The opening of our 2nd Advent gospel passage is a list of whos-who for the time: emperors, governors, kings, and even the high priest of the Jerusalem Temple: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.

But to none of those did the Word of God come.

Rather the Word came to an unknown prophet “strong in spirit, [who] was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.” (2:80). In this backwater, a small corner of the world, began the redemptive efforts that were the fulfillment of God’s promises to His people and the world. It did not begin among the elite nor among great fanfare, but almost silently among those on the margins.

This is the model for the Church.

God’s redemptive work is not complete in this time between the “comings of Christ.” The Word of God is entrusted to the Church and its people – just as it was to Israel. And the action plan remains as it ever was: “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” at the margins, working every inward to change the heart of people, of the community, of the nations, and all people to the ends of the earth.

Image credit: John the Baptist Preaching | Pietre Lastman | 1219 | Chicago Museum of Art | PD-US