The proclamation of John The Baptist

Last week’s Sunday gospel was the visit of the Magi or the Three Kings, a.k.a. the Epiphany or the “Manifestation of God” where He revealed Himself when the Three Kings came from faraway lands to do him homage. There will be other “epiphanies” like the miracle of the wine in the wedding in Cana, which was also a divine manifestation. However before all these things came to pass, there was John the Baptist who proclaimed to the world that the Messiah was soon to come. This is our gospel today, which you can find in Luke 3:15-16, 21-22.

15 Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire.”

21 After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

There is no doubt that John had been baptizing in the River Jordan and preaching to the Jews that they must repent and prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah. Why were the Jew gravitated to the preaching of John the Baptist? Shouldn’t they have turned to their own Jewish elders, the Chief Priests, the Scribes of the Pharisees?

From our readings, the people tend to listen to John because he spoke the truth. John condemned Herod the Tetrarch for taking Herodias, his brother’s wife and marrying her. But the Pharisees did not chastise Herod and their silence was perceived as an acceptance to this evil. So the people turned to John and had themselves baptized in the Jordan River.

While John’s popularity became so widespread, even King Herod did not dare arrest him for denouncing his marriage to his brother’s wife, lest he gets the ire of the people. Now history tells us that King Herod was a ruthless ruler, yet he was somewhat scared of John. But of course, later he had John arrested and even beheaded.

But even if he had become so popular and a lot of people followed him, John never lost focus of his purpose in life, which was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, even if the people with him already believed that he was the Christ. I’m sure that he was asked over and over again whether he was the one whom the prophets prophesied to have come from God. But John told them that he was not and said, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire.”

To loosen the thongs of one’s sandals is the duty of a slave or servant. Yet, John says that he wasn’t worthy of this act. This is he humility of John the Baptist because despite his popularity, he felt that when the Messiah whom he has predicted to come will show up before him, he cannot even be the Messiah’s slave or servant.

This is the attitude that we Catholics must all embrace when we are before God. We should prostrate ourselves on the ground and seek forgiveness for our sins when God comes to us. As Catholics, we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. This is why the Catholic faithful has to bow down and kneel during the Consecration when through transubstantiation, our Lord Jesus Christ comes down into the Altar and becomes the sacred host, the body and blood of our Lord, who when we partake of this holy bread fulfills the prediction of Isaiah that God will be with us.

In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God, “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins…” God indeed offers us this daily bread in all the churches in our communities. So our job is to get out of the house and go to church and hear the Holy Mass and partake of this sacred banquet so we can have our daily bread.

 Since John the Baptist was a cousin of our Lord Jesus Christ, I’m sure that when he was growing up, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary must have told him about the visitation to the hill country with her cousin Elizabeth. So when the time came for the Lord to be baptized, he went to the River Jordan where John was baptizing. After John Baptized the Lord, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a Dove and a voice was heard “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” This was to be the first time that we’ve encountered the Holy Trinity in the Gospel. John the Baptist must have been amazed with the presence of the Holy Trinity and that finally his mission was accomplished!

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