On Advent

Are babies born bad? What is original sin? Why does John the Baptist leap in Elizabeth’s womb, welcoming the arrival of his cousin, Jesus? Why will he later say, ‘He must increase, but I must decrease?” What kind of world is this?

            I think ‘original sin’ represents the human capacity to make mistakes, coupled with the likelihood that persons will make them: a potentiality, requiring action before it becomes guilt. Of course, babies are too young to do much wrong. There are myriads of mistakes: simple, complicated, trivial, grave, due often to limitations from outside, maybe not our fault, just our mistake. With consequences, though.

            John Baptist leaps with joy, Elizabeth blesses Mary, John says, ‘I must decrease’: a very strange comment to make. His joy is fulfilled; his message is given; he accomplishes his purpose. They have been waiting for a saviour, to be released in a political sense but also in a spiritual sense. A Prince of Peace. War resulting from, and compounding upon, mistake after mistake at the grave end of the spectrum.

            I like infant baptism, placing a child under the protection of the one who forgives sins, those mistakes made actual with consequences for ourselves and others. At Advent we wait for a Saviour, the shattered fragments of our mistakes fallen over all the world. What kind of world is this?