The testimony of John the Baptist

Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Allow me first to quote from the Vatican about Advent, a time for Christians to reflect on the coming of the Messiah and testimony of God’s Love for the human race that he would send his only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ to become one like us in order to save us from our sins.

Our beloved Pope Benedict XVI said, “Advent represents for the Christian and exodus from the world of sin and death to that of life and love. In the Advent liturgy, there resounds a message full of hope, which invites us to lift up our gaze to the ultimate horizon, but at the same time to recognize the signs of God-with-us in the present.

“For populations worn out by misery and hunger, for throngs of refugees, for those who suffer grave and systematic violations of their rights, the Church is as a sentinel on the mountain of faith and she announces to them: ‘Behold your God! The Lord your God comes in power. This prophetic announcement is realized in Jesus Christ. He, with his preaching and then with his death and resurrection, fulfilled the ancient promises, revealing a deeper and more universal perspective. Lastly the Pope added, “Justice and peace, in fact, are God’s gift, but they require men and women who are ‘good soil,’ ready to receive the good seed of his word.”

With this, it would now be easier for us to understand why our Gospel reading last Sunday and this Sunday is about John The Baptist, because he preceded Jesus and heralded his coming. People flocked to him, often mistaking him for the Messiah, but John was humble and frowned on anyone thinking him as the Messiah. For today’s Gospel reading, we open to John 1:6-8, 19-28.

“6 A man named John was sent from God. 7 He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe though him. 8 He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. 18 This is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites [to him] to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted. “I am not the Messiah.” 21 So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?”

23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert./ “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ‘as Isaiah the prophet said.” 24 Some Pharisees were also sent. 25 They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, 27 the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” 28 This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

This is a very interesting exchange between John the Baptist with the priests and Levites sent to “interrogate” him about what he was doing in the name of God. The Pharisees, priests and Levites all believed that they are the only ones who can speak for and in behalf of God, unless a Prophet came into their midst. So in John’s case, he was the last of a long line of Prophets, but they didn’t know that.

This Q & A between John and the priests and Levites only proves that many were expecting the coming of the Messiah. Suddenly, out of nowhere, John comes from the desert looking like a wild man, clothed in camel’s hair with a leather belt and ate locust and wild honey and was baptizing in the River Jordan. But for every single question thrown to him by his interrogators, John responded only with the truth! That he was not the Messiah, in order to alleviate what fears they might have about who they think is the Messiah.

But in all honesty, John told his interrogators which sounds almost like a warning, “I baptize with water, but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This was John’s way of saying that these people were interrogating the wrong man… that indeed the Messiah had already arrived, but they just did not recognize him.

Let us therefore reflect on the gospel reading today and ask ourselves whether we too truly believe in our Christian faith and recognize what Pope Benedict XVI told us about “the signs of God-with-us in the present.” Are we like the Levite or that Jewish priest who cannot recognize the Lord within our midst? Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present, his body, blood, soul and divinity in the Holy Eucharist, which many of us Catholics receive in Holy Communion. I believe in this truth. Do you?