Repentance in Preparation

As we are preparing for the birth of Christ this Advent Season, we are told in the Gospel this Sunday of how John the Baptist was proclaiming repentance in preparation for the coming of Jesus. John the Baptist is a very mysterious person in the Bible. Who was he? Where did he get this idea of baptism of repentance? Why was he out in the desert and baptizing in the Jordan river?
              Many of these questions were answered at a lecture I recently attended on the Dead Sea Scrolls by Dr. John Bergsma and I would like to share what I learned with you.
John the Baptist was probably part of a group of Jewish monks known as the Essenes. Thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls we now know what the community life of the Essenes was like. The Essenes were group of Jewish celibates, who would ritualistically cleanse themselves in large baths, who not only sought to know the law but live it out fully in preparation for the coming Messiah. Many scholars believe that John the Baptist came from this group. However, some scholars also believe that John the Baptist was excommunicated from this group because he wanted to share the Jewish Essene discipline with the Gentiles so that: "all flesh would see the salvation of God." John the Baptist's belief that even Gentiles could be saved may have been the reason for his excommunication from the Essenes and why he was wandering in the desert wilderness alone, eating honey and locusts, and baptizing in the river Jordan.
The Dead Sea Scrolls have helped us to better understand why the early Christians so valued celibacy, used baptism as the initiation ritual whereby people entered their community, and why Jesus and the early Christians welcomed Gentile converts. Many of the early Christian traditions have their roots in the work of the former Essene John the Baptist who was crying out in the desert: "Prepare the way of the Lord!"
God bless,
Fr. Scott