Today’s readings: Isaiah 11, 1-10; Romans 15, 4-9; Matthew 3, 1-12.

It is never easy to keep hope alive. Isaiah’s words in the first reading constitute the blueprint of our hope. It is a hope which translates in justice and peace. The worst thing that happened to God’s people in exile was that they had become accustomed to their condition. Isaiah is raising awareness to make them realise that their God can connect with them even while they are in exile.

Though in a different setting, John the Baptist is also seeking to unmask the illusion of the people of his time who had become used to rituals like baptism which in reality led them nowhere. Isaiah and John the Baptist should make us aware today that we need to do away with the template in which we have wrapped our messianic hope.

Christmas is about God’s power to heal, even to make good sprout from evil. The God we believe in is one who never gives up. He became human in Christ to teach us how never to give up. Even if this may sound like a cry in the wilderness, it is still worth repeating and believing. But we have to stick to its real content.

The words of John the Baptist that “God can raise children for Abraham from these stones” are addressed to people who claimed to be within the fold but had actually given up on God’s faithfulness. The risk today is that Jesus is easily wrapped up in a fairy tale.

John the Baptist surfaced at a time when no prophetic voice had been heard for quite a long time. People were waiting pointlessly. This was a repeat performance of the experience in the Old Testament, particularly when those anointed to govern had become corrupt and people saw no light at the end of the tunnel.

Isaiah, the visionary, sees this light, “a shoot spring from the stock of Jesse”, justice and integrity sprouting from a corrupt dynasty and political system. It must have been difficult and challenging for Israel to believe Isaiah’s vision of optimism in a time of identity crisis.

Whenever the Church loses its way, things become difficult. Prophecy in times like these is normally silenced and the power structures take over. This is what happened at each and every turning point of the Church’s long history whenever Christianity was domesticated and lost its punch.

In the 16th century, Martin Luther was convinced that the Church had lost its way and become so heavily involved in the power politics of the time. He wanted the Church to rediscover the riches and the joy of the gospel. This is what Pope Francis is constantly struggling to do with a Church which in many aspects can be said to be in its wilderness.

Wilderness in Scripture stands for doubt, failure, fear, and suffering. Doubt is our travelling companion in the wilderness. This is not simply academic doubt. It can be very emotional, when we wonder whether, after all, there is really meaning in all we do and go through.

For quite some time now our churches have been losing orientation, with people leaving and searching for spiritual solace elsewhere. It is not answers to questions that people thirst for, or simple solutions that they want, but authenticity in the way the Church reaches out to them.

No one can live on borrowed fidelity. Good roots are not enough. John the Baptist points his accusing finger to the Pharisees and the Sadducees who come expecting him to rubber stamp the way they lived their religion. But he called on them to change their heart.

It is this change of heart, both on an individual level as well as on the level of Church, that we badly need today as we again approach Christmas. It is only a change of heart, politically and spiritually, that can make us discern in depth where is the illusion and where the truth in all we do and say.

People in the wilderness look out for prophetic voices and look up to leaders who offer them vision. These are times when many no longer have faith in politics and politicians, in a Church that is busy serving itself and safeguarding its own survival. As Pope Francis writes, “the Church’s most powerful witness often comes from below – if we will but allow them to be heard”.