At the beginning of a criminal trial, a small town prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand: an elderly grandmother. He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"
She responded, "Why, yes I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a young boy. And frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you’ll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the courtroom and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?
She again replied, "Why yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster too. He’s lazy, bigoted, he has a drinking problem. He can’t build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state, not to mention he’s cheated on his wife with three different women. Yes, I know him."
The defense attorney almost died!
At this point, the judge banged his gavel for silence, called both counselors to the bench, and in a very quiet voice said, "If either of you jokers asks her if she knows me, you’ll be jailed for contempt!"
Any doubt that that elderly woman would make a powerful witness for the prosecution, commanding attention, influencing opinion?
In today’s Gospel from John we hear about another witness who gave powerful and convincing testimony, also without mincing words, this one sent from God in first century Palestine. John the Baptist came to testify to the light of Christ, so that people might believe through him. Last of the Old Testament prophets, John prepared the way for the Lord’s coming, the public ministry of the man born in Bethlehem 30 years earlier.
Preparing for the Lord’s coming is a primary theme of Advent, this four-week holy season before Christmas. "Prepare yourselves," "make straight the way of the Lord," "Repent," that was John’s mantra as he went about preaching in the Judean countryside, offering a radical call to religious conversion -- a turning away from self to God.
What made John the Baptist a powerful witness for Christ certainly wasn’t personal charm or charisma. He was an in your face kind of guy who didn’t hesitate to speak the truth, no matter the cost, like when he called the scribes and Pharisees "a brood of vipers." And of course, Scripture tells us that his penchant for truth telling so ticked off Herodias, King Herod Philip’s wife, that she got her adolescent daughter Salome to perform an exotic dance that cost John his head.
Drawing on Hebrew tradition, John spoke graphically about the end of time and instituted a baptism for the purification of sins. Except for times when he preached and baptized, John lived alone in the desert. He ate honey and locusts, wore a garment made of scratchy camel hair, bathed infrequently, and must have looked like a lunatic. A man of passionate faith, his sermons gave new meaning to fire and brimstone. Despite his bizarre look and abrasive manner, however, those who observed the dramatic simplicity and holiness of his life were moved to want God in their lives too. Jesus was so impressed that he asked to be baptized by John, even though Jesus was sinless and without need of purification.
John was a persuasive witness for Christ not only in what he said, but also, and more importantly, in what he did. By living a faith-filled life, he won people over to the faith. John understood well what every good parent and educator knows -- the best way to change undesirable behavior in others is to model desirable behavior. Children, after all, are influenced far more, for good or ill, by their favorite role models, than by lectures from well-meaning adults.
Do you really think a drug-abusing parent will be able to convince a son or daughter not to use drugs? Or that a child will treat people differently than the way his or her parents treat people? "Do as I say and not as I do" just doesn’t cut it with kids who close their ears to advice, but keep their eyes open to example, especially the example of parents. Kids learn what they see and live.
St. Francis of Assisi also understood well John’s lesson in evangelization. Francis used to instruct his newly ordained friars: "Go out and preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words." Down through the centuries, most religious converts, including those here at Transfiguration, say that what draws them to Catholicism is the example of faithful Catholics in their everyday lives.
There’s a story about a young missionary who spotted a woodcutter at work in the forest. "What a perfect opportunity for me to make a convert for Jesus," he thought when he learned the woodcutter had never heard of Jesus Christ.
All day as the man chopped wood, carried it to his wagon, and walked back to chop another load, the young missionary asked, "Well, are you ready to accept Jesus Christ?"
"I don’t know," replied the woodcutter. "All day you spoke to me of this Jesus who helps us with all our burdens, yet you never helped me with mine."
Advent is a time for taking stock on how well we’re doing in preparing the way of the Lord, both for ourselves and for others. When people who want God in their lives look at those of us who claim to have God in ours, do they see something authentic? Are we turning people onto Christ by what we do and say or are we turning them off? Mahatma Gandhi once said: "All of India would be converted, if Christians lived what they profess to believe."
For Christians, the Gospel isn’t so much something we go to church to hear, as something we come from church to tell. What’s the best way to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ? Certainly not by thumping on a bible on street corners while shouting at passersby, but by allowing Christ’s love to overflow in every word, every action, and every thought, then leaving the rest to God.
Thomas Merton, the 20th century Trappist monk, put it this way: "All of us who have been baptized in Christ and have ‘put on Christ’ as a new identity are bound to be holy as he is holy. We are bound to live worthy lives and our actions should ‘bear witness’ to our union with him. He should ‘manifest his presence’ in and through us."
One day as a woman was crossing a street at London station, an old man stopped her. He said to her, "Excuse me, ma’am, but I want to thank you."
She looked up and exclaimed, "Thank me?"
He replied, "Yes’m, I used to be a ticket collector, and whenever you went by you always gave me a cheerful smile and a good morning, I knew that smile must come from inside somewhere. Then one morning I saw a little Bible in your hand. So I bought one too, and I found Jesus.
Bearing witness then isn’t about getting other people to believe in what you do. It’s about behaving what you believe. It’s about living so that if people get to know you, they will get to know Christ better. With every kind act you do, you’re testifying to the light. If the elderly grandmother in the story that began this homily were to describe you or me in open court, as she did the prosecutor and defense attorney, would we blush with pride? Or…..? I rest my case.
Anthony J. Sciolino
3rd Sunday of Advent.
December 15, 2002. (Cycle B)
Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11
Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28.