Thoughts on Advent

I’m no longtime follower of the liturgical calendar, but I’m beginning to appreciate its rhythms and emphases. To speak of Advent, it seems only right that the church focuses her attention on the preaching of John the Baptist, the forerunner and witness to Christ, as we await the celebration of Christ’s coming.

While it might seem right, it’s worth asking why John the Baptist still matters. Christ has come, right? Doesn’t that render John’s ministry superfluous? Ultimately, the question of John’s relevance is best answered through another set of questions: Have we fully entered into the Promised Land? Has Christ come to full maturity in our lives, and are we completely free from temptation and sin? If not, then John’s message still matters.

Perhaps something that gets overlooked in John’s ministry is that it took place “in Bethany across the Jordan.” (John 1:28) I don’t think this is an accident. It makes good sense that God would place John east of the Jordan River, just outside the Promised Land, as a sign that Christ was coming. Christ, of course, would be (and still is) the Way across that River into the true Promised Land above.

The same relationship of John to Christ continues to be true. That is, before Christ comes into the life of a man (and even as he comes to greater and greater maturity in that man’s life), John’s message must do its work: “Make straight the Way of the Lord.” Truly, it seems to me that life in this world is one long Advent of making the Lord's Way straight.

Said differently, life in this world is the true Advent – a time of preparing for and growing toward the fullness of Christ. It’s a time of saying “no” to temptations, pride, distractions, worldly appetites and ambitions, etc. (This would change the current, increasingly commercialized “Advent” quite a bit.) Ultimately, life east of the Jordan is a time of saying “no” to self. We’re not finished products, and for that reason John’s message of repentance and humility is as necessary today as it was then.

So I guess I’m proposing that the Advent emphasis on repentance and humility is one that ought to be lived in every season of life. “Make straight the Way of the Lord” is a message to be heard and heeded as long as Christ has not yet come to full maturity in our lives and as long as we’re still east of the Jordan River.

The good news of this lifelong Advent? As John’s message of repentance is heard and heeded, Christ comes. And as Christ comes, John’s message takes on a second part: “Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) It might seem too early to say it, and this is not the Promised Land, but to those who have heard and heeded John’s message, the saying need not be avoided: Merry Christmas. Christ is come.