Merciful God, who sent your
messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our
salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we
may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
John
the Baptist was big news in Israel. People flocked to hear him proclaim that
Messiah was coming. After Jesus was baptized, John begins to wonder if he
really is the Promised One. He sends some of his followers to ask Jesus about
it. “When the messengers of John had
left, [Jesus] began to speak to the crowds about John, ‘What did you go out
into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out
to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and
live in luxury are found in royal palaces!’” (Luke 7:24-25)
Jesus
acknowledged that John was a non-conformist, as are most prophets. We might
even think of John the Baptist as a crazy person, willing to live in the desert
and eat 'locusts and wild honey'.
In Godspell,
the 1970's musical, John is portrayed as a minstrel who calls an assortment of
normal people out of their routine-dancing, working, etc. by his shofar and
song. Their joy is contagious as they join him to ‘prepare the way’. Sometimes we need a nonconformist to remind us that our God is living and
transformative, not staid and boring.
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