The gospel today presents the beginning of the preaching ministry of John the Baptist after the pattern of the Old Testament prophets. My thoughts are captivated by the description of his personality John is just a voice. Why would someone be referred to as a voice? It is a narrative that gives ultimate significance to the voice and its content without getting interfered with by the figure of the person. The voice vanishes after the utterance without leaving a trace. John goes without leaving a trace. The one to leave the trace is the one who comes after him, the Messiah. The location of his preaching, the desert, is also significant. The desert experiences of Israel at Sinai and of Jesus after his baptism are vivid in our minds. It is a lonely place, and one is in company with only oneself. All the conversations take place within rather than with another person outside. in those lonely moments, all demons and angels inside us will display themselves in full plume with all their attractions. The desert experience forces one to discern and find one’s core.
The gospel today presents the beginning of the preaching ministry of John the Baptist after the pattern of the Old Testament prophets. My thoughts are captivated by the description of his personality John is just a voice. Why would someone be referred to as a voice? It is a narrative that gives ultimate significance to the voice and its content without getting interfered with by the figure of the person. The voice vanishes after the utterance without leaving a trace. John goes without leaving a trace. The one to leave the trace is the one who comes after him, the Messiah. The location of his preaching, the desert, is also significant. The desert experiences of Israel at Sinai and of Jesus after his baptism are vivid in our minds. It is a lonely place, and one is in company with only oneself. All the conversations take place within rather than with another person outside. in those lonely moments, all demons and angels inside us will display themselves in full plume with all their attractions. The desert experience forces one to discern and find one’s core.
John’s voice in the desert to level the hills and fill the valleys is an invitation to recreate the spiritual atmosphere within us. Some hills are created by stagnation which some try to counter with false optimism. When asked, “How are you?” they respond with “Great” out of courtesy while they languish or are dull on many fronts. It is ‘toxic positivity,’ as Adams Grant puts it, covering up one’s real emotions with repeated lies. Some develop risky dams by cutting the flow of life. They pent up emotional forces by preventing them from flowing into others without sublimation or diversion. There are those in the valleys of depression, finding nothing to fill the chasm. John’s gospel asks to level the hills, fill the valleys and perhaps divert the dams. That is the secret to recapture the joy of the Lord.
But how does one do it? Connecting with one’s inner self and finding the inner propensity for joy is the right start. It requires also discovering and removing toxic positivity and depressing denials. Finally, start identifying one’s vulnerabilities and fault lines, and fortify them with the right relationship with God and neighbour.