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     Do You Know John the Baptist?                                                     

        

The Second Sunday of Advent takes us to the beginning of the Gospel of St. Mark.  Note how St. Mark doesn’t begin with an account of the birth of Jesus.  (Trivia question: Which Gospels contain the accounts of the birth of Jesus?)  St. Mark begins his Gospel by looking at the preparation to the active ministry of Jesus.  As we know, Jesus’ ministry was announced by His cousin, St. John the Baptist.  St. John’s place in Jesus’ ministry is clear: St. John is there to prepare people to receive Jesus.  Just imagine what St. John looked like out there: Clothed in camel’s hair, eating insects – it’s a surprise that anyone took him seriously.  What would a modern St. John the Baptist look like?  Would he be dressed the same way?  Probably not, yet God gave us a prophet who echoed His message of repentance to the world.  That man was our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II.  Although many people tried to make fun of him and criticize him, he kept going at an astonishing rate, until he could go no further.  While many accused him of being out of touch, no one had a larger following among the youth than John Paul II.  John Paul II’s prophetic ministry continues in that of Benedict XVI.  St. John the Baptist prepared the people by focusing them on the heart of the Christian message, repenting and seeking the forgiveness of our sins.  The message of John Paul II was the same as the original St. John the Baptist: We must turn away from sin in order to meet Christ.  Sin is very important to God because He knows that it is the only thing that can separate us eternally from Him.  Therefore, God will do anything to help us be freed from sin.  God offers us His greatest gift in Jesus so we can know a life free of sin.  Jesus became one of us so that He would reconcile us to the Father, inviting us to turn away from sin and all of sin’s empty promises so we can have the fullness of love that God desires in our lives.  Today, we have a decision to make, a decision to turn away from sin and turn our love toward Jesus.  May we have the strength to live up to that commitment, no matter the cost.                                      Summary of the Gospel by YM Central

Discussion Questions

1. Scripture Search: St. Mark quotes the book of the prophet Isaiah.  Where is that quote found in Isaiah?  What passages surround the Isaiah quote?  Read these verses from your Bible.

2. How are you called to be a ‘John the Baptist’ in your daily life?  How can you prepare people to meet Christ without forcing Jesus on them?  Who has been a ‘John the Baptist’ person in your life?

3.  (As we did last week:) Make it a point this week to invite a fallen-away Catholic back to Mass, and/or to invite a non-Catholic to Mass.  Make a list of at least three people you could invite this week to church.

1^st  Reading  Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.

2^nd Reading 2Peter 3:8-14

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard "delay," but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.

Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

Gospel Mark 1:1-8

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: "One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."