The Cry Before the Fire

St John the Baptist and the Fearful Mercy of Repentance

Do not linger at the manger as though God had come to leave you unchanged. The Child is born for judgment and for mercy. Therefore the Church sets before you John. A man of the wilderness. A man who will not flatter the heart.

John does not appear in a house or a city or a school. He appears where nothing protects you. The wilderness strips the soul. There the heart speaks what it truly loves. When John cries Repent he is not offering advice. He is announcing nearness. The kingdom of heaven presses close and whatever is false in you can no longer hide.

The Fathers say that repentance is not a thought but a wound. It cuts through self-justification. John wounds the heart so that it may live. His voice is sharp because the disease is deep. The camel’s hair and the leather girdle are not virtues. They are signs that he has already died to comfort. Only such a man can speak truth without cruelty.

John stands in the Jordan not to explain sin but to receive it. The people come confessing because the desert has taught them what the city concealed. Abba Poemen said that if a man truly sees his sins he will forget his neighbor’s. John teaches this without words. His life accuses no one and therefore all are exposed.

This is why the Church places him after the Nativity. Christ has come down. Now you must go down. Into the water. Into truth. Into the death of lies. St Isaac the Syrian says that humility is the raiment of the Godhead. John wears humility before Christ wears flesh.

He is called the Forerunner because he walks ahead into emptiness. He shows the soul how to make room. He decreases. He is content to disappear. Modern elders say that the sign of repentance is not emotion but surrender. John surrenders even his disciples. He lets them go.

Do not ask what more you must do. Ask what must be laid down. John’s cry still stands at the edge of the Church. If you pass him you pass unprepared. If you listen you will be stripped and made ready. For the kingdom is near and the fire is already lit.