Road to Emmaus Third Sunday of Advent (Cycle B)

Dec 10, 2008

First Reading – Is. 61:1-2a, 10-11

Responsorial Psalm – Lk. 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54

Second Reading – 1 Thess. 5:16-24

Gospel Reading – Jn. 1:6-8, 19-28

 

The Gospel from the Second Sunday of Advent focused on John the Baptist. This is also the case for this Sunday’s Gospel from John.

 

We first hear that John the Baptist “was a man sent from God” (Jn. 1:6). He is not just some random guy who goes about saying random things. He is sent by God himself. He is one who is to bear witness to Christ, the light of the world (cf. Jn. 1:7, 8:12). The Greek word for witness is martus. He is called by God to be a martyr for Christ.

 

Are you the Christ?

 

Because of John’s activities the Jews send priests and Levites to ask him who he is. John begins by telling them who he is not. In the first century there was a fevered pitch of messianic expectation, with many who claimed to be the Messiah (which means “anointed one”). John makes clear that he is not one who is claiming to be the Christ (which also means “anointed one”).

 

Are you Elijah?

 

They then ask John if he is Elijah. They also expected that Elijah would return, “…to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob” (Sir. 48:10c). God also said through the prophet Malachi, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse” (Mal. 3:23-24 NAB, Mal. 4:5-6 RSVCE).

 

Interestingly, John says that he is not Elijah. However, from other passages in the New Testament it is fairly clear that John is Elijah. Jesus himself says that, “he is Elijah who is to come” (Mt. 11:14). How do we explain this?

 

First, John knows very well that he “will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Lk. 1:16-17). These were the words spoken by the angel Gabriel to John’s father, Zechariah.

 

Second, John is also aware of who is asking him if he is Elijah, namely those sent by the Pharisees, whom he considers to be a “brood of vipers” (Mt. 3:7).

 

John can say that he is not Elijah, literally, in the flesh. Nevertheless, he is acting in the “spirit and power of Elijah.” So, John is a new Elijah, but not the actual Elijah returned.

(Column continues below)

 

Are you the prophet?

 

They also ask John if he is the prophet. Notice that they do not ask him if he is a prophet, but whether he is the prophet. He is a prophet, but he is not the prophet.

 

Why is this phraseology important? Because they were awaiting the prophet, the prophet like unto Moses, that Moses himself spoke of in Deuteronomy. “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from you brethren – him shall you heed…” (18:15). Then the Lord says, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak in my name…” (18:18-19). John is not the prophet, Jesus is the prophet. If this is so then Jesus is also a new and greater Moses (cf. Acts 3:22-23, 7:37).

 

Who are you then?

 

Then John finally says who he is by quoting Isaiah 40:3, he is “a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” (Jn. 1:23)

 

Isaiah 40 opens the section of the prophet dealing with the future return from exile of the Southern Kingdom of Judah by means of a new exodus. However, this new exodus would be delayed because of the sins of the leaders and the people. The one who is going to lead this new exodus from captivity will be a new Moses. (For more on Is. 40:3 please see last week’s posting).

 

Why the wilderness?

 

But why is John one who cries “in the wilderness?” It seems to be the case that both Isaiah and the Gospel writer have the prophet Hosea in mind. The Lord says through Hosea, “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her…And in that day…you will call me, ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me, ‘My Ba’al’…I will espouse you for ever; I will espouse you in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy” (2:14, 16, 19).

 

We know that this is exactly what Jesus does. He goes out into the wilderness to be baptized by John. John, the Gospel writer, reminds us of this by telling us that Jesus comes out to the wilderness after his baptism by John which was presumably the day before.

 

Jesus, the Christ (anointed one)

 

We also know that after Jesus’ baptism he will stay in the desert to do battle with Satan through his three temptations, while fasting and praying (cf. Lk. 4:1-13). The very first thing Jesus does after these forty days is to go into a synagogue in Nazareth and quote from this Sunday’s Old Testament reading (cf. Lk. 4:16-21).

 

John the Baptist said that he was not the Christ, the anointed one. However, he is the one who is to proclaim that there needs to be a preparation of the way for the anointed one, who is the prophet like unto Moses, by announcing the need for repentance.

 

Jesus, at the synagogue, announces that he is the anointed one by quoting Isaiah 60:1-2, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk. 4:18-19).

 

When was Jesus anointed by the Spirit of the Lord? At his baptism. The long awaited release from captivity has finally come. There will be liberty for the oppressed. Isaiah had prophesied a new exodus from exile by an anointed one; Moses had prophesied a new Moses, and Jesus says, “Today this has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4:21).

 

Conclusion

 

Jesus will lead a new exodus not through the waters of the Red Sea, but through the waters of baptism. The new Moses will give us a new Passover in the Eucharist, not with many lambs, but with the one Lamb, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29).

 

Jesus wants us to be set free from the spiritual exile from God that takes place when we sin. He longs to cloth us “with the garments of salvation…with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels” (Is. 61:10).