Nazareth was about a hundred miles from where John was baptizing in the Jordan River. Jesus would have likely traveled the distance on foot, perhaps staying at some of his relatives over the course of the journey of a couple days. We don’t know how long Jesus studied with John, but it is obvious that John was a significant mentor for Jesus. At some point Jesus gained a deeper sense of whom He was called to be and formally accepted John’s baptism of repentance, of a change of heart and of turning and taking a new path.
John the Baptist had plenty of questions. To those who came out to hear him he would ask, “Does the world need to change? Do you need change in your life? Of course, you say? Then what are you willing to do about it? Are you willing to turn and take a different road? Are you willing to transform your behavior to others, friend and stranger alike?"
John wrestled with plenty of questions within himself. He saw himself as the forerunner, in the tradition of the prophets announcing and preparing the way of great hope, a sign that a new revelation from God was about to appear. Yet from a dirty prison cell he sent word to Jesus, are you really the one? Jesus didn’t disparage the doubts of his old mentor. Rather he sent word back in the form of other questions. Don’t you perceive that the hopeless have been given hope; that those cast off for so long are being told good news that God cares about them?
John was a forerunner in more ways than one. He prepared the way for Jesus by inviting people to acknowledge their own emptiness, their deep yearning for a savior, their need to come clean and begin again. Moreover, John welcomed the poor and powerless of the land risking the charge of sedition. He did not give preference to or change his tune in front of spies from Jerusalem sent to incriminate him. “You brood of vipers,” he called those who came not to hear John’s message, but to intimidate and squelch it.
John the Baptist balances the too often superficial stories of artificially sweetened angels, sanitized shepherds and domesticated magi. John the Baptist is the other birth story, the other beginning that warns that not only those who pave the way, but those who in turn take and follow on the way might experience the same fate as John. John shows the way, the way to rejection, to confinement and finally death by the powers of the world. The testimony of John warns that new birth is not without danger, not without pain, not without upheaval and threatening the powers that think they run things.
Always speculating “What would Jesus do?” might not be as helpful as recalling what Jesus did. Someone who refuses to accept the gifts and insights of others, is not acting like Jesus. As we remember John teaching and baptizing Jesus, we realize that others may have many valuable gifts to give us, too.
Someone who has all the answers, who rarely listens, is not emulating Jesus either. Like John, Jesus often asked questions for people to ponder. When people shared their doubts with Jesus, He did not turn them away. People of faith learn that it is OK to acknowledge the emptiness of one’s perplexities and even the gnawing pains of lack of faith.
Someone who avoids difficult situations, suffering and danger is not following the example of Jesus. Jesus followed John, knowing full well where that road might lead. When John was arrested, what did Jesus do? He started to teach and enlist disciples.
Would Jesus be a person who would want his disciples to force people to take his way or the highway and who wouldn’t allow the existence of other disciples doing good and living lives of integrity? No, that’s not like Jesus. John’s disciples continued long after Jesus had gathered his disciples. When asked about these people not following Him, but going around healing, Jesus gave them his blessing.
John the Baptist is certainly the patron saint of Advent. The more I think about it, with every stable and crèche scene, there should be included a figure of John the Baptist standing by. I think Advent is telling us that this Christmas, when we pick up our carol books and rush to the stable, to take John the Baptist with us. This Christmas, don’t leave home and go to Bethlehem without him.
