The Most Important Advent Skill

What do you suppose are the most important aptitudes of Advent?

It's a strange question, I know. It's a question for which there are all kinds of answers: giving, receiving, baking, hosting, caroling, wrapping, decorating, writing, mailing.

But above all of these sits the ability to do the few and simple things we find John the Baptist doing in John 1 and John 3.

The Way of Watching

John the Gospel writer starts his gospel account in the strangest of ways.

Matthew and Luke give us the details. It's full of earthly activity. Mark, on the other hand, seems to trust what they had to say. He started down the road of Jesus' life a bit. But John? His description of Jesus' entry into the world seems almost...cosmic.

I say cosmic for a reason; when we look up at the cosmos, what do we find ourselves doing?

Watching.

It makes sense, then, that one of the first people we meet in John 1 is John the Baptist. We find this man designated to prepare the way of the Lord watching for the Lord. We know this because he repeats himself a couple times in 1:29 and 1:37: "Look, the Lamb of God!"

Once he's gotten his chops at this watching thing, he moves to another skill: pointing.

Despite what mom said, the most considerate thing you can do for another soul is to point. Immediately, this pointing thing loses the Baptist a couple disciples. While most of us would clamor to retain them, John is moving a different direction.

In John 3:25-26, his disciples are feeling the cost of John having pointed people away from himself and to Jesus:

An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” 

It's strangely perfect.

I say perfect because in the middle of this puzzling practice of watching and pointing, we can see Advent in the heart of John the Baptist as he replied to his concerned disciples:

You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete (John 3:28-29).

Did you hear it?

This time of year we sing lyrics like "joy to the world," "good tidings of comfort and joy," and "repeat the sounding joy." As well we should. And in John 3, we find joy in all its completeness. It's found in watching for, pointing to, and enjoying the presence of our Savior in our lives.

So start looking around. You may just finding yourself pointing.

Nathan