John the Baptist is a significant but often overlooked figure in our faith. Truthfully, that is what he would have wanted. His mission was to point people to the messiah and not himself. John “proclaimed: ‘One mightier than I is coming after me.’” (Mk 1:7). Despite his humility, his role is so significant that almost 700 years before his birth, Isaiah prophesied about him. Jesus also honors him, saying, “Among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist” (Mt 11:11). 

 

Today, when a president or dignitary visits a city, a great effort is made to clean and secure the area before they arrive. So too, Isaiah wrote of John who would go before the messiah to “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.” (Is 40:3). However, the obstacles to be removed from the messiah’s path were not rocks or debris, but sin and our attachment to it. 

 

Jesus, asking the people about John, said, “What did you go out to the desert to see?” (Mt 11:7). It is a question worth exploring. It was not a small fringe of overly-pious people that went to see John. The Gospel this Sunday tells us, “People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him…” What was so appealing about John the Baptist to the average person? 

 

He certainly was not attracting them with free gifts or flashy entertainment. John had no worldly possessions or promises of wealth to peddle. What he had was a truth that speaks to our wounded heart on the deepest level. His message was that of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. 

 

If John were preaching today, our first reaction might be to recoil from the discussion of sin, believing its mere mention will cause feelings of shame and judgment. But these are not the reasons John spoke of it. He did because sin is real and anguishes our soul. It deprives us of life with God, our greatest good and source of true happiness. Ignoring the issue of sin only compounds the problem. It is as reckless as ignoring a serious illness because it is upsetting to deal with. 

 

Left unaddressed, sin metastasizes into misery, anger, addiction, self-loathing, and worst of all, separation from God. This is why John’s message is so appealing. He preached about a messiah that would free them from slavery to sin. He offered the people hope. 

 

In Advent, like John the Baptist, we are called to “prepare the way of the Lord …”

 

John would challenge us to look at our life and identify the sins that are obstacles in the path of the coming messiah. Whether we consider a sin insignificant or serious, we must struggle against it. All sin is harmful to our relationship with God because all sin is a rejection of God. We are placing something that is not God before God. 

 

This is a form of idolatry; and Jesus warns us, “No one can serve two masters.” In the end, you will love one and hate the other (Mt 6:24). Repentance is sorrow for our sins and the resolve to turn away from that sin and towards God.

 

 Jesus fulfills and elevates the message of John. Our sins are truly forgiven, and we receive the grace to conquer them in the sacrament of reconciliation. Rather than hide from our sins, we can be free of them.

 

For many years, I ran confirmation and youth retreats that included confessions. The number one thing that I heard from teens after their confession was, “I feel so much lighter” or “This great weight has been taken off my shoulders.” 

 

As any priest will tell you, the confessional is not a place of shame, but one of victory where Jesus the Messiah conquers sin and its power over you. This is what they were looking for in the desert.