Fr. Isaiah Teichert, OSB Cam


I remember many years ago when California first got personalized license plates. My Dad’s was one of the best. His license plate was: REPENT. We all got a big kick out of that. “REPENT”. People thought he was the local preacher.

I was surprised how many people asked me, “What does that mean”? And I’d say, “Well, you know, turn away from evil, get on the ball, mend your ways, learn to do good”.

Later I learned that “repent” comes from the Greek word metanoia, which means to change your mind, or more profoundly, change your soul and turn away from sin in the living depths of your being. It’s a rich word. John the Baptist, like Jesus, begins much of his preaching with that word, “repent” and his baptism of the people is a concrete expression of their repentance, their soul change.

John calls for this soul change and says that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He is saying that unless we re-orient ourselves, we are going to miss the kingdom because repentance and entering the kingdom go together. We need to repent, to profoundly change or we will not be ready for the coming kingdom.

Repentance calls for a spiritual turning because something tremendous has happened and by looking in another direction we may miss it altogether. One day, I remember standing in one of our big storage sheds here at the Hermitage and watching a bird that had flown inside. The huge shed was completely open on one end but the bird was flinging himself against the back wall where there was a window. He could see the outside through the window glass but there was no way to get out. The shed was completely open at one end but the bird kept flying against the back wall. I thought, “If it could just run around and see that one end was wide open, it could escape”. But it just kept flying against the wall.

John is inviting people to turn around to see what has come among them. He is a voice announcing what has already happened, what has already arrived. What has arrived is the reign of God’s majesty in the reality of the person of Jesus. Jesus is the kingdom of heaven and John is the desert. John is put in the desert with his strange clothing and strange diet, which set him apart from the rest of the people. John is a radical rejection of civilization, of comfort and he represents a total submission to God. God led him into the desert and here we have John as a kind of desert in whom we may encounter God. The desert is a place of encounter. John is a desert where people are going to meet God.

And people are drawn to John like a magnet. They are coming from all over to see him and to be baptized. Jerusalem and Judea were going out to find John. That is extraordinary because in those days, everyone went toward Jerusalem for religious purposes, to the temple and the privileged presence of God. But now John is announcing the presence of God and the kingdom in a new way, which makes the traditional significance of Jerusalem obsolete. He is saying that the presence of God, symbolized by the temple made of stones, has been surpassed by the temple of the person of Jesus. Jerusalem yields to Jesus through John’s mediation. He preaches the kingdom of heaven and repentance and eventually, this message gets him in trouble. The rulers were expecting a new earthly kingdom with the Jewish people ruling. What they had not been told is that there would have to be a profound change within themselves to make the new spiritual kingdom possible.

John talks about a new baptism, not that of immersion in water for cleansing, but of Jesus baptizing with fire and spirit, suggesting a leap into a whole new dimension of being.  This new baptism will not only cleanse, like water, but will destroy what cannot co-exist with the fire of God’s holiness and love. It will not only destroy but will also implant the breath of God. Those who are baptized will have an inner fire and the breath of God will become the new principal of life. 

This is the purifying baptism that Jesus brings with him. Jesus is the fire of God’s love and the bearer of the divine spirit. John baptized with water and Jesus is the baptism that fire and spirit pours down on the world. This is baptism that will penetrate to the core, transforming the human being into the true image of God. God’s power is not limited to external. God transforms from the center outward. Only Jesus, being God as well as the greatest of prophets, can baptize us by plunging us into the very life of God and through metamorphosis, makes us one with Himself. Advent is the time of preparation for receiving this gift by turning our hearts and our souls toward God.