John the Baptist is a very
powerful preacher in today’s Gospel. He is fearless. He says,
“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and he calls the
Sadducees and Pharisees a brood of vipers and asked them twice to
produce good fruit. That would prove they were serious about
repentance. I am not sure if there are many preachers today who
would preach the truth so boldly or clearly as John. Later, John
continued his bold preaching and told Herod (Antipas), the son of
Herod the Great who slaughtered the children around Bethlehem after
the birth of Jesus, that he should not have married his brother’s
ex-wife (Matt 14:3-4). Then, as now, when the truth is preached,
people get upset. Herod’s wife, the ex-wife of his brother, got
upset and so John ended up in prison for preaching the truth. He was
put into prison because what he said was not politically correct.
That could happen nowadays also in certain places, being put in
prison for saying what is not politically correct. The liberals are
not always broadminded enough to include the truth in what they
hear; they only want to hear what suits them.
John had been a very bold
preacher. We would expect him to know that ending up in prison or
being killed for preaching the truth would be a possibility. Yet,
when he did end up in prison, he went through some kind of crisis
which we will hear in next Sunday’s Gospel (Matt 11:2-11; also Luke
7:18-23). From prison, John sent some of his disciples to Jesus to
ask Jesus if he were the one they were expecting or someone else!
That is a bit of a shock. Earlier, when John saw Jesus approach the
river Jordan, he said to his disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God”
but in prison, he sent messengers to Jesus to ask if he were the
one. In one sense, it is somewhat reassuring; John was human just
like us, and just like us when the cross came to him, and, we could
say, when he was surrounded by darkness, it looked like he had
doubts. But he did the right thing—he reached out to Jesus, and that
is a lesson for us also. When the cross comes, when we are
surrounded by darkness or confusion, reach out to Jesus.
Jesus responded to John’s
disciples and sent back this message to John: Go and tell John what
you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the
poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one
who takes no offense at me. (Matt 11:4-6) So, John got his answer:
Jesus is the one and John was not to lose faith in Jesus. That is
also the answer for us—Jesus is the One in whom we can trust, and we
are not to take offense when the cross comes to us when we are in
the prison of doubt and trial and darkness and confusion.
The second reading from
Paul’s letter to the Romans began: whatever was written previously
was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the
encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Rom 15:4) The
account of John the Baptist is for our instruction, that by
endurance and encouragement we might have hope. It is an instruction
for us, not to give up or lose hope when the cross comes. Stay with
Jesus, stay with Our Lady. They are our lighthouses in the darkness.
In the first reading,
Isaiah spoke about a shoot from Jesse having the Spirit of God.
Jesus was legally, not biologically, a descendant of Jesse and so
Isaiah was writing about Jesus being full of the Spirit. At the same
time, Isaiah also sees a time of peace, an extraordinary vision of
predators and prey at peace together. Jesus wants that peace for
you, not just to be a page in Isaiah. So whenever you are in a
prison of doubt and trial and darkness and confusion like John the
Baptist, go to Jesus and try your best to restore your peace so that
what Isaiah wrote may be fulfilled in your life:
There shall be no harm
or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled
with knowledge of the Lord,
as water covers the sea. (Isa 11:9)
Stay with Jesus, stay with
Our Lady. They are our lighthouses in the darkness.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2025
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Second Sunday of Advent Year A
The Peace of Jesus 2007
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Making room for
Jesus in our hearts during Advent 2015
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