Gospel for December 11, 2022

This fresco is on the ceiling of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, and it was painted by Mattia Preti.
[Photo and caption by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 11:2-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

John the Baptist has experienced a serious transition in his life.  The prophet who roamed the desert, eating locusts and wild honey, preaching repentance and baptizing those who confessed their sins, has been arrested by Herod Antipas.

John has done what so many prophets before him and since have done — he has spoken truth to power.  And for his truth, he will suffer.  He has denounced Herod Antipas for the king’s immoral marriage to Herodias (she had been married to Herod Antipas’ brother Herod II. Herod Antipas had divorced his wife Phaesalis, and Herodias had divorced Herod II in order to marry each other). This was a violation of the Law of Moses.

Before his death, while John languished in Herod’s lonely, dank dungeon, he may have wondered whether he’d gotten it right after all.  John had baptized Jesus, inaugurating Jesus’ ministry.   He’d identified Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:36).  But after his arrest, he seemed to have a moment of doubt.  He sent some of his followers to ask Jesus:

Are you he who comes, or should we look for another? (Matthew 11:3).

Jesus reassures John by telling his followers:

Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Jesus doesn’t attempt to justify himself theologically by attesting to Scriptural prophecies and claiming that he has fulfilled them.  He points to his works.  Who else could do the remarkable works that he is doing except the Messiah?  And he seeks to encourage John’s flagging faith:

Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.

It is clear that John, like Jesus, had gathered disciples devoted to him and his teaching.  And Jesus honors his kinsman for his ministry and integrity.  Jesus recognizes that multitudes had come out into the wilderness drawn by John’s charismatic ministry.  With a rhetorical flourish, he tells them what they did not find:

A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses.

John was not a weak reed, blown to and fro and easily uprooted. There may be a double meaning here also — a reed was depicted on some of the coinage minted during Herod Antipas’ reign. Nor was John a rich man in soft clothes — a sly reference to the soft and comfortable king, perhaps.  No, John had chosen an ascetic lifestyle, and devotion to proclaiming God’s word:

 But why did you go out? To see a prophet?

Jesus confirms that John is a prophet — and much, much more:

Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.  For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

Jesus quotes Malachi 3:1, which describes the forerunner of the Messiah who is to come.  The belief in the ‘advance man’ who makes the preparations for the Messiah and announces his coming was very strong among the Jews at this time.  Malachi goes on to say:

 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse (Malachi 4:5-6).

Jesus proceeds to confirm in this same passage that John is the Elijah figure who is the sign that the Messiah has come:

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come (Matthew 11:1-14).

Jesus honors John for this role:

Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

The interpretation of the last phrase is a little tricky.  Does Jesus mean that he himself is the least of the Kingdom of Heaven, but is greater than John?  This would certainly be true based on the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.  How then is Jesus the least?  Again, a little later in this passage Jesus affirms his own humility:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29).

APPLY:  

Circumstances have a tendency to test our faith.  It is one thing to profess our faith when the crowds are big, the people around us are responding to the message of the Gospel, and we are sure of God’s presence and power.  It is quite another when we suffer adversity or persecution, or simply undergo setbacks.

John does the right thing, when he finds himself in Herod’s dungeon facing eventual death.  He seeks answers from Jesus himself.

When we are faced with discouragement, depression, defeat, we must do the same.  Search the Scriptures, study church history and the stories of the saints who have overcome through faith, look around us at the triumphant testimony of Christians around us, and remember what God has done in our own lives.

Then we can face whatever may come in our lives.

RESPOND: 

In my private devotions I have been praying through a book called The Book of Uncommon Prayer.  I ran across a poem in this unusual book by Victor Hugo that makes me think of the uncertainty that John the Baptist experienced:

LIFE UNCERTAIN
What matter it though life uncertain be
To all? What though its goal
Be never reached? What though it fall and flee —
Have we not each a soul?
Be like the bird that on a bough too frail
To bear him gaily swings;
He carols though the slender branches fail —
He knows he has wings!

We live in a time of uncertainty, in our nations, our culture, our churches, our lives.  We may feel at times that we are in a dungeon awaiting we know not what.  But we are reminded that we have wings, thanks to he who calls himself least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lord, when doubts come amidst uncertain times, remind me to look at what you have done — the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them — now and in the future that you are bringing.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
"St John the Baptist imprisoned" by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 4, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 3:1-12
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

John the Baptist is one of the most fascinating figures of the New Testament.  We know from Luke’s Gospel that he is the son of a priest named Zechariah  and his wife, Elizabeth; and that he was born when his mother was well past the normal childbearing age (Luke 1:5-25).  We also know that he is related to Jesus through the kinship of Elizabeth and Mary (Luke 1:36).  And also from Luke’s Gospel we know that John is dedicated to the Lord from childhood (Luke 1:15).  This may well have been a Nazirite vow, based on Yahweh’s prescription in Numbers 6:

When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried (Numbers 6:2-3).

However, as fascinating as all of this back story may be, Matthew’s Gospel simply begins with the announcement that:

In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Matthew does tell us a little about John’s eccentric lifestyle:

Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

The impression we have is of a rather wild preacher who lives off the land in the wilderness.

His message is very simple and direct:

 Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

This will be the same essential message that his kinsman Jesus will proclaim.   After Jesus has been baptized by John (Matthew 3:13-17) and has undergone testing by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11), and after John is arrested by King Herod (Matthew 4:12), Jesus begins to preach:

 Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17).

There is a significant difference, however.  John prepares the way for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus is the King whose presence reveals the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew links John’s ministry to the prophecies of the Old Testament.  Thus, John serves as a bridge between the Old Testament revelation and the New:

 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.”

This is a direct quote from Isaiah 40:3. John is perceived to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.  He is the forerunner and “advance man” for the coming of the Messiah, much the way an advance team might have announced the coming visit of a Middle Eastern king in ancient times.

John was obviously a magnetic and charismatic figure:

 people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.

They responded in great numbers to his message, and:

They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

Baptism was not unknown in Judaism prior to John’s baptism.  However, baptism was a rite observed for new converts to Judaism, usually seven days after they had been circumcised.  Baptism was interpreted as a ritual of purification and entry into the covenant community.

But John wasn’t baptizing Gentile converts — he was baptizing Jews, who were already part of the covenant of Israel with God!  Was he suggesting that their sins were so serious that they needed to come to repentance as though they were new converts?

There is also fascinating speculation that John may have been a member of the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect dwelling in the desert near the Dead Sea, who also practiced ritual washings.  They also taught an apocalyptic message concerning the future.  Was John an Essene?  We don’t know for sure.

In any event, it quickly becomes clear that his ministry is oppositional to the religious and political authorities of his day:

 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!”

The Pharisees and Sadducees, though bitter rivals with one another, represented the “establishment” of the day.  The Pharisees were a deeply devout sect that embraced the Law of Moses and the Writings and Prophets that are represented in the Old Testament today.  They also accepted what was called The Oral Law — these were interpretations of Scripture by respected Rabbis and their schools.  They believed in the hope of a Messiah, in the resurrection of the dead, and in angels.  And they were deeply devoted to their interpretation and rigorous application of the Law — their very name, Pharisee, means “separated ones.”  Hence, they could be extremely judgmental of infractions by other Jews who were not as scrupulous as they were.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, were far more conservative in their religious doctrine — they accepted only the Law of Moses as authoritative, and did not believe in a coming Messiah, or the resurrection, or angels.  They identified with the upper classes of social and religious elites in Jerusalem.  Their name was associated with Zadok, the first high priest to serve in the temple built by Solomon almost 1000 years earlier.

But so far as John is concerned, both groups are relying on their genealogical pedigree as descendants of Abraham instead of repentance from sin:

Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

Obviously, John’s language is quite vivid — first comparing these dignified religious leaders to snakes, and then using the metaphor of cutting down an unfruitful tree to describe what happens to those whose repentance bears no fruit:

Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

Still, John is aware of the contrast between himself as the voice in the wilderness and the coming Messiah.  His is a baptism of repentance symbolized by water, but the Messiah will bring a baptism in the Holy Spirit (and with fire in some early manuscripts):

I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

Finally, in his apocalyptic vision he uses a vision from agriculture:

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

After the wheat was harvested, it was brought to the threshing floor.  A large pitchfork was used to throw the wheat into the air — the chaff would blow away, and the heavier grains would fall back to the floor to be scooped up and stored.  The chaff that might be left would be useless, and would be burned.

Jesus uses similar language when he tells the parable of the enemy who comes and sows weeds among the good wheat.  When the wheat and the weeds grow up together, the owner of the field instructs his workers:

 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:30).

Clearly, John’s style may be more ‘wild’ and fiery; but his message is very similar to the message of Jesus.  Jesus requires repentance and warns of judgment, but he also offers what John cannot — the Holy Spirit and grace.   

APPLY:  

John the Baptist seems an unlikely figure to feature at the beginning of Advent.  He is a little wild, a little unpredictable, and preaches a “fire and brimstone” message.

We tend to forget that Advent was never designed to be a season of Christmas pageants and premature Christmas decorations.  Like Lent, Advent is intended to be a penitential season of self-examination and self-denial as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.

In that sense, John is a helpful reminder that the best way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to repent. And repentance doesn’t mean merely feeling remorse for our sins, but bearing fruit worthy of repentance.

This may mean giving up habits that take us away from God. It may mean seeking reconciliation in relationships with others. It may mean ministry to the poor and the hungry.

We don’t presume because we are children of Abraham, or good church members, that we have truly repented.  Repentance requires taking a “fearless moral inventory of our lives, and making amends” (to paraphrase the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous).

RESPOND: 

John the Baptist fascinates me.  Born into a priest’s home, to an older couple.  Dedicated from infancy to be separated to the Lord.  He never drank wine, or even ate grapes, but subsisted on locusts and wild honey that he presumably found in the wilderness!  Dressed in the rough clothing of a prophet, in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist.

This preacher begins a unique ministry, baptizing those who are already regarded as part of the covenant community; and preaching repentance to those regarded as holy!  And then he takes on the political powers of the day!

King Herod Antipas, the half Jewish, half Idumean Ethnarch of Galilee and Perea, has entered into a marriage that is contrary to the Law of Moses.  Already married to Phasaelis, the daughter of King Aretas of Nabatea, he divorces her to marry Herodias.  The problem there is that Herodias was married to Herod’s half-brother Herod II, who is still living.

John denounces this unlawful marriage, and is subsequently arrested and, finally, beheaded at the behest of the sensual Salome (the daughter of Herodias) who danced provocatively before Herod Antipas.  John was a man of such integrity that he was, in a sense, either the last martyr of the Old Testament or the first martyr of the New Testament!

What is most telling about the character and integrity of John is his humility and self-denial.  He was asked if he was the Messiah, if he could be the hope of Israel.

What a moment of temptation!  Like that moment when, in the Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins offers the Elvish Queen Galadriel the One Ring to Rule Them All for safekeeping.  In a moment she sees the terrible power she would have if she kept the ring and used it for herself.   She says:

In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me, and despair!”

Then she swiftly returns to herself, refusing to take the ring, and she declares: “I pass the test.”

Likewise, John recognizes his role in relationship to Jesus, and he declares:

 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.  He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:29-30).

John passes the test.

Lord, prepare the highway to our hearts. And may we prepare the way for others as we call our churches, our cities, our nations to repentance.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Saint John the Baptist" by wes hill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for July 11, 2021

A striking marble sculpture by Polish artist Igor Mitoraj of the Head of St John the Baptist. The sculpture, made in 2006, is in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome. [Photo & description by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 6:14-29
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In this passage, the prophet and the king collide.  Religion and politics intersect.  Moral authority and worldly power are in conflict.

The passage begins by informing us about John the Baptist’s fate.  Of course we have met this dynamic and charismatic prophet at the very beginning of Mark’s Gospel, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; and at Jesus’ request, he has inaugurated Jesus’ ministry by baptizing Jesus himself.

But as we say in the South, “he quit preachin’ and went to meddlin'” when he began to address a moral wrong in the palace of King Herod himself.

The passage begins by describing Herod’s intense interest in the ministry of Jesus — who is coming to his attention after Herod has executed John.  Speculation and rumors are wild — some believe that Jesus is Elijah, others that he is a prophet, like the Hebrew prophets of old.  But Herod is convinced that the only person capable of performing the miracles that are attributed to Jesus is one man:

“John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

Then Mark describes the circumstances that led to John’s execution.  John, in his prophetic role, had publicly denounced the marriage of Herod and Herodias. Herodias had divorced Herod’s own brother, Philip, and married Herod.

Some background is necessary to make sense of this.  Let’s let the Reformation Study Bible clarify this:  “Herodias was a daughter of Aristobulus, one of the sons of Herod the Great. Other sons of Herod the Great included Herod Antipas and Herod Philip (by different wives). After marrying her half-uncle Herod Philip, Herodias left him for an adulterous relationship with his brother, Herod Antipas. Such were the loose morals, typical of the Herodian dynasty, against which John the Baptist preached.”

John’s problem with the marriage of Herod to Herodias is that it was clearly incestous, and not permitted by Mosaic Law (cf. Leviticus 18:16, 20).  As the head of state in Galilee and Perea, ruling over the Jewish people, he was violating Jewish religious law.  Obviously, to John the Baptist, the head of state had a moral obligation to set an example and live a moral life.

Curiously, King Herod found this eccentric preacher admirable! One can only imagine Queen Herodias nagging Herod and trying to persuade him to execute the Prophet. She was personally offended at his moralizing.  And yet:

 Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

Still, he has John arrested and imprisoned.

[We may be reminded of another member of the House of Herod who will come many years later, when the Apostle Paul is arrested and must defend himself before the Roman Procurator Festus, and King Agrippa and his sister/wife Bernice. Herod Agrippa II was the son of Agrippa I and great-grandson of Herod the Great, and Bernice was the oldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, Agrippa’s own sister! So this will not be the last time a holy man will have to confront the royal house of the Herods! (Acts 25-25).  And like Herod Antipas, Herod Agrippa finds the man of God to be strangely compelling.]

However, Herod’s attempts to protect John the Baptist are thwarted when his wife Herodias finds his “Achilles Heel.”  Is it lust, or merely indulgence of his niece/daughter Salome? What we know is that Herod makes a rash vow when Salome dances before Herod and his dinner guests.

Was he serious in offering up to half my kingdom?  If so, how intense must the hatred of Herodias have been for John the Baptist, when she tells her daughter to say:

 “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

For the sake of his pride, Herod will not revoke his oath, although he was greatly distressed. John is beheaded, the first martyr of the New Testament.

Mark’s Gospel further adds:

  John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

This is significant because John was a powerful voice for God, preparing the way for the Messiah at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry:

“After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8).

John’s death forecasts the cross of Jesus; and the need for the followers of John to now begin to follow Jesus.

APPLY:  

In American culture, the relationship between religion and politics is complicated.  Many cite the First Amendment of the Constitution as justification for a “wall of separation” between church and state — as Thomas Jefferson once wrote in a letter to Baptist pastors.

However, on issues of morality, does the church not have a moral imperative to speak?  Do pastors not have an obligation to speak on issues they deem to have moral implications?

The answer throughout American history has been unequivocally clear.  American Christians have spoken out on issues of slavery, civil rights, women’s rights, child labor, abortion, the environment, homosexuality.

Whatever the President, the Congress, or the Supreme Court may do is one thing.  What Christians must do is dictated by a Higher Law.  Christians cannot avoid the tough call on moral issues that are decided by our representatives and our judges.

In our country, however, freedom of speech is guaranteed by the same First Amendment that separates church and state.  Dissent does not result in state-sponsored martyrdom!

The same can’t be said for Christians who speak up for their faith in many places around the world — Indonesia, the Middle East, Africa, for example.

The bottom line is that Christians must be prepared to “speak truth to power” on moral issues, even if there are consequences.  However, I am quick to add that we must always speak  the truth in love, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:15.

RESPOND: 

Speaking out about the moral issues of our day, especially when our elected officials or our appointed judiciary or our culture seem to be trending away from our own values, can be difficult.

We do well to remember that John found it not only difficult.  He found it to be fatal.

If we are clear in our own minds about two things, we should be ok.  As I cited above — speak the truth in love.  If our speech is grounded in the Holy Scriptures as we understand them, and if we always season our speech with love rather than condemnation or judgment, we will at least maintain a healthy balance.

But speak we must if we are to be faithful in this our time.

Lord, clarify my thoughts so that I speak according to your will and not spout my own fallible opinions. But at the same time, give me the courage to speak the truth in love about the moral issues of our day.  Even if it means being unpopular.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Decollation” by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 15, 2019

This fresco is on the ceiling of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, and it was painted by Mattia Preti.
[Photo and caption by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 11:2-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

John the Baptist has experienced a serious transition in his life.  The prophet who roamed the desert, eating locusts and wild honey, preaching repentance and baptizing those who confessed their sins, has been arrested by Herod Antipas.

John has done what so many prophets before him and since have done — he has spoken truth to power.  And for his truth, he will suffer.  He has denounced Herod Antipas for the king’s immoral marriage to Herodias (she had been married to Herod Antipas’ brother Herod II. Herod Antipas had divorced his wife Phaesalis, and Herodias had divorced Herod II in order to marry each other). This was a violation of the Law of Moses.

Before his death, while John languished in Herod’s lonely, dank dungeon, he may have wondered whether he’d gotten it right after all.  John had baptized Jesus, inaugurating Jesus’  ministry.   He’d identified Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:36).  But after his arrest, he seemed to have a moment of doubt.  He sent some of his followers to ask Jesus:

Are you he who comes, or should we look for another? (Matthew 11:3).

Jesus reassures John by telling his followers:

Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,  the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Jesus doesn’t attempt to justify himself theologically by attesting to Scriptural prophecies and claiming that he has fulfilled them.  He points to his works.  Who else could do the remarkable works that he is doing except the Messiah?  And he seeks to encourage John’s flagging faith:

Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.

It is clear that John, like Jesus, had gathered disciples devoted to him and his teaching.  And Jesus honors his kinsman for his ministry and integrity.  Jesus recognizes that multitudes had come out into the wilderness drawn by John’s charismatic ministry.  With a rhetorical flourish, he tells them what they did not find:

A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses.

John was not a weak reed, blown to and fro and easily uprooted. There may be a double meaning here also — a reed was depicted on some of the coinage minted during Herod Antipas’ reign. Nor was John a rich man in soft clothes — a sly reference to the soft and comfortable king, perhaps.  No, John had chosen an ascetic lifestyle, and devotion to proclaiming God’s word:

 But why did you go out? To see a prophet?

Jesus confirms that John is a prophet — and much, much more:

Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.  For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

Jesus quotes Malachi 3:1, which describes the forerunner of the Messiah who is to come.  The belief in the ‘advance man’  who makes the preparations for the Messiah and announces his coming was very strong among the Jews at this time.  Malachi goes on to say:

 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse (Malachi 4:5-6).

Jesus proceeds to confirm in this same passage that John is the Elijah figure who is the sign that the Messiah has come:

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come (Matthew 11:1-14).

Jesus honors John for this role:

Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

The interpretation of the last phrase is a little tricky.  Does Jesus mean that he himself is the least of the Kingdom of Heaven, but is greater than John?  This would certainly be true based on the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.  How then is Jesus the least?  Again, a little later in this passage Jesus affirms his own humility:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29).

APPLY:  

Circumstances have a tendency to test our faith.  It is one thing to profess our faith when the crowds are big, the people around us are responding to the message of the Gospel, and we are sure of God’s presence and power.  It is quite another when we suffer adversity or persecution, or simply undergo setbacks.

John does the right thing, when he finds himself in Herod’s dungeon facing eventual death.  He seeks answers from Jesus himself.

When we are faced with discouragement, depression, defeat, we must do the same.  Search the Scriptures, study church history and the stories of the saints who have overcome through faith, look around us at the triumphant testimony of Christians around us, and remember what God has done in our own lives.

Then we can face whatever may come in our lives.

RESPOND: 

In my private devotions I have been praying through a book called The Book of Uncommon Prayer.  I ran across a poem in this unusual book by Victor Hugo that makes me think of the uncertainty that John the Baptist experienced:

LIFE UNCERTAIN
What matter it though life uncertain be
To all? What though its goal
Be never reached? What though it fall and flee —
Have we not each a soul?
Be like the bird that on a bough too frail
To bear him gaily swings;
He carols though the slender branches fail —
He knows he has wings!

We live in a time of uncertainty, in our nations, our culture, our churches, our lives.  We may feel at times that we are in a dungeon awaiting we know not what.  But we are reminded that we have wings, thanks to he who calls himself  least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lord, when doubts come amidst uncertain times, remind me to look at what you have done — the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them — now and in the future that you are bringing.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
"St John the Baptist imprisoned" by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 8, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 3:1-12
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

John the Baptist is one of the most fascinating figures of the New Testament.  We know from Luke’s Gospel that he is the son of a priest named  Zechariah  and his wife, Elizabeth; and that he was born when his mother was well past the normal childbearing age (Luke 1:5-25).  We also know that he is related to Jesus through the kinship of Elizabeth and Mary (Luke 1:36).  And also from Luke’s Gospel we know that John is dedicated to the Lord from childhood (Luke 1:15).  This may well have been a Nazirite vow, based on Yahweh’s prescription in Numbers 6:

When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried (Numbers 6:2-3).

However, as fascinating as all of this back story may be, Matthew’s Gospel simply begins with the announcement that:

In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Matthew  does tell us a little about John’s eccentric lifestyle:

Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

The impression we have is of a rather wild preacher who lives off the land in the wilderness.

His message is very simple and direct:

 Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

This will be the same essential message that his kinsman Jesus will proclaim.   After Jesus has been baptized by John (Matthew 3:13-17) and has undergone testing by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11), and after John is arrested by King Herod (Matthew 4:12), Jesus begins to preach:

 Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17).

There is a significant difference, however.  John prepares the way for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus is the King whose presence reveals the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew links John’s ministry to the prophecies of the Old Testament.  Thus, John serves as a bridge between the Old Testament revelation and the New:

 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.”

This is a direct quote from Isaiah 40:3.  John is perceived to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.  He is the forerunner and “advance man” for the coming of the Messiah, much the way an advance team might have announced the coming visit of a Middle Eastern king in ancient times.

John was obviously a magnetic and charismatic figure:

 people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.

They responded in great numbers to his message, and:

They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

Baptism was not unknown in Judaism prior to John’s baptism.  However, baptism was a rite observed for new converts to Judaism, usually seven days after they had been circumcised.  Baptism was interpreted as a ritual of purification and entry into the covenant community.

But John wasn’t baptizing Gentile converts — he was baptizing Jews, who were already part of the covenant of Israel with God!  Was he suggesting that their sins were so serious that they needed to come to repentance as though they were new converts?

There is also fascinating speculation that John may have been a member of the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect dwelling in the desert near the Dead Sea, who also practiced ritual washings.  They also taught an apocalyptic message concerning the future.  Was John an Essene?  We don’t know for sure.

In any event, it quickly becomes clear that his ministry is oppositional to the religious and political authorities of his day:

 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!”

The Pharisees and Sadducees, though bitter rivals with one another, represented the “establishment” of the day.  The Pharisees were a deeply devout sect that embraced the Law of Moses and the Writings and Prophets that are represented in the Old Testament today.  They also accepted what was called The Oral Law — these were interpretations of Scripture by respected Rabbis and their schools.  They believed in the hope of a Messiah, in the resurrection of the dead, and in angels.  And they were deeply devoted to their interpretation and rigorous application of the Law — their very name, Pharisee, means “separated ones.”  Hence, they could be extremely judgmental of infractions by other Jews who were not as scrupulous as they were.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, were far more conservative in their religious doctrine — they accepted only the Law of Moses as authoritative, and did not believe in a coming Messiah, or the resurrection, or angels.  They identified with the upper classes of social and religious elites in Jerusalem.  Their name was associated with Zadok, the first high priest to serve in the temple built by Solomon almost 1000 years earlier.

But so far as John is concerned, both groups are relying on their genealogical pedigree as descendants of Abraham instead of repentance from sin:

Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

Obviously, John’s language is quite vivid — first comparing these dignified religious leaders to snakes, and then using the metaphor of cutting down an unfruitful tree to describe what happens to those whose repentance bears no fruit:

Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

Still, John is aware of the contrast between himself as the voice in the wilderness and the coming Messiah.  His is a baptism of repentance symbolized by water, but the Messiah will bring a baptism in the Holy Spirit (and with fire in some early manuscripts):

I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

Finally, in his apocalyptic vision he uses a vision from agriculture:

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

After the wheat was harvested, it was brought to the threshing floor.  A large pitch fork was used to throw the wheat into the air — the chaff would blow away, and the heavier grains would fall back to the floor to be scooped up and stored.  The chaff that might be left would be useless, and would be burned.

Jesus uses similar language when he tells the parable of the enemy who comes and sows weeds among the good wheat.  When the wheat and the weeds grow up together, the owner of the field instructs his workers:

 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:30).

Clearly, John’s style may be more ‘wild’ and fiery; but his message is very similar to the message of Jesus.  Jesus requires repentance and warns of judgment, but he also offers what John cannot — the Holy Spirit and grace.   

APPLY:  

John the Baptist seems an unlikely figure to feature at the beginning of Advent.  He is a little wild, a little unpredictable, and preaches a “fire and brimstone” message.

We tend to forget that Advent was never designed to be a season of Christmas pageants and premature Christmas decorations.  Like Lent, Advent is intended to be a penitential season of self-examination and self-denial as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.

In that sense, John is a helpful reminder that the best way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to repent. And repentance doesn’t mean merely feeling remorse for our sins, but bearing fruit worthy of repentance.

This may mean giving up habits that take us away from God. It may mean seeking reconciliation in relationships with others. It may mean ministry to the poor and the hungry.

We don’t presume because we are children of Abraham, or good church members, that we have truly repented.  Repentance requires taking a “fearless moral inventory of our lives, and making amends” ( to paraphrase the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous).

RESPOND: 

John the Baptist fascinates me.  Born into a priest’s home, to an older couple.  Dedicated from infancy to be separated to the Lord.  He never drank wine, or even ate grapes, but subsisted on locusts and wild honey that he presumably found in the wilderness!  Dressed in the rough clothing of a prophet, in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist.

This preacher begins a unique ministry, baptizing those who are already regarded as part of the covenant community; and preaching repentance to those regarded as holy!  And then he takes on the political powers of the day!

King Herod Antipas, the half Jewish, half Idumean Ethnarch of Galilee and Perea, has entered into a marriage that is contrary to the Law of Moses.  Already married to Phasaelis, the daughter of King Aretas of Nabatea, he divorces her to marry Herodias.  The problem there is that Herodias was married to Herod’s half-brother Herod II, who is still living.

John denounces this unlawful marriage, and is subsequently arrested and, finally, beheaded at the behest of the sensual Salome (the daughter of Herodias) who danced provocatively before Herod Antipas.  John was a man of such integrity that he was, in a sense, either the last martyr of the Old Testament or the first martyr of the New Testament!

What is most telling about the character and integrity of John is his humility and self-denial.  He was asked if he was the Messiah, if he could be the hope of Israel.

What a moment of temptation!  Like that moment when, in the Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins offers the Elvish Queen Galadriel the One Ring to Rule Them All for safekeeping.  In a moment she sees the terrible power she would have if she kept the ring and used it for herself.   She says:

In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me, and despair!”

Then she swiftly returns to herself, refusing to take the ring, and she declares: “I pass the test.”

Likewise, John recognizes his role in relationship to Jesus, and he declares:

 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.  He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:29-30).

John passes the test.

Lord, prepare the highway to our hearts. And may we prepare the way for others as we call our churches, our cities, our nations to repentance.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Saint John the Baptist" by wes hill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for July 15, 2018

A striking marble sculpture by Polish artist Igor Mitoraj of the Head of St John the Baptist. The sculpture, made in 2006, is in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome. [Photo & description by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 6:14-29
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In this passage, the prophet and the king collide.  Religion and politics intersect.  Moral authority and worldly power are in conflict.

The passage begins by informing us about John the Baptist’s fate.  Of course we have met this dynamic and charismatic prophet at the very beginning of Mark’s Gospel, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; and at Jesus’ request, he has inaugurated Jesus’ ministry by baptizing Jesus himself.

But as we say in the South, “he quit preachin’ and went to meddlin'” when he began to address a moral wrong in the palace of King Herod himself.

The passage begins by describing Herod’s intense  interest in the ministry of Jesus — who is coming to his attention after Herod has executed John.  Speculation and rumors are wild — some believe that Jesus is Elijah, others that he is a prophet, like the Hebrew prophets of old.  But Herod is convinced that the only person capable of performing the miracles that are attributed to Jesus is one man:

“John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

Then Mark describes the circumstances that led to John’s execution.  John, in his prophetic role, had publicly denounced the marriage of Herod and Herodias. Herodias had divorced Herod’s own brother, Philip, and married Herod.

Some background is necessary to make sense of this.  Let’s let the Reformation Study Bible clarify this:  “Herodias was a daughter of Aristobulus, one of the sons of Herod the Great. Other sons of Herod the Great included Herod Antipas and Herod Philip (by different wives). After marrying her half-uncle Herod Philip, Herodias left him for an adulterous relationship with his brother, Herod Antipas. Such were the loose morals, typical of the Herodian dynasty, against which John the Baptist preached.”

John’s problem with the marriage of Herod to Herodias is that it was clearly incestous, and not permitted by Mosaic Law (cf. Leviticus 18:16, 20).  As the head of state in Galilee and Perea, ruling over the Jewish people, he was violating Jewish religious law.  Obviously, to John the Baptist, the head of state had a moral obligation to set an example and live a moral life.

Curiously, King Herod found this eccentric preacher admirable! One can only imagine Queen Herodias nagging Herod and trying to persuade him to execute the Prophet. She was personally offended at his moralizing.  And yet:

 Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

Still, he has John arrested and imprisoned.

We may be reminded of another member of the House of Herod who will come  many years later, when the Apostle Paul is arrested and must defend himself before the Roman Procurator Festus, and King Agrippa and his sister/wife Bernice — Herod Agrippa II was the son of Agrippa I and  great-grandson of Herod the Great, and Bernice was the oldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, Agrippa’s own sister! So this will not be the last time a holy man will have to confront the royal house of the Herods! (Acts 25-25).  And like Herod Antipas, Herod Agrippa finds the man of God to be strangely compelling.

However, Herod’s attempts to protect John the Baptist are thwarted when his wife Herodias finds his “Achilles Heel.”  Is it lust, or merely indulgence of his niece/daughter Salome? What we know is that Herod makes a rash vow when Salome dances before Herod and his dinner guests.

Was he serious in offering up to half my kingdom?  If so, how intense must the hatred of Herodias have been for John the Baptist, when she tells her daughter to say:

 “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

For the sake of his pride, Herod will not revoke his oath, although he was greatly distressed. John is beheaded, the first martyr of the New Testament.

Mark’s Gospel further adds:

  John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

This is significant because John was a powerful voice for God, preparing the way for the Messiah at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry:

“After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8).

John’s death forecasts the cross of Jesus; and the need for the followers of John to now begin to follow Jesus.

APPLY:  

In American culture, the relationship between religion and politics is complicated.  Many cite the First Amendment of the Constitution as justification for a “wall of separation” between church and state — as Thomas Jefferson once wrote in a letter to Baptist pastors.

However, on issues of morality, does the church not have a moral imperative to speak?  Do pastors not have an obligation to speak on issues they deem to have moral implications?

The answer throughout American history has been unequivocally clear.  American Christians have spoken out on issues of slavery, civil rights, women’s rights, child labor, abortion, the environment, homosexuality.

Whatever the President, the Congress, or the Supreme Court may do is one thing.  What Christians must do is dictated by a Higher Law.  Christians cannot avoid the tough call on moral issues that are decided by our representatives and our judges.

In our country, however, freedom of speech is guaranteed by the same First Amendment that separates church and state.  Dissent does not result in state-sponsored martyrdom!

The same can’t be said for Christians who speak up for their faith in many places around the world: Indonesia, the Middle East, Africa, for example.

The bottom line is that Christians must be prepared to “speak truth to power” on moral issues, even if there are consequences.  However, I am quick to add that we must always speak  the truth in love, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:15.

RESPOND: 

Speaking out about the moral issues of our day, especially when our elected officials or our appointed judiciary or our culture seem to be trending away from our own values, can be difficult.

We do well to remember that John found it not only difficult.  He found it to be fatal.

If we are clear in our own minds about two things, we should be ok.  As I cited above — speak the truth in love.  If our speech is grounded in the Holy Scriptures as we understand them, and if we always season our speech with love rather than condemnation or judgment, we will at least maintain a healthy balance.

But speak we must if we are to be faithful in this our time.

Lord, clarify my thoughts so that I speak according to your will and not spout my own fallible opinions. But at the same time, give me the courage to speak the truth in love about the moral issues of our day.  Even if it means being unpopular.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Decollation” by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 11, 2016

This fresco is on the ceiling of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, and it was painted by Mattia Preti.
[Photo and caption by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 11:2-11

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

John the Baptist has experienced a serious transition in his life.  The prophet who roamed the desert, eating locusts and wild honey, preaching repentance and baptizing those who confessed their sins, has been arrested by Herod Antipas.

John has done what so many prophets before him and since have done — he has spoken truth to power.  And for his truth, he will suffer.  He has denounced Herod Antipas for the king’s immoral marriage to Herodias (she had been married to Herod Antipas’ brother Herod II. Herod Antipas had divorced his wife Phaesalis, and Herodias had divorced Herod II in order to marry each other). This was a violation of the Law of Moses.

Before his death, while John languished in Herod’s lonely, dank dungeon, he may have wondered whether he’d gotten it right after all.  John had baptized Jesus, inaugurating Jesus’  ministry.   He’d identified Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:36).  But after his arrest, he seemed to have a moment of doubt.  He sent some of his followers to ask Jesus:

Are you he who comes, or should we look for another? (Matthew 11:3).

Jesus reassures John by telling his followers:

Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,  the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Jesus doesn’t attempt to justify himself theologically by attesting to Scriptural prophecies and claiming that he has fulfilled them.  He points to his works.  Who else could do the remarkable works that he is doing except the Messiah?  And he seeks to encourage John’s flagging faith:

Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.

It is clear that John, like Jesus, had gathered disciples devoted to him and his teaching.  And Jesus honors his kinsman for his ministry and integrity.  Jesus recognizes that multitudes had come out into the wilderness drawn by John’s charismatic ministry.  With a rhetorical flourish, he tells them what they did not find:

A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses.

John was not a weak reed, blown to and fro and easily uprooted. There may be a double meaning here also — a reed was depicted on some of the coinage minted during Herod Antipas’ reign. Nor was John a rich man in soft clothes — a sly reference to the soft and comfortable king, perhaps.  No, John had chosen an ascetic lifestyle, and devotion to proclaiming God’s word:

 But why did you go out? To see a prophet?

Jesus confirms that John is a prophet — and much, much more:

Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.  For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

Jesus quotes Malachi 3:1, which describes the forerunner of the Messiah who is to come.  The belief in the ‘advance man’  who makes the preparations for the Messiah and announces his coming was very strong among the Jews at this time.  Malachi goes on to say:

 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse (Malachi 4:5-6).

Jesus proceeds to confirm in this same passage that John is the Elijah figure who is the sign that the Messiah has come:

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come (Matthew 11:1-14).

Jesus honors John for this role:

Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

The interpretation of the last phrase is a little tricky.  Does Jesus mean that he himself is the least of the Kingdom of Heaven, but is greater than John?  This would certainly be true based on the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.  How then is Jesus the least?  Again, a little later in this passage Jesus affirms his own humility:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29).

APPLY:  

Circumstances have a tendency to test our faith.  It is one thing to profess our faith when the crowds are big, the people around us are responding to the message of the Gospel, and we are sure of God’s presence and power.  It is quite another when we suffer adversity or persecution, or simply undergo setbacks.

John does the right thing, when he finds himself in Herod’s dungeon facing eventual death.  He seeks answers from Jesus himself.

When we are faced with discouragement, depression, defeat, we must do the same.  Search the Scriptures, study church history and the stories of the saints who have overcome through faith, look around us at the triumphant testimony of Christians around us, and remember what God has done in our own lives.

Then we can face whatever may come in our lives.

RESPOND: 

In my private devotions I have been praying through a book called The Book of Uncommon Prayer.  I ran across a poem in this unusual book by Victor Hugo that makes me think of the uncertainty that John the Baptist experienced:

LIFE UNCERTAIN
What matter it though life uncertain be
To all? What though its goal
Be never reached? What though it fall and flee —
Have we not each a soul?
Be like the bird that on a bough too frail
To bear him gaily swings;
He carols though the slender branches fail —
He knows he has wings!

We live in a time of uncertainty, in our nations, our culture, our churches, our lives.  We may feel at times that we are in a dungeon awaiting we know not what.  But we are reminded that we have wings, thanks to he who calls himself  least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lord, when doubts come amidst uncertain times, remind me to look at what you have done — the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them — now and in the future that you are bringing.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
"St John the Baptist imprisoned" by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 4, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 3:1-12

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

John the Baptist is one of the most fascinating figures of the New Testament.  We know from Luke’s Gospel that he is the son of a priest named  Zechariah  and his wife, Elizabeth; and that he was born when his mother was well past the normal childbearing age (Luke 1:5-25).  We also know that he is related to Jesus through the kinship of Elizabeth and Mary (Luke 1:36).  And also from Luke’s Gospel we know that John is dedicated to the Lord from childhood (Luke 1:15).  This may well have been a Nazirite vow, based on Yahweh’s prescription in Numbers 6:

When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried (Numbers 6:2-3).

However, as fascinating as all of this back story may be, Matthew’s Gospel simply begins with the announcement that:

In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Matthew  does tell us a little about John’s eccentric lifestyle:

Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

The impression we have is of a rather wild preacher who lives off the land in the wilderness.

His message is very simple and direct:

 Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

This will be the same essential message that his kinsman Jesus will proclaim.   After Jesus has been baptized by John (Matthew 3:13-17) and has undergone testing by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11), and after John is arrested by King Herod (Matthew 4:12), Jesus begins to preach:

 Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17).

There is a significant difference, however.  John prepares the way for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus is the King whose presence reveals the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew links John’s ministry to the prophecies of the Old Testament.  Thus, John serves as a bridge between the Old Testament revelation and the New:

 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.”

This is a direct quote from Isaiah 40:3.  John is perceived to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.  He is the forerunner and “advance man” for the coming of the Messiah, much the way an advance team might have announced the coming visit of a Middle Eastern king in ancient times.

John was obviously a magnetic and charismatic figure:

 people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.

They responded in great numbers to his message, and:

They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

Baptism was not unknown in Judaism prior to John’s baptism.  However, baptism was a rite observed for new converts to Judaism, usually seven days after they had been circumcised.  Baptism was interpreted as a ritual of purification and entry into the covenant community.

But John wasn’t baptizing Gentile converts — he was baptizing Jews, who were already part of the covenant of Israel with God!  Was he suggesting that their sins were so serious that they needed to come to repentance as though they were new converts?

There is also fascinating speculation that John may have been a member of the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect dwelling in the desert near the Dead Sea, who also practiced ritual washings.  They also taught an apocalyptic message concerning the future.  Was John an Essene?  We don’t know for sure.

In any event, it quickly becomes clear that his ministry is oppositional to the religious and political authorities of his day:

 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!”

The Pharisees and Sadducees, though bitter rivals with one another, represented the “establishment” of the day.  The Pharisees were a deeply devout sect that embraced the Law of Moses and the Writings and Prophets that are represented in the Old Testament today.  They also accepted what was called The Oral Law — these were interpretations of Scripture by respected Rabbis and their schools.  They believed in the hope of a Messiah, in the resurrection of the dead, and in angels.  And they were deeply devoted to their interpretation and rigorous application of the Law — their very name, Pharisee, means “separated ones.”  Hence, they could be extremely judgmental of infractions by other Jews who were not as scrupulous as they were.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, were far more conservative in their religious doctrine — they accepted only the Law of Moses as authoritative, and did not believe in a coming Messiah, or the resurrection, or angels.  They identified with the upper classes of social and religious elites in Jerusalem.  Their name was associated with Zadok, the first high priest to serve in the temple built by Solomon almost 1000 years earlier.

But so far as John is concerned, both groups are relying on their genealogical pedigree as descendants of Abraham instead of repentance from sin:

Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

Obviously, John’s language is quite vivid — first comparing these dignified religious leaders to snakes, and then using the metaphor of cutting down an unfruitful tree to describe what happens to those whose repentance bears no fruit:

Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

Still, John is aware of the contrast between himself as the voice in the wilderness and the coming Messiah.  His is a baptism of repentance symbolized by water, but the Messiah will bring a baptism in the Holy Spirit (and with fire in some early manuscripts):

I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

Finally, in his apocalyptic vision he uses a vision from agriculture:

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

After the wheat was harvested, it was brought to the threshing floor.  A large pitch fork was used to throw the wheat into the air — the chaff would blow away, and the heavier grains would fall back to the floor to be scooped up and stored.  The chaff that might be left would be useless, and would be burned.

Jesus uses similar language when he tells the parable of the enemy who comes and sows weeds among the good wheat.  When the wheat and the weeds grow up together, the owner of the field instructs his workers:

 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:30).

Clearly, John’s style may be more ‘wild’ and fiery; but his message is very similar to the message of Jesus.  Jesus requires repentance and warns of judgment, but he also offers what John cannot — the Holy Spirit and grace.   

APPLY:  

John the Baptist seems an unlikely figure to feature at the beginning of Advent.  He is a little wild, a little unpredictable, and preaches a “fire and brimstone” message.

We tend to forget that Advent was never designed to be a season of Christmas pageants and premature Christmas decorations.  Like Lent, Advent is intended to be a penitential season of self-examination and self-denial as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.

In that sense, John is a helpful reminder that the best way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to repent. And repentance doesn’t mean merely feeling remorse for our sins, but bearing fruit worthy of repentance.

This may mean giving up habits that take us away from God. It may mean seeking reconciliation in relationships with others. It may mean ministry to the poor and the hungry.

We don’t presume because we are children of Abraham, or good church members, that we have truly repented.  Repentance requires taking a “fearless moral inventory of our lives, and making amends” ( to paraphrase the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous).

RESPOND: 

John the Baptist fascinates me.  Born into a priest’s home, to an older couple.  Dedicated from infancy to be separated to the Lord.  He never drank wine, or even ate grapes, but subsisted on locusts and wild honey that he presumably found in the wilderness!  Dressed in the rough clothing of a prophet, in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist.

This preacher begins a unique ministry, baptizing those who are already regarded as part of the covenant community; and preaching repentance to those regarded as holy!  And then he takes on the political powers of the day!

King Herod Antipas, the half Jewish, half Idumean Ethnarch of Galilee and Perea, has entered into a marriage that is contrary to the Law of Moses.  Already married to Phasaelis, the daughter of King Aretas of Nabatea, he divorces her to marry Herodias.  The problem there is that Herodias was married to Herod’s half-brother Herod II, who is still living.

John denounces this unlawful marriage, and is subsequently arrested and, finally, beheaded at the behest of the sensual Salome (the daughter of Herodias) who danced provocatively before Herod Antipas.  John was a man of such integrity that he was, in a sense, either the last martyr of the Old Testament or the first martyr of the New Testament!

What is most telling about the character and integrity of John is his humility and self-denial.  He was asked if he was the Messiah, if he could be the hope of Israel.

What a moment of temptation!  Like that moment when, in the Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins offers the Elvish Queen Galadriel the One Ring to Rule Them All for safekeeping.  In a moment she sees the terrible power she would have if she kept the ring and used it for herself.   She says:

In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me, and despair!”

Then she swiftly returns to herself, refusing to take the ring, and she declares: “I pass the test.”

Likewise, John recognizes his role in relationship to Jesus, and he declares:

 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.  He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:29-30).

John passes the test.

Lord, prepare the highway to our hearts. And may we prepare the way for others as we call our churches, our cities, our nations to repentance.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Saint John the Baptist" by wes hill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for July 12, 2015

A striking marble sculpture by Polish artist Igor Mitoraj of the Head of St John the Baptist. The sculpture, made in 2006, is in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome. Photo & description by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Mark 6:14-29

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OBSERVE:

In this passage, the prophet and the king collide.  Religion and politics intersect.  Moral authority and worldly power are in conflict.

The passage begins by informing us about John the Baptist’s fate.  Of course we have met this dynamic and charismatic prophet at the very beginning of Mark’s Gospel, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; and at Jesus’ request, he has inaugurated Jesus’ ministry by baptizing Jesus himself.

But as we say in the South, “he quite preachin’ and went to meddlin'” when he began to address a moral wrong in the palace of King Herod himself.

The passage begins by describing Herod’s intense  interest in the ministry of Jesus — who is coming to his attention after Herod has executed John.  Speculation and rumors are wild — some believe that Jesus is Elijah, others that he is a prophet, like the Hebrew prophets of old.  But Herod is convinced that the only person capable of performing the miracles that are attributed to Jesus is one man:  “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

Then Mark describes the circumstances that led to John’s execution.  John, in his prophetic role, had publically denounced the marriage of Herod and Herodias. Herodias had divorced Herod’s own brother, Philip, and married Herod.

Some background is necessary to make sense of this.  Let’s let the Reformation Study Bible clarify this:  “Herodias was a daughter of Aristobulus, one of the sons of Herod the Great. Other sons of Herod the Great included Herod Antipas and Herod Philip (by different wives). After marrying her half-uncle Herod Philip, Herodias left him for an adulterous relationship with his brother, Herod Antipas. Such were the loose morals, typical of the Herodian dynasty, against which John the Baptist preached.”

John’s problem with the marriage of Herod to Herodias is that it was clearly incestous, and not permitted by Mosaic Law (cf. Leviticus 18:16, 20).  As the head of state in Galilee and Perea, ruling over the Jewish people, he was violating Jewish religious law.  Obviously, to John the Baptist, the head of state had a moral obligation to set an example and live a moral life.

Curiously, King Herod found this eccentric preacher admirable! One can only imagine Queen Herodias nagging Herod and trying to persuade him to execute the Prophet. She was personally offended at his moralizing.  And yet,  Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Still, he has John arrested and imprisoned.

We may be reminded of another member of the House of Herod who will come  many years later, when the Apostle Paul is arrested and must defend himself before the Roman Procurator Festus, and King Agrippa and his sister/wife Bernice — Herod Agrippa II was the son of Agrippa I and  great-grandson of Herod the Great, and Bernice was the oldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, Agrippa’s own sister! So this will not be the last time a holy man will have to confront the royal house of the Herods! (Acts 25-25).  And like Herod Antipas, Herod Agrippa finds the man of God to be strangely compelling.

However, Herod’s attempts to protect John the Baptist are thwarted when his wife Herodias finds his “Achilles Heel.”  Is it lust, or merely indulgence of his niece/daughter Salome? What we know is that Herod makes a rash vow when Salome dances before Herod and his dinner guests.

Was he serious in offering up to half my kingdom?  If so, how intense must the hatred of Herodias have been for John the Baptist, when she tells her daughter to say “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

For the sake of his pride, Herod will not revoke his oath, although he was greatly distressed. John is beheaded, the first martyr of the New Testament.

Mark’s Gospel further adds  John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

This is significant because John was a powerful voice for God, preparing the way for the Messiah at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8).  John’s death forecasts the cross of Jesus; and the need for the followers of John to now begin to follow Jesus.

 

APPLY:  

In American culture, the relationship between religion and politics is complicated.  Many cite the First Amendment of the Constitution as justification for a “wall of separation” between church and state — as Thomas Jefferson once wrote in a letter to Baptist pastors.

However, on issues of morality, does the church not have a moral imperative to speak?  Do pastors not have an obligation to speak on issues they deem to have moral implications?

The answer throughout American history has been unequivocally clear.  American Christians have spoken out on issues of slavery, civil rights, women’s rights, child labor, abortion, the environment, homosexuality.

Whatever the President, the Congress, or the Supreme Court may do is one thing.  What Christians must do is dictated by a Higher Law.  Christians cannot avoid the tough call on moral issues that are decided by our representatives and our judges.

In our country, however, freedom of speech is guaranteed by the same First Amendment that separates church and state.  Dissent does not result in state-sponsored martyrdom!

The same can’t be said for Christians who speak up for their faith in many places around the world: Indonesia, the Middle East, Africa, for example.

The bottom line is that Christians must be prepared to “speak truth to power” on moral issues, even if there are consequences.  However, I am quick to add that we must always speak  the truth in love, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:15.

RESPOND: 

Speaking out about the moral issues of our day, especially when our elected officials or our appointed judiciary or our culture seem to be trending away from our own values, can be difficult.

We do well to remember that John found it not only difficult.  He found it to be fatal.

If we are clear in our own minds about two things, we should be ok.  As I cited above — speak the truth in love.  If our speech is grounded in the Holy Scriptures as we understand them, and if we always season our speech with love rather than condemnation or judgment, we will at least maintain a healthy balance.

But speak we must if we are to be faithful in this our time.

Lord, clarify my thoughts so that I speak according to your will and not spout my own fallible opinions. But at the same time, give me the courage to speak the truth in love about the moral issues of our day.  Even if it means being unpopular.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Decollation” by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.