A Better World Starts with Me

A BETTER WORLD STARTS WITH ME

Mt. 3:1-12.

One of the most famous speeches of the last century was made on 28 August, 1963, in Washington D.C.  The speaker was Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr.  Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the black civil rights leader told an assembled crowd of a quarter of a million people, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed....I have a dream that one day....the sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character."

He spoke for approximately eight minutes, and when he had finished, the crowd sat for a few moments in stunned silence.  That speech rallied the spirits of millions of black Americans and pumped new life into the civil rights movement.  It expressed the hopes of the human race.  People of all nations have always dreamed of a better world, a world without war and strife, a world where people of all colours and creeds could live together in peace.

We all share this dream.  We are sick of the insanity of war.  We are exhausted by man's inhumanity to man.  We are tired of crime and violence.  We are fed up with greed and injustice.  We long for a world of peace and righteousness, where people and nations settle their differences through cooperation instead of conflict.  Some people have stopped believing that such a world is even possible and many more are deeply discouraged.  Though still believing in a better world, they feel helpless to do anything about it.  The problems are too big, and the circumstances are too far out of control.  All we can do, it seems, is wait, and wish and hope.

Today's Gospel reading has a message for that very mood.  It proclaims the imminent arrival of the reign of God.  The messenger was John the Baptist.  Suddenly, he appeared in the desert of Judea, telling the people, "Reform your lives.  The reign of God is at hand."  His sermon was short and simple, but it contained a logical sequence.  First, reformed lives; and second, the reign of God.  First, better people and then a better world.

Doesn't that make sense?  We get a better world by becoming better people.  How else could it happen?  So the message of our reading is plain and direct; if you want a better world, start with yourself, reform your own life.

John is reminding us that the first responsibility of every person is himself or herself.  In other words, my primary mission in life is not to change the world, or to save the world, or even to serve the world.  My primary mission is to become the best "me" that I possibly can, and yours is the same.  Until we tackle the challenge of ourselves, we are ill equipped to tackle the many challenges of society.  It is sheer hypocrisy to think that we can change the world unless, first of all, we are willing to change our own lives.

Our Scripture reading tells of certain men who were drawn to the ministry of John.  They heard his preaching.  They saw the great crowds of people.  They felt the excitement in the air, and thought perhaps the reign of God might really be at hand.  They decided to jump on the bandwagon, but John would have no part of their scheme.  He detected their insincerity and challenged them, "You brood of vipers, give some evidence that you intend to reform."  That message is intended for you and me.  We deceive ourselves if we think that God is going to hand us a better world on a silver platter.  The only way we will ever get a better world is for each of us to become better people.  John's message is clear.  The first responsibility of every person is himself or herself. 

He is also reminding us that all the moral problems of the world are the moral failures of people.  We sometimes blame the world and forget that the world is made up of individuals.  The world is nothing other than a group of people living together in some kind of relationship.  Whatever is wrong with the world is the accumulated result of whatever is wrong with the people who compose it.  If we live in a cruel, greedy and violent world, it is only because there are cruel, greedy and violent people.  If we ever hope to change the world we are going to have to start with ourselves.

It would be comforting to settle back into some sort of fatalism and blame the world for all our problems.  The world does not pollute its own air and water; people do.  The world does not fight senseless wars; people do.  The world does not cause poverty; people do.  The world does not foster prejudice and hatred; people do.  You and I are not the pawns of some kind of impersonal fate.  Most of the problems of this world don't just happen.  They are caused.  And each of us must shoulder our part of the blame.

Lord Jesus, we say we want a better world.  In some vague sense, we expect a better world.  But while we are waiting, we should go to work on our own lives.  The only way to get a better world is to build it out of better people.  John said it centuries ago, but it still applies today, "Reform your lives. The reign of God is at hand." 

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