Homily 473 – Advent Week 2, Year B
John the Baptist is strange. He is supposed to prepare the way for the Messiah, but he leaves the center of religious activity and goes to the desert. His message? “You’re a bunch of miserable sinners. Repent now!” That doesn’t seem very attractive. Oh, and he’s eating locusts and wearing pieces of a dead camel. Not the standard technique for attracting a following! And yet everyone is going out to him.
John does what he does because God inspired him to do it. The same God inspired people to be receptive to this message and even to seek it out. This is the key to evangelization. We are merely God’s instruments, the “voice.” We get in trouble precisely when we start thinking that we need to make the gospel attractive to the world on the world’s terms. Rather, we should do the opposite. Forget about what the world thinks. Do what God asks. Don’t be afraid to be strange.
God is strange. Jesus did really strange things on earth. Why are we so afraid to stick out in society? For Christians, it should be normal to be strange.