Word to the Wise
Thursday, December 10, 2020 - 2nd Week of Advent - Thurs
[Isa 41:13-20 and Matt 11:11-15]"Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come." [Matthew]
There is no doubt that the gospels considered John the Baptist to be an important figure, but a figure that could not be allowed to be more important than Jesus! A reading of the "infancy narrative" in the first chapter of the Gospel According to Luke shows a striking parallel between the events surrounding the births of Jesus and John. But Jesus is presented as the one John is born to introduce. There is some confusion in that Luke presents John as a "cousin" to Jesus, whereas Matthew seems to make Jesus a stranger to John. One must read the verses leading up to today's passage in which John sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come?" The gospels also seem to make Jesus initially as a disciple of John. When all is said and done, John the Baptist is a prophet who "prepares" the way for Jesus. His preparation is very colorful and could be said to be "violent" in its imagery. Certain messianic currents of Judaism at the time considered him to be the figure prophesied by Malachi 3:23.
In our own time, John the Baptist has been domesticated to a certain extent. Violent prophets can still attract followers, but they also attract law enforcement authorities! In John's case, he attracted the wrong kind of attention from Herod! The musical, "Godspell," turned John's message into a song we often hear in Advent, "Pre-e-e-pare ye the way of the Loooord!" All of this should not detract from the challenge of preparation that focuses on the coming of Christ, which has to compete with all the other kinds of cultural preparation for Christmas that our secular society presents. Do we allow Santa to triumph over Jesus? It might take a "violent" voice like John the Baptist to shake us up and refocus our attention on the true "reason for the season." AMEN