In the Gospel Reading for this Sunday, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask him if he is truly the Messiah. Why, we might wonder, is John doubting? Is he wavering in his faith? Given all that we know about John, the answer is undoubtedly no.
John the Baptist was the sightly older cousin of Jesus, who recognized and greeted our Lord while they were still in their mothers' wombs, when the Virgin Mary visited Elizabeth. As an adult, John dedicated his life to preparing the way for the public ministry of Jesus, leading a rigorous ascetic life in the desert. As he preached repentance, John was imprisoned by King Herod for challenging his unlawful marriage. But John did not waver. He paid the ultimate price when he was beheaded by the king for preaching God's word. Therefore, John is not likely to have doubted Christ.
Instead, he most likely asked the question for the benefit of his own disciples. They might have grown uncertain about Jesus because their expectation of the Messiah was so different. At the time of Christ, the Israelites had been living under foreign occupation for centuries. The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Greeks had all ruled over them at different times in different ways. Now their land was under the control of the Roman Empire. The Israelites interpreted the promise of the Messiah as the coming of a great military king who would overthrow their occupiers once and for all and usher in a new age of glorious rule for Israel.
But Jesus did not appear to be preparing for such a takeover. Thus, John's disciples might have been wondering if he was truly the one. Jesus would create a new kingdom, in the fullness of time, but in a different way. Being Messiah entailed much more than what the contemporaries of Jesus supposed.
Jesus came to bring about the fundamental transformation of the world in a three-fold way. Through Christ, we are transformed on a personal level, being cleansed of sin and invited into the most intimate union possible with God. Through the transformation of individuals, Christ also remakes society, which, in the fullness of time, will be governed entirely by his love. Lastly, Christ will also transform the natural world, eliminating all suffering, decay, and death.
As Jesus responds to the disciples of John, he highlights the last two of these transformations. He points to the miracles he is performing, which prefigure the eventual remaking of nature itself. He also reminds them of the preaching of the Good News to the poor, which foreshadows the social transformation he will bring about. Both of these serve to fulfill Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, which the disciples of John would have understood.
The First Reading for this Sunday gives us an intimation of the fundamental transformation of the world that is to come. As we contemplate this beautiful vision, the temptation for us might be to grow impatient and resent the time we must still spend in the state of suffering that characterizes our lives. But the Second Reading emphasizes the primary importance of patience.
One of the major themes of the biblical narrative is that everything must happen in the fullness of time, in God's time. In fact, there is great danger in seeking things before the proper time. The temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden was to grasp through their own power at gifts God was going to give them in his own time. By not accepting God's timing, they fell from grace and plunged the world into darkness. Likewise, when Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, he sought to get him to claim his power and glory before the fullness of time, thereby trying to keep Jesus from accepting death upon the Cross. Unlike Adam and Eve, Christ rejected the temptation and submitted himself to the divine timeline.
In the same way, we too must wait for God's plans to come to fruition in our own lives. On the one hand, we should work hard and plan responsibly. On the other hand, we should be patient as we await the unfolding of God's providence.
As we contemplate this Sunday's readings, another question might arise. What did Jesus mean by saying of John that "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" (Matthew 11:11)? The answer lies in John's role. He was the final transitional figure between the Old Testament period and the coming of Christ. He achieved the highest natural level of greatness possible.
As Christians, we are invited to go beyond that level. We are invited into supernatural greatness. When we are baptized into Christ, we are lifted to a new order of being. We become partakers of the divine life of the Holy Trinity. We are called then to live in the very heart of God's infinite, eternal love. John too, we may assume, entered this state after his death. But through the Sacraments of Initiation -- Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist -- we are already experiencing that indescribably powerful and beautiful transformation in our lives here and now, as long as we stay centered on Christ.
The greatness that the Christian life gives us is not a greatness of being over and against others, but the greatness of sharing in and becoming channels of God's infinite love. As Christmas approaches and we are perhaps still thinking of presents to give to our family and friends, let us first and foremost give Christ. Let us give the love of Christ through our prayers, words, and actions.
||
The readings for the Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle A, are:
Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10
Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-112
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: Adventskranz mit drei brennenden Kerzen from Wikimedia Commons.
