ALL FLESH SHALL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD

A REFLECTION FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY IN ADVENT

Today’s Gospel is all about St. John the Baptist.  It places us at the exact time of history when our Lord’s cousin began to preach about this Messiah, born long ago, who would now reveal himself to the Jews and to all nations for the remission of sins.  We are given precise details and names of the men governing Judea: Pontius Pilate was already the Roman governor, Herod was the local king or tetrarch, and on the religious side, we see for the first time the dreaded names of Annas and Caiaphas.  Familiar names one and all, and we will see them again as they conspire together to murder the Savior whose way St. John was already busy preparing.

How is it that such mere mortals could imagine they would kill the Son of God, the Word who had begun the work of Creation by commanding to the great empty void “Let there be light?”  That Word now dwelt amongst them, and they would behold his glory, as we read in the Last Gospel of Mass, “the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”  They should not have been taken by surprise in beholding the glory of the Christ.  St. John the Baptist preached that this would happen, and he told all that had ears to hear that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”  Unfortunately, there are many who “have ears but hear not, eyes have they but see not.”  To these, the salvation of God was visible and yet they refused to see it.  They closed their ears to the Word of God, and their eyes to his salvation.  A few did hear and see the manifold wonders of the Saviour:  the old man Simeon in the temple, for example, acknowledged that “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation that thou hast prepared before the face of all people.”  God prepared the salvation of his people, but alas, so few saw it in front of their noses.  Many were called but few were chosen.

The preaching by which St. John the Baptist so carefully prepared the way of the Lord should have been enough to warn everyone to at least be vigilant and watch for any signs that might seem to fulfill the ancient prophecies.  Herod was a Jew and knew the prophecies well enough to be worried that this Messiah might take away his own throne.  The High Priests Annas and Caiaphas were intimately familiar with every word of Scripture, but were so entrenched in the minutiae of their rules and regulations that they refused the one law on which they were all based, that of charity, the love of God and neighbor.  Even Pontius Pilate, who was not a Jew, was warned by his wife who had a dream of billions of people chanting over and over again the words “sub Pontio Pilato”, a reference to the words of the Creed, “He suffered under Pontius Pilate.”  No one, neither Jew nor Gentile, had any excuse for refusing the salvation that had been prepared before all people.

 As the days before Christmas slip quickly by, we are asked by the Church today to take a little time off our secular preparations for the holiday and focus instead on our spiritual preparation.  Forget the Christmas shopping for a while, stop baking pies and decorating Christmas trees, just for a short while, and give some thought to how we must prepare the way of the Lord.  We are asked to “make his paths straight.”  It’s often said that we are all a work in progress, and it’s very true that each person has to set his own goals and walk his own path to salvation.  As the coming of the Christ Child draws nigh, it is time to make sure that that path to salvation is made straight.  It’s time to tighten our grip on the wheel, and avoid all those deviations into sin and imperfection, our wandering and meandering from vices to missed opportunities and wasted time.  Make straight the way of the Lord.  This is the true sense of the penitential aspect of Advent, and one we must not miss.  For if we ignore it, we are apt also to miss the salvation that follows.  Our ears will be too full of jingle bells, our eyes too full of baubles and wrapping paper, our mouths too full of Christmas pudding, to appreciate the sight of the Infant King in his manger, bringing light to the world, and salvation to his people.