospel of Matthew: “‘His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’”10
St. Irenaeus speaks more in depth concerning the chaff and the wheat:
“For He who makes the chaff and He who makes the wheat are not different persons, but one and the same, who judges them, that is, separates them. But the wheat and the chaff, being inanimate and irrational, have been made such by nature. But man, being endowed with reason, and in this respect like to God, having been made free in his will, and with power over himself, is himself the cause to himself, that sometimes he becomes wheat, and sometimes chaff. Wherefore also he shall be justly condemned, because, having been created a rational being, he lost the true rationality, and living irrationally, opposed the righteousness of God, giving himself over to every earthly spirit, and serving all lusts; as says the prophet, ‘Man, being in [honor], did not understand: he was assimilated to senseless beasts, and made like to them.’”11
In other words, inanimate things have been made so by God, but mankind is made in the image and likeness of God and has been given the gift of free will. If we choose with our free will to transgress God’s Law, we are irrational, and the choice we make in choosing sin over the greatest good will blind us, allowing us to fall further into sin. But through the Sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation, we are released from our sins, and we are given the grace to avoid these near occasions of sin.
These Sacraments, along with the other five, impart God’s grace to us, and we must have gratitude for the fact that they are realized only through the great sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Thus, we must be among the faithful, those who conform our free will to God’s will for us. Then Jesus, He who makes both the chaff and the wheat, Who clears the threshing floor and gathers the wheat, will raise us up: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.”12
Father Kenneth M. Dos Santos, MIC, is Provincial Secretary for the Marian Fathers. This homily was first published in Homiletic & Pastoral Review.
Notes:
1. Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1986, Saint Joseph edition of the New American Bible., Mt 3:2. (Hereafter cited as NAB).
2. NAB, Mt. 3:2. (footnote, pg. 13).
3. Lk 3:10–13.
4. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies: Book 4. Chapter 20 (Hereafter cited as Irenaeus).
5. NAB, Mt 15:11–20.
6. Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book 4. Chapter 7.
7. NAB, Mt 3:11.
8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1272. Hereafter CCC.
9. CCC, 1265.
10. NAB, Mt 3:12.
11. Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book 4. Chapter 4.
12. NAB, 1 Jn 3:1.
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