Dec 3, 2009
Lifestyle Repentance: Giving is the Way to Prepare for Jesus
I’ve been thinking about John the Baptist, his vision for repentance and the way to prepare for Jesus. The more I immerse myself in his message, I find that he’s far more concerned with giving things away, cutting loose our burdens and bad habits, and committing to live simply without oppressing others.
That is rather jarring for me.
We usually spend our time preparing for the coming of Christ buying stuff, but as John set about his work of clearing a path for God, he challenged his listeners to not only make significant changes to how they lived, but to give to those who have nothing.
I know that John the Baptist’s ministry isn’t exactly part of the nativity story, but I think it’s a crucially important narrative for us to investigate during the Christmas season. We are preparing ourselves
For those who follow the lectionary, John the Baptist figures prominently in the Advent season (this Sunday and next).
So it’s certainly not part of the nativity story, but Advent isn’t about the nativity, it’s about preparing ourselves for Christ’s coming, as you said, which means listening to the forerunner!