When St. John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing in the Jordan River, Jesus may well have been in the crowd that was listening to this intriguing, wild-looking man. They hoped that St. John might be the Messiah. They were unaware that Jesus, the Messiah, was already present. Today, Jesus is present to us, in these Scriptures, in the bread and wine transformed into his body and blood in the Mass, in the Communion which we receive. But are we like the crowd in the Gospel that doesn’t really believe that Jesus the Messiah is present and in us?
St. John the Baptist tells the crowd that the kingdom of God is at hand, really close. The people ask him then, “What are we to do?” (Lk 3: 10-14). There are so many things in our society today which are definitely ungodly that we lose hope that we can do anything to make our society better. But it was the same in St. John the Baptist’s time, which was also the time of Jesus. Jesus and St. John were the same age, born in the same year of mothers who were cousins. The Romans controlled their lives, often cruelly, through puppet leaders who were not even Jewish. The people had no power. Yet St. John the Baptist promised them that God would send them one who was much mightier than he, one who would baptize them in God’s Spirit and in fire. That Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the love between the father and the son. The fire is what the spirit does to the chaff – the doubts, problems and anxieties that cover us and weigh us down just as wheat is covered by a husk that must be threshed off and then burnt.
St. Paul asked his congregation, “Do you not know that you are temples of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor 6:19-20). Through the sacraments the Spirit of God is in us. When things look hopeless and we need God, all we have to do is place ourselves in God’s presence and pray, because God is in us through his Spirit, the Spirit of the father and the son. God is already with us. No other religion – neither Buddhism, Islam, nor Hinduism recognizes God’s intimate presence in us like Christianity. It is important that we know that God, the father and the son are in each of us through their Spirit of love. The things of this world can become dark and troublesome. But the Spirit of God will show us what to do, and above all, what is really important.
“The things of this world can become dark and troublesome. But the Spirit of God will show us what to do, and above all, what is really important.”
Note what St. John the Baptist answered when the people asked him what they should do to welcome the Messiah and the kingdom of God that came with him. He told the people to do simple acts of justice and charity. “Let the man with two coats give to him who has none. The man who has food should do the same.” To the tax collectors he answered, “Exact nothing over and above your fixed amount.” And to the soldiers: “Do not bully anyone. Denounce no one falsely. Be content with your pay.” Through Jesus the kingdom of God was present to those to whom he ministered. However, his ministry only lasted three years. Then he was crucified, rose from the dead and was seen by his apostles and more than 500 disciples. Finally, he ascended back to his father in heaven but his final words to his followers were what we call the Great Commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
We Christians are the inheritors of Jesus’ mission to bring the kingdom of God, the kingdom of his heavenly father, to this world. The formula for doing so is no different than it ever was, simple acts of justice and charity. These acts will not cure all of the injustices of our present world, nor did they ever in any past century. Only God at the end of the world in some unpredictable future time can bring that about. But our mission is to let the Christ within us use us to transform this present moment of God’s creation to be a little more like God’s kingdom.
We can rejoice in God, and God will rejoice in us, if we live aware of God’s presence in us, and respond with prayers that he help us to do simple acts of justice and charity. It is the heavenly minded who have the strength and the spirit to continue to do God’s will amid the chaos of the world.
Father Carville is a retired priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge and writes on current topics for The Catholic Commentator. He can be reached at johnny [email protected].