Removing the clutter

I was marking assignments on the significance of the Last Supper; one of my students focussed on the humility of Jesus. He highlighted the fact that Jesus, on his last evening with the Apostles, chose to wash their feet. This, of course, was taken from St. John’s Gospel. The students were also asked to carefully examine St. Luke. The fact this student was struck by the humility of Jesus in spite of other fundamental elements of the Last Supper made me reflect on the radical humility in the life of Our Saviour.
 
I emphasise “humility” as a fundamental quality manifesting the person of Jesus because humility extends to the last acts of His human life in continuity with the events surrounding Jesus’s birth. In the 2nd Sunday of Advent we hear Isaiah proclaiming, “Prepare the way for the Lord,” words identified with St. John the Baptist (Mark 1:3; Isaiah 40:3). But who is this John the Baptist? He is considered a prophet by his contemporaries and his disciples. He lived the radical life of an ascetic anticipating the coming of the Messiah. Detached from the world, John the Baptist prepared himself and others for Jesus: repentance, cleansing, and detachment. Repentance of sins acknowledges that one is a sinner -- we actually do have sins to be forgiven! This prepares us for Jesus, as John the Baptist had done. Forgiveness also means the mind and heart are cleansed of clutter. Interior purification leads to making daily changes. John lived off locusts and honey! An aesthetic diet for someone dwelling in the desert. John the Baptist’s life and language reflected a humble preparation for “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me.”
 
I have always been astonished and overjoyed visiting poor countries the openness to prayer, the dependence on God, the value attached to the Sacraments. “Why, I ask myself?” Because their hands are not full with their possessions. They have room to pray, to hope, to ask, and to be thankful. With material well-being we become “cluttered” and self-sufficient. We no longer “need” God. It requires “humility” to say, “I need you.” “I need you, Lord, without you I cannot move forward.” It requires humility to say “someone is greater than I.”
 
In God’s plan to save us He showed that humility is the route of salvation. The Son of God is prepared for a stable. Divine Kingship is not shown in human terms of power, wealth, and fame to impress us with superficial “crowns.” Ugliness of pride is what separated the first man and woman from God (Genesis 3), and so it will be radical humility that will reconcile man with God. Humility is our path to salvation following Christ. 

​John the Baptist was born of a mother who was said to be “barren” (Luke 1:38). And Zechariah gives not his own name to the child, but after hearing the voice of an Angel, humbly names the child “John.” The Virgin Mary who “does not know man,” puts her total trust in God and in a courageous act of humility tells the Angel, “Let it happen to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). Joseph shows his humility accepting the news that his betrothed will conceive without him (Matthew 1:20). Mary who carries in her womb the Son of the Most High visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is now Elizabeth expecting, and what does Elizabeth tell Mary, “Why should I be honoured with a visit from the Mother of my Lord?” (Luke 1:43). Should we not learn these words of humility of Elizabeth and Zechariah, the radical acts of humility of Mary and of Joseph? The move from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant involve figures who stand out for their humility. Christ Himself will show the salvific power of humility when He, the crucified “King of the Jews” -- true King of the Universe -- will die naked on a Cross in front of his mother and closest friends. Are we prepared to worship our King in a smelly stable and naked on a Cross? Are we?
 
John the Baptist as prophet tells us to prepare ourselves: we need to be cleansed, to make changes, to throw ourselves into the Jordan River, to free our hearts and mind, and make room for the Son of God -- yes, in a stable where the scent is Truth!
 
During Advent we journey in silence with Mary, the Theotokos, Mother of God, as we prepare ourselves meditating on the only Truth that matters: Jesus the Son of God is Truth -- the only Truth who saves us and gives us Eternal life.