There was a woman driving along and she finds herself in a traffic jam. Impatient, she begins to honk her horn loudly, then she opens her window and begins to yell and cuss. A police officer happens by the scene and proceeds to arrest her. Indignant, the woman asks, "Officer, why are you arresting me? I've committed no crime." The officer replied, "Ma'am, I have reason to suspect this car is stolen. One the back it has a fish symbol, indicating the owner is Christian. Based on what I saw I can't believe you're the owner of this car."
This story highlights the point John the Baptist was trying to make to the Pharisees and Sadducees who were coming to him to be baptized. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, and repentance should be evidenced by a change in behavior and lifestyle. For this reason, he urges them to produce good fruits as evidence of the life of repentance. In other words, if we are truly repentant, we should be living differently than we did previously. The problem with those coming to see John was that they were more interested in the external ritual than what the ritual signified. Ritual alone is not sufficient to produce repentance; a complete change of life is required.
In what, then, does repentance consist? The first reading from the prophet Isaiah is the prophetic announcement of the coming Messiah, the one who would liberate Israel from oppression and free all the people from sin. Throughout the history of Israel the people always had the law of God before them; they knew how they were supposed to live their lives. Yet, the people continued to fall away from God by committing idolatry and acting unjustly toward the poor and lowly. Prophets would come to preach repentance, butto no avail, and thus an external punishment would follow, leading the people to return to God.
Both Isaiah and John fulfull the traditional role of the prophet, and yet the Messiah to come would be greater than the prophets. Why? The Messiah would not only speak of how to live - he would show us how to live by his very deeds. What is more, the judgment of the Messiah would bring complete justice, for as Isaiah and the responsorial psalm point out, he will rescue and save the poor from the ruthless of the earth. Repentance, then, is all about living our lives differently so that the poor are treated with justice.
Many preachers like to take these scripture passages and interpret them symbolically. They will say that the poor are really sinners and that repentance is about not living a life of sin. While this interpretation is no doubt true, the literal sense of the scriptures is the most basic and fundamental sense upon which all other interpretations are based. If we overlook the most obvious meaning, then we neglect the word of God entirely. The ministry of Jesus was all about care and compassion for the poor - the literal poor as well as the spiritual poor. A few weeks ago we read the Gospel passage about Zacchaeus, a man small in stature who wanted to see Jesus. Zacchaeus saw Jesus and came to repentance, and in his story we see authentic repentance: he lived his life differently. He began to care for the poor, dispossessing himself of his goods so that others may live.
Throughout the Gospels we see these examples of authentic repentance, and we find Jesus praising those who live their lives differently - the evidence of repentance John was seeking but did not find among the Pharisees and Sadducees. These religious leaders took part in their ritual, but they did not live their lives differently: they were still exploiting the poor and neglecting the needs of the vulnerable. They continued to live in their palaces and donate a mere pittance to the needs of the poor.
As we continue to await the coming of Jesus during this time of Advent, may our repentance be genuine, and may we live our lives in a way that shows evidence for our repentance. We pray the words of the opening prayer for God's help along the way: "Let us pray in Advent time for the coming Savior to teach us wisdom. Father in heaven, the day draws near when the glory of your Son will make radiant the night of the waiting world. May the lure of greed not impede us from the joy which moves the hearts of those who seek him. May the darkness not blind us to the vision of wisdom which fills the minds of those who find him. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen."
