Thursday, 18th Week of Ordinary Time

Matthew 3:1-12
Morning Prayer

So, are we all little John the Baptists, crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord”?  But wait, hasn’t Jesus already come, and isn’t he always with us, in Sacrament and Spirit?  On the one hand, there is a comfort in seeing ourselves in John’s place, pointing to the coming Jesus.  That frame of mind allows us to do our best throughout the day.  Then in the evening, we can say, in the words of the New Zealand Prayer Book, “What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be.”

But are we not nourished with Jesus’s own Body?  Are we not renewed with Jesus’s own Blood.  Has he not given us everything we need to build up the kingdom of heaven?  Yet, are we not still sinners, entirely dependent on God’s unmerited grace?  Yes to all that.  Each time we hold a lonely hand, pick someone up in body and spirit, share the joy of learning, we play our part in God’s kingdom of love.  None of us is the star, and none of us has the last line.  John’s message was one of judgment.  But as we now know, Jesus had the last word on the cross.  And that word was love.
 
So, do everything you can to prepare the way of the Lord today, and tonight – whatever you have done and failed to do – let it be, for Jesus will surely have the last word.