John the Baptist always plays a big role in Advent.  He was the last and greatest of a long line of Old Testament prophets.  God sent those prophets to prepare Israel for the arrival of the Messiah, the anointed Savior and Redeemer of the world - Jesus.

Isaiah's prophecy in today's First Reading was made more than five hundred years before John the Baptist's prophecy, but their substance is very much the same:  God has not forgotten his people, and in spite of their sufferings, sins, and failings, he will come and save them, shepherding them to a happiness beyond what they can imagine.

The consistency of the message throughout so long a period of time puts into context that fascinating line from the Second Reading, which is actually a quotation from the Book of Psalms (Psalm 90:4):  "with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day."  God is consistent; he follows through on his plans.

If, however, John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets, he was the first of the New Testament prophets.  Prophets are messengers of God.  And in New Testament times, our times, the Age of the Church, each Christian is a messenger of God, and so each Christian is a prophet.

As the first New Testament prophet, John the Baptist has three valuable lessons to teach us about how to be a prophet.

First, John invited the people of his time to repent from their sins, so that they would be ready to welcome Jesus, the Savior.  

We too are called to invite others to leave behind the sinful patterns of life that our society encourages, so that God's grace can come into their lives.  This doesn't mean that all of us are called to go stand on street corners shouting about hellfire and brimstone.  But it does mean that we should not be afraid to encourage our friends, colleagues, family members, and neighbors to live the life Christ taught us to live.

Jesus made it clear that greed, lies, adultery, laziness, fornication, and every kind of selfishness is destructive.  Every sin, even if the fashionable ones like homosexuality and drugs, leads us further away from the happiness and peace of mind we long for.  So, if we really care about other people, we will do our best to warn them against sin.

Sometimes we are afraid to do this because we don't want to "force our morality on other people," as the phrase goes.  This is a false argument.  It is not our morality; it is Christ's morality, the morality he built into human nature.  He knows what makes the human heart wise, strong, and joyful, because he created the human heart.

Imagine a mechanic being afraid to tell the owner of a car how to take care of the car's engine, because he was afraid to "force his opinions" on other people.  A Christian afraid of sharing with others the rich wisdom of Christ, the secrets to happiness that Jesus died to give us, would be just as ridiculous.

But John's message wasn't just negative; in fact, it was mostly positive.  He called for repentance, for people to turn away from their sins, but he also turned people's attention towards something - the greatness, the beauty, and the transforming power of Christ:  "One mightier than I is coming after me... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."  We too are called to turn people's attention to Christ, so that they can discover his love, goodness, and transforming power.

One young man who was recently ordained a priest tells about how his mother used to turn people's attention to Christ.  There were ten children in the family, so she didn't get out of the house a lot.  But the children's friends were often coming into the house, and that became her opportunity.  She had a wooden cross with a candle mounted on the wall near the living room.  Whenever she had a special prayer intention, she would light the candle for the day, as a symbol of her ongoing prayer.  Most days, it was burning.

One day, one of the neighborhood kids came over and noticed that the candle was not lit.  "Why isn't the candle burning?" he asked.  The mother answered, "I don't have anyone to pray for today. But if you want me to pray for you, I will light it."  And right then and there she lit the candle, and as soon as the flame was bright, the little boy's face became even brighter.

We can always find a way to help turn peoples' attention to Christ, to his goodness, love, and transforming power; and that's the best way to brighten their day.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about St John the Baptist was that so many people actually listened to him.  Why was that? Because how he lived was consistent with what he said.

St Mark makes that clear when he says, "John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey."  Everyone who knew John and heard him speak could see immediately that he was not living a self-centered life, and that opened their hearts.

We too, as New Testament prophets, are called to live in such a way that the best argument supporting our words about Christ will be that we are living like Christ.  As New Testament prophets, we must use words to invite repentance and to tell about God's goodness and Christ's truth, but our best argument will always be Christ-like lives.

Every Christian is called to be another John the Baptist, and that's why the Church always holds his example up for our consideration during Advent.  Today Jesus will come onto the altar here in this church as truly as he came into the manger at Bethlehem.

When he does, let's thank him for not forgetting about us, and let's promise him that this Advent we will do our best to fulfill our Advent mission, by striving to follow the example of St John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, and the first New Testament prophet.