Fr. Tony Cayless, AHC
RCL - Advent 3 A - Sunday 16 December 2007
Isaiah 35:1-10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11
"John the Baptist preaching" by Antonio Allegri Correggio, Italian baroque painter (c. 1489-1534)John the Baptist was a great preacher, a man of influence, and a powerful figure. He dressed like an ancient prophet and he proclaimed God's Word. He started a movement. He gathered a following. He had an effective and successful ministry. His influence continued long after his execution by Herod Agrippa in the fortress palace of Machaerus built by Herod the Great on the heights of Moab near the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. There John was beheaded. His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus what had happened.
Around the year 53 AD a Jew of Alexandria named Apollos arrived in the Greek city-state of Ephesus. Apollos is described in as an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures, who had been instructed in the Way of the Lord. We are told that he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. A Christian couple Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching and they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. Apollos was baptized a Christian, went to Corinth and exercised an important ministry in the Church there.
A year or two later Paul on his third missionary journey found a band of John the Baptist's disciples in Ephesus. He passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism." Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— altogether there were about twelve of them.
Disciples of John the Baptist carrying on his mission of preaching repentance in this far off Greek city-state. In the early days of Christianity a Church dedicated to St. John the Baptist was built to house his relics in Damascus. When the Muslims conquered Damascus in 635 they used the building on Fridays for their ritual prayers and the Christians continued their Sunday liturgies. This sharing went on for 70 years. Then came Caliph al-Walid ibn Abdul Malek who in 705 A.D. decreed that he shall build the greatest mosque ever - one "whose like was never built before, nor will ever be built after." He bought off the Christians and took 10 years and 11 million gold dinars to replace their church with his mosque. A grand prayer hall with mosaic walls, a huge marble courtyard and a minarets. The marble embellished shrine of St John the Baptist, still lies within the mosque’s prayer hall.
Some years ago I researched the ceremonial use of oil in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Oil lamps, especially Menorahs are a symbol of Judaism. Jews used oil to anoint priests and kings. The "Massiach" from which we get our word Messiah literally means the Anointed One. Christians use oil at baptism, confirmation, ordination, and for the sick and dying, holy unction. Oil is used at coronations. in 1952 Queen Elizabeth II was anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey. In Islam I found only two uses of oil. One of them is that once a year in the Great Mosque, in Damascus, the marble tomb of John the Baptist (whom Muslims revere as a prophet) is ceremonially anointed.
The prominence of John’s ministry is attested by the care with which the Gospel writers compose their accounts of him. In the fact that Herod Agrippa had him executed. In the fact his disciples continued to proclaim his message of repentance. In the fact that years after Jesus’ death Christians still encountered groups that knew only the baptism of John scattered around the Roman Empire. In the fact that he is revered by Muslims evidenced by the anointing of his shrine in Damascus and revered by us Christians.
John the Baptist is the forerunner, Isaiah's messenger, a voice crying in the wilderness, the one who goes before and prepares the way. He engaged in evangelism, he was missionary minded. He went out and preached that the Kingdom is near and that the Messiah is coming. People must turn around, repent, be baptized, and be ready and willing to follow the coming Messiah. John the Baptist pointed to and prepared people for the coming of Jesus.
The portrayal of John in the Gospels is that of a prophet who came out of the desert to proclaim the Kingdom of God and issued a call to repentance According to Luke, he was of priestly descent, son of Zechariah, and Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, so John and Jesus are related. Matthew and Mark describe John’s appearance and diet: he wore a camel-hair cloak with a leather belt and he dined on locusts and wild honey.
He is called John the Baptist for he baptized in the waters of the Jordan River, those who repented of their sins. He proclaimed the Coming One, the Messiah, the One greater than himself who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Jesus regarded John the Baptist as the last and greatest the prophets. The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed. John proclaimed the nearness of the Kingdom of God. In Jesus God came, in Jesus God comes, Where God is there is his Kingdom. Where Jesus is, the Kingdom, the dominion, the reign, the rule of God is present.
Imagine John the Baptist in prison. Was his preaching and baptizing in vain? Was there hope? Was God about to act in the history of the world or had he got itl wrong? Was Jesus the Messiah or not? He sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"
Jesus' answer was simply to point to his own ministry and what was happening. Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.
Then Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John and to offer his assessment of the man and his message: What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one who will prepare your way before you.
The Season of Advent is a time to contemplate one reality which inevitably affects all of us— the precariousness of the human condition. We live in an uncertain world. Traditionally in Advent we meditate on the last things, Death, Judgement, Hell, Heaven.
Christmas will soon be here. Then we celebrate the Birth of Jesus the Son of God. The miracle of birth, the miracle of new birth, the miracle of God's Word, the Incarnate Word, the Word became flesh and lived among us– a more important reality so let us not lose sight of this. Death, and Judgement, and Hell pale into insignificance. Heaven comes into its own.
The prophet Isaiah in our O. T. Reading: They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come and save you."
James' message in today’s Epistle is that Christian hope resides in patience. Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord . . . Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.
John the Baptist proclaimed the nearness of the Lord. Jesus said that no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; and then he adds, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Least in the Kingdom of Heaven. You know - that might be you, or it might be me. But are we really greater than John the Baptist? Jesus says we are. What a responsibility. What a challenge!
So we pray:
Stir up your power, O lord and with great might come among us; and because we are hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and
glory, now and for ever. Amen
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