2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT: GOSPEL
Matthew 3: 1-12
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the
wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken
of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths
for him’”.
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a
leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him
from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the
Jordan River.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to
where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned
you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as
our father’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children
for Abraham. The ax is already at the
root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut
down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me
comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in
his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the
barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Gospel Reflection
by Simeon Elderfield
John
the Baptist is one of the more interesting characters in the Gospels, appearing
in all of them. Only in Luke is John’s early life discussed, and greater detail
surrounding John’s baptism of Jesus is found in the Synoptic Gospels than
John’s Gospel. Flavius Josephus, writing contemporaneously, describes John’s
actions, saying he ‘was a good man, and commanded the Jews to
exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety
towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would
be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away
of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that
the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness.’
From
a Catholic perspective, it is clear that John was a prophet, indeed, the last
of the Prophets and his message could not be any blunter. At this point, Jesus’
adult ministry has barely begun and John’s mission is to prepare the people of
Judea for what they are about to witness. In today’s Gospel John is sarcastic:
when the Pharisees and Sadducees approached, his words are dripping with irony, ‘Brood
of vipers, who warned you to fly from the retribution that is coming?’. But
his sarcasm doesn’t obscure his message about what true repentance is. He also
brooks no arrogance, pointing out the irony in their beliefs; ‘if you are
repentant, produce the appropriate fruit, and do not presume to tell
yourselves, “We have Abraham for our father,” because, I tell you, God can
raise children for Abraham from these stones.’
As
a person, John exudes self-awareness of his state, preaching from a place of
authority as prophet but profoundly humble in his comparison with Jesus as he
says, ‘the one who follows me is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit
to carry his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’ Out of all the people blessed with the
foreknowledge of Jesus’ work, John the Baptist shows us best how we can
approach our faith in the confidence of God’s plan. For death, where is thy sting?
The answer is that it’s lost in the knowledge of our logos.
In the end, John died for his faith. Herod took his head, but not his spirit and in
his violent death, he continued to be that most exemplary counterpart to the
life of Christ. Pope Benedict XVI describes John as ‘the prophet who concludes
the Old Testament and inaugurates the New, by identifying Jesus of Nazareth as
the Messiah, the Anointed One of the Lord.’ The great saint, Augustine of Hippo,
characterizes the complementary natures of John and Jesus by saying ‘John is
the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning. John is the voice
that lasts for a time; from the beginning, Christ is the Word who lives forever.’
Without the word, the voice is meaningless. Without the voice, the word cannot
be spoken.
Perhaps
this is what we might take from John’s example? That we are called to be the present
voice for the living word of God. In our words and deeds, we can give voice to
the truth that we have been privileged to have revealed to us. The cost of
being the voice may be high, but through our proclaiming of the word, we will
change the world. Our voices may only last for a time, but the truth we have
been given to share will last for eternity. I invite you to ask yourself what
truth God has given you to share? Undoubtedly, we all possess the faculties to
do so, otherwise, it would not have been given to us. Use them to the fullest!
If you don’t know how to find others who can guide you. But be confident that
when we surrender our voice to proclaiming God’s word, we do his work.
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