Road to Emmaus Second Sunday of Advent (Cycle B)

Dec 3, 2008

First Reading – Is. 40:1-5, 9-11

Responsorial Psalm – Ps. 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14

Second Reading – 2 Pt. 3:8-14

Gospel Reading – Mk. 1:1-8

 

We begin by first looking at this Sunday's Gospel reading which points directly back to the Old Testament reading.  The Gospel this week focuses on the figure of John the Baptist who is introduced as someone who is crucial to the fulfillment of what is written in the prophet Isaiah. In the reading, taken from the Gospel of Mark, there is also a quotation from Isaiah 40:3 which is also part of the First Reading this week.

 

Interestingly, even though Mark begins by saying, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,” he is directly quoting Malachi 3:1 and Exodus 23:20. In writing this way, Mark is merely trying to bring together in one place a number of texts to help us understand more fully his message. Let’s take them one at a time.

 

Isaiah 40:3

 

With regard to Isaiah 40:3, it must be understood within context. Isaiah 40-55 addresses those in Babylonian captivity and deals with the end of the exile of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, which was mentioned in last week's column. Jeremiah had prophesied that they would be in exile for seventy years (cf. Jer. 25:12). This portion of Isaiah which tells how the end of the exile would take place uses language reminiscent of Israel’s first exodus --when, as former slaves, they came up out of Egypt.

 

The original exodus outline of being delivered from Egyptian bondage, journeying through the desert, and entering into the Promised Land is transformed into a current hope for a new and greater exodus.

 

However, Isaiah 56-66 speaks to those who have now returned from Babylon. This section of Isaiah says that this new exodus will not yet come about, even though they are physically out of captivity after seventy years. Isaiah says that the new exodus would be delayed until the future messianic suffering servant comes to deliver them. We will see why this is the case below.

 

Moreover, there is to be a preparation for the coming of Yahweh (God’s covenant name given to Moses in Exodus 3:14) to lead them out of captivity.

 

Malachi

 

The reference to Malachi in Mark’s Gospel also speaks to those who have returned from Babylonian captivity. He addresses why their great hope for a new exodus has yet to be fulfilled – due to the corruption of the priests and the people.

 

What are some of the problems with the priests? “Offering polluted food upon my altar…you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that no evil?” (Mal. 1:7, 8).

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What are some of the problems with the people? “Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god” (Mal. 2:11). Malachi goes on to say, “You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying, ‘Every one who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them’” (Mal. 2:17).

 

So, for those who have returned from exile during Malachi’s day they are being told that the reason for the delay of the new exodus is because of their sinfulness, which is a spiritual and more deadly exile then the one they experienced in Babylon.

 

Malachi goes on to say, “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming…” (3:1-2). This is a reworking of Exodus 23:20 which says, “Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place which I have prepared.” (Interestingly the name Malachi, and the words angel and messenger, come from the same Hebrew word, mal'āk.)

 

Exodus 23:20

 

The context of Exodus 23:20 is the giving of the Book of the Covenant to Moses (cf. Ex. 20:22-23:33) and the ratification of that covenant with the people at Mt. Sinai (cf. Ex. 24:1-8). This is, of course, after they have undergone the exodus from Egypt. The Book of the Covenant and the stipulations therein are to be the means by which Israel is to live out their covenant faithfulness to the Lord.

 

If we read beyond Exodus 23:20 into verse 21 we read, “Give heed to him and listen to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him.” For Israel to rebel against the messenger is de facto a rebellion against Yahweh, and thus an invitation to divine judgment. We will see how this applies to John the Baptist below.

 

Also of interest is a bit of a difference between the first exodus and the one that is to come. During the first exodus God sent his messenger, the aforementioned angel, to prepare the way for Israel by judging the idolatrous nations of Canaan. Now, however, his messenger, John the Baptist, will prepare the way for Yahweh himself, and it is Israel who is under threat of judgment because they have become like the other nations in their sinfulness.

 

John the Baptist and Elijah

 

Within this overall context the quotations of Mark are brought together. “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way” (Mk. 1:2; Mal. 3:1). “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths’” (Mk. 1:3; Is. 40:3).

 

Malachi also goes on to say a bit more about this messenger when he says, “Behold, I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (Mal. 3:23 NAB, Mal. 4:5 RSVCE).  So there is a direct connect between the Elijah of 1 and 2 Kings and John the Baptist.

 

Mark wants us to recognize that John the Baptist is the new Elijah. This is especially so when he tells us about John’s clothing in Mark 1:6. John is wearing the same thing Elijah did centuries ago (cf. 2 Kgs. 1:8). He, of course, is not Elijah himself, but Elijah was the type of the one to come.

 

John the Baptist is sent to prepare the way of the Lord by “…proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk. 1:4). As it was in the days of the first exodus so it is to be in the days when John the Baptist comes on the scene. They are to “give heed to him and listen to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him” (Ex. 23:21). (Next week I will have more to say about Elijah and John the Baptist, since he will be brought up again in next Sunday’s reading.)

 

Israel’s problem all along has not been bondage to Egypt or bondage to Babylon, but bondage to sin. Malachi dealt with the corrupt leaders and people of his day, so, too, does John. In Matthew’s Gospel we see this when we are told that when John was baptizing he saw “…many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism” (Mt. 3:7). These are the corrupt leaders of the day. John knows their hearts, that they are not repentant. He says to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit that befits repentance…” (Mt. 3:7). The Pharisees were full of pride and hypocrisy.

 

Jesus is Yahweh/God

 

One of the things that I would like to point out is that Mark is telling us that Jesus is truly God. I point this out because many think that in the New Testament it doesn’t seem very clear that Jesus is God.

 

We have heard Isaiah and Malachi tell us that the messenger to come is to prepare the way for the coming Yahweh, God himself. John the Baptist is the messenger they foretold. John, as we know, is to prepare the way for Jesus. Therefore, Jesus is God, he is Yahweh.

 

Jesus (whose name means Yahweh’s salvation) will also deal with the sinful leaders of the day. The Pharisees in particular did not prepare the way of the Lord through a humble, contrite repentance of their sins. Rather, they would harden their hearts so hard that they would accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the prince of demons (cf. Mk. 3:22). For them Jesus holds the winnowing fork in his hand, “and he will clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire" (Mt. 3:13). This is a symbol of the judgment that will be rendered upon them.

 

How will those be treated who are repentant, turning to the Lord in humility? “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care” (Is. 40:11). This comes from the first reading in Isaiah.

 

May you and I turn to the Lord Jesus in humility and acknowledge our sinfulness. We, too, must be prepared when we meet the Lord in the Eucharist, when we meet him after our death, and when we meet him at his glorious coming at the end of time.