Fr. Michael Williams

In 1947 in ‘the wilderness of Judea’ a shepherd accidentally stumbled upon what has been described as the greatest manuscript discovery ever. The young shepherd’s discovery, in caves near to the Dead Sea, led to the unearthing of several hundred scrolls. The majority of these scrolls are from the Old Testament. It is generally accepted that these Dead Sea Scrolls, belonged to a fairly austere Jewish community living in ‘the wilderness of Judea’, called the Essenes. Scholars have speculated that John the Baptist may have been part of the Essene community. Certainly they had similar ideas. John the Baptist and the Essenes both believed in the imminent coming of a priestly Messiah; they both held fast to frugal diets and ascetical behaviour; and they also had similar ideas about purification rites with water.

Both John the Baptist and the Essenes also appear to be disillusioned with the political and religious goings on in Jerusalem, especially the Pharisee and Sadducee parties. And so they settled in ‘the wilderness of Judea’. John’s ascetical life, and the community of the Essenes’ ascetical life, was a clear sign against the self reliance and the self confidence of many people stationed in Jerusalem. John’s wearing of ‘a garment made of camel hair with a leather belt around his waist [and his diet] of locusts and wild honey’, must have been a sight to behold. Yet John’s life is a clear sign to people of the Otherness of God and the otherness of God’s Kingdom; and this is why the people from ‘Jerusalem and all Judea made their way to him’. He drew them with his clear cut message to ‘repent (to change) for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand’. What John was saying resonated with the people. The depth, and the challenge, of his message attracted them more than the superficiality of Jerusalem.

Today the Lord has raised up another sign in our midst calling us to prepare for the coming of God into our midst. Like John the Baptist, Pope Benedict is a ‘voice crying in the wilderness prepare a way for the Lord’. Pope Benedict is also a prophet calling people back to God. In one of his works called, ‘Saved in Hope’, Pope Benedict states that our ‘great and true hope, which holds firm in spite of all disappointments, can only be God’. He says that ultimately we cannot put our hopes in anything else- not in people no matter how wonderful they are because we all die; and not in the material things of this world, because they are passing away. Only God is everlasting and that is why we must put our hope in Him. Both John the Baptist and Pope Benedict are clear and uncomplicated in voicing God’s message to prepare for His coming into our midst, whether that be at the end of time or the end of our lives.

There are signposts in this world that point to the other world of the Kingdom of Heaven. John the Baptist and Pope Benedict may be two thousand years apart, but their message is essentially the same: ‘Repent (change your life) for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand’. We all need to pay attention to these signposts, as God has placed them there to guide us on the difficult road of life, so that we will arrive safely in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is never far away for any of us. To ignore these signposts that God gives us, may lead us to a very different place; a place that John the Baptist, Pope Benedict, and any authentic prophet, cannot fail to mention also.