A reading from the prophet Isaiah (40:1-5, 9-11)
‘Comfort, O comfort my people,’
says your God.
‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem
and cry out to her
that her period of service is ended,
her penalty has been paid;
from the hand of the Lord she has received
double for all her sins.’
A voice crying out,
‘In the desert prepare a way for the Lord.
Make straight across the wastelands
a highway for our God.
Let every ravine be filled in,
every mountain and hill be brought down;
the crooked shall be straight,
the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all humanity shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
Go up on a high mountain, Zion,
herald of good news!
Lift up your voice with power, Jerusalem,
herald of good news!
Lift it up without fear!
Say to the cities of Judah,
‘See, here is your God.’
See the Lord God coming with power,
his arm rules for him,
see, his reward is with him,
his prize goes before him.
He tends his flock like a shepherd,
gathering the lambs in his arms,
holding them against his breast
and leading the mother ewes.
The second part of the book of Isaiah, chapters 40-55, opens with these consoling words addressed to the people, who have been exiled to Babylon. Their penalty has been paid. Something new is approaching. A first voice announces: ‘prepare the way (derek)’, so that God may come to lead the people back along a highway prepared for them. God does not just speak. God acts. God travels with people. Human beings will see ‘the glory (kabod) of God’. Then the voice of Sion is summoned to deliver with power and without fear the good news, ‘See, here is your God.’ God comes with power, but also with tenderness, cradling the lambs at his breast. The ‘second Isaiah’ announces the gentle fidelity of God.
Psalm 85(84) The voice of God heralds peace. The glory of God ‘dwells in our land’. Mercy and faithfulness connect this psalm with the ‘good news’ announced in the first reading.
A reading from the second letter of St Peter (3:8-14)
But one thing, beloved, you must never forget, is that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. The Lord is not delaying his promises as some conceive delay, but he is being patient with you, not wanting anyone to be lost, but everyone to come to repentance. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and melt away, the earth and all that it contains will be revealed.
Since everything is coming to an end like this, what sort of people should you be, in holy conduct and devotion, while you wait for the day of God to come, eager for the coming of that day, on which the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat? In accordance with his promise let us wait for the new heavens and new earth, where righteousness is at home. So then, my dear friends, while you are waiting for these events, be eager to be found by him in peace, blameless and unsullied.
These Christians are anxious that the return of Christ has been delayed. But God, who is beyond time, grants time for repentance and growth. When it does come, the Day (hemera) of the Lord will be sudden and dramatic. Christians should nevertheless be ‘eager’ for the Day, as they await ‘the new heavens and new earth’, living ‘in peace, blameless and unsullied’.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Mark (1:1-8)
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus the Messiah, Son of God.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah:
Look, I am sending my messenger in front of you
who will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying in the desert:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.
John the Baptist was in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were baptised by him in the River Jordan as they confessed their sins. John wore a garment of camel-skin, and a leather belt round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And as he proclaimed he said, ‘After me is coming the one who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’
These are the opening words of the Gospel according to Mark, the first words of the first gospel to be written. The evangelist proclaims Jesus as the Messiah, and Son of God, and straightaway adds the words of the prophet from our first reading. The time of fulfilment has come, and the voice of John the Baptist is indeed the ‘voice of one crying in the desert’. Mark goes on to describe the ministry of John the Baptist. ‘Repentance’ is not simply sorrow for sin, but commitment to a change of behaviour. John, who is dressed in the style of the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1), accompanies his preaching with the ritual of baptism, performed in the river Jordan, but he explains that his baptism with water is simply a preparation for the one who is coming, whom John describes as ‘more powerful than me’, and who will baptise ‘with the Holy Spirit’.
Why does John call Jesus ‘more powerful’?
Pray for the readiness to change.