People gathered at the Jordan River were shaken by the words of St. John the Baptist, they also felt the near presence of Jesus. They stood and cried: “What should we do?” St. John said: Love your neighbors with your attitude and word; a man is the greatest value of the world. The world without humans would be nonsense and nothing.
Advent is a time, where we especially have to sensitize our hearts for the needs of a second person. Living in the Church community, we have to think about how we will experience our Christmas time. Are we going to have sad, crying, unhappy and broken faithful? Such sense have words: “If anyone has two dresses … and who has food, let them do so.” Because we are children of one God.
But St. John the Baptist goes deeper. He reminds about the greatness and dignity of man. “Do not bully no one … do not oppress anyone”, that is love your neighbors. In the community, such as the Church, there is a place for all people: and this newborn who will be baptize soon, and the elderly who cannot do anything on his own. For healthy and sick, strong and weak, for everyone! Today in the world, and also in our country, what is weak, fragile, which seemingly does not bring profit is reject, and a faithful person, living in a godly manner and life according to the Jesus’ Gospel feels anxiety, breaking and humiliation.
St. John the Baptist does not demand that people – like him – will go to the desert to live an ascetic life, but calls and encourages us to see another person, and to understand that Christ also comes to the earth for other people.