John, the last and greatest of the prophets did not minister in Jerusalem but in the silence of the desert. There he called his countrymen to repent, baptising those who confessed their sins in the Jordan. He might have taken the text for his preaching to the Pharisees and Sadducees from St John’s Gospel: “We have Abraham for our father.” He and the Lord for whom he prepared were filled with the spirit of all the
prophets: they sang off the same hymn sheet.
All the prophets had consistently warned the people that they had to live justly, loving God and showing concern for their poor neighbour, if they hoped to be heirs of the promise made to Abraham. They had also to believe in the One God was sending: the work of God begins with faith: to believe is to accept the Son of God, Emmanuel, coming in our human flesh to save us. This is the great promise in which we dare to hope. When God made his promise to Abraham, it was to be his shield and his great reward, to protect him during his life time and to reward him with glory when he died.
The way to salvation was shown to Israel: in the Incarnation it is shown to us, the Gentiles. The canticle of John’s father, Zechariah, is surely the surest guide to our thoughts and prayers during this time of Advent. In it he praised the God of Israel who was showing his presence to his people, Israel, and liberating them from their enemies, above all their spiritual enemies, by the hand of a mighty deliverer, a descendant of
David. He was aware that he was living to see the beginning of the fulfilment of all that had been foretold by the prophets since God first began to reveal himself to Abraham, and to foreshadow his mighty deliverance through Moses. Humanity was to be set free to worship God in spirit and in truth wherever we may be and in all we do.
John was to usher in the dawn of salvation, to announce the presence of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It is Jesus who is the Strong One, the leader to life. The prophet is happy, exultant, to point him out, and then to rejoice to see his followers slip away, recognising the One who is to come. John was to be the lamp who points out the Sun of Righteousness to us who are in the darkness of the world. In a world of conflict and hardship, in darkness and the shadow of death,John guides our feet to him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, who is our Peace.