Baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire

Just as a barren and scorched forest can bring forth new life, the Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ, has brought forth new life from the cross.

WORD OF FAITH: A breakdown of each week's upcoming Sunday readings to better understand the Word of God at Mass.

As so many of us are busy decking the halls with pine boughs and pine cones and other decorations of the season, it is difficult to get people to focus on more serious matters such as our own personal salvation. So maybe we can use the signs of the season to help us understand the message in the Scriptures for the Second Sunday of Advent. It is particularly challenging with so many twinkling lights and glitter to get people to focus on a message of repentance from sin, even if it leads to our salvation.

Imagine for a moment that a simple pine cone can be filled with theological meaning for us as Christians. Let us first think of what a pine cone is: it is a seed, or several seeds contained in a strong and thick shell. Pine cones are only produced by Conifers; that is, pine trees. The pine tree produces many pine cones, and as the pine cones are ready for seeding, the pine tree drops its cones. For the pine cone to germinate, the strong outer shell must open and release the seeds. For that to happen, the pine cone needs heat to open; not simply the heat of the summer, but rather intense heat, such as a forest fire produces.

Forest fires are destructive; they destroy entire forests and leave the landscape barren and desolate. But if we wait a week or two and go back to a forest that has been destroyed, we will see new life sprouting from the ground. All those pine cones that had fallen to the ground before the forest fire have now opened and have germinated in that barren and desolate ground. Fire can destroy and at the same time bring about new life.

John the Baptist gives a message of what at first seems to be one of condemnation and destruction. John the Baptist and his prophetic message are equivalent to the pine cone that carries the seeds of new life. Just as the pine cone has a tough outer shell, so do the words of John the Baptist. His words have a tough outer shell that the listener must get past in order to receive the message of new life. John the Baptist spoke words that challenge us even today. He said, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matt. 3:10-11) Fire clears the forest and prepares the ground for new plantings. Our lives are the forest, and the fire of the Holy Spirit clears away the dead wood of sin. 

The promised Messiah brings this about: “On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” (Isaiah 11:1) Isaiah speaks of how new life comes from even that which might look dead, a tree stump. Isaiah writes at a time when the people of Israel were in despair and Jerusalem had been destroyed, but Isaiah knows that God remains faithful to his promise and looks forward to the time when this promise will be fulfilled. 

The signs of new life are seen in the fulfillment of God’s promise. The promised Messiah who will sprout from the shoot of Jesse will be a king who will have the spirit of the Lord. “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2) These signs are what we know as the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives new life, and it is this promised king who will baptize in spirit and fire. 

St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading from Romans 15:4-9, “Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” The message of new life in the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent are given for a people who long to see the face of the Messiah. Psalm 72 tells us what this just king will bring into the world: “Justice shall flourish in his time, and the fullness of peace forever.”  Just as a barren and scorched forest can bring forth new life, the Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ, has brought forth new life from the cross. That which was seen as an instrument of death has now become the sign of new life for humanity.