I don't know about you, but one of my first degree heroes who live between the covers of the Holy Bible is John the Baptist. He is the picture of what it looks like to have the ramrod strength of the convictions that you form along the road of life.
It doesn't take long to study all that there is to absorb about this powerful prophet. By the time the Gospels spill out into the mid first year of Jesus' ministry, this tough precursor of the Son of God has shown the world what lays in wait of the truly honest son of God. I often wonder if the martyrdom of John the Baptist ever served as a warning to the apostles. We do believe that eleven of them were martyred.
Think of this. So many of the heroes of the story of Salvation find their lives ended at the hands of the non-believers. It is a serious topic of reflection presented to us: What is the price of honesty? What is the price of truth? What is the price of Faith? We all know the answer. How often do we consider the state of our readiness to confront the ultimate question at the final instant?
There are two key passages of the Sacred Scripture that are essential to my personal preparation for the final instant:
Psalm 15: "Who can live in your tent Lord?
"Who can dwell on your Holy Mountain?"
I dare you to read the answer without swallowing hard.
Luke 3; 10 - 14 -
"10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
Both of these exhortations challenge us way before Jesus throws down the gauntlet of Matthew 22; 34 - 40
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
As we consider these truths at this moment of our history we must ask ourselves what point of the honesty line do we occupy. We must ask ourselves how much inner strength that we have to proclaim the truth to those who need to see it and hear it.
May God bless us all with the courage that is needed to deserve to live with Him for all eternity.
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