INTRODUCTION:
When I step out and take a walk around the streets, I see the passion with which the people prepare for the season of Christmas. They put up beautiful decorations and play series of music that communicate the advent of an important season. On the other hand, I see a lot of consumer-driven sales that tend to lure the interest of the public. We are very much familiar with the concepts of “black Friday” and “cyber Monday” and the likes. And naturally we tell our children to make their Christmas lists for purchases that go along with the season. But there is a fundamental question that I keep asking myself: “In the heat of this ephemeral preparations, do we truly take time to have a deep-seated spiritual preparation that befits the season?” Do we think of that which should remain in us even when the season is over? There is no doubt that Christmas has been “commercialized” to the point that it is gradually losing its meaning. And many Christians live a secularized Christmas than a religious-oriented Christmas.
The readings today call our attention to the need of a good living. The Gospel in particular used the term “repentance” as sine qua non to encountering the Lord who comes to us. This is the only way to decorate our spiritual life alongside with the external decorations.
FIRST READING: Isaiah 11:1-10
The First Reading today is the third time Isaiah reports about the messianic era. We find the preceding two prophecies in chapters 7:10-17 and 9:1-6. The passage today announced both the nature of the messiah that will come, as well as the nature of his days: (1) The Messiah will be a carrier of the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit; wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and the fear of the Lord; (2) The coming of the messiah will change the entire face of the earth. He will bring harmony in creation and among the peoples. For in his days, ‘a wolf will accommodate a lamb and a leopard will lie down with a young goat.’
This prophesy of Isaiah found its fulfilment in the first coming of Christ, because at his appearing, the long existing wall of division between the Jews and the Samaritans was broken. Secondly, the prophesy equally points to the definitive revelation of God at the end of the world when the kingdoms of this world will cease, thus giving way to the kingdom of God where all peoples, all nations and all species of existence will live together in peace and harmony.
SECOND READING: Romans 15:4-9
The tune of this letter of St. Paul to the Romans suggests that there was internal fractions in the community between the circumcised and the uncircumcised. The apostle calls their attention to the fact that they have the obligation to accept one another as Christ himself accepted them all, without any distinction. He instructs them on the need for internal harmony which the prophet Isaiah spoke of as a sign that will accompany the advent of the Lord. For Paul, living in peace and harmony among the different fractions of the community is the only way to create an access road to the Lord who comes. If order is an intrinsic characteristic of God then chaos is contrary to his nature. Hence God cannot dwell in a community of conflict. For this, Paul quotes the words of 2 Samuel 22:50 and Psalm 18:49 respectively to tell the divided community that the revelation of God is not for a particular people but to all the nations and to every individual, Jews and gentiles alike.
GOSPEL: Matthew 3:1-12
John the Baptist is the last prophet in the sequence of the prophetic history of the chosen people of God, as well as the link between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Although, all the prophets pointed to the reign of God, it was only John the Baptist who showed directly and concretely that Jesus Christ is this reign of God.
The ministry of John might have been welcomed by the people with enthusiasm for two reasons:
1. For over 400 years, there hadn’t been any prophet in Israel. So it was exciting to have one now.
2. Secondly, the people who came to him were living witnesses of the marvelous signs that surrounded his birth, and probably they had no difficulty in welcoming his prophetic ministry.
It is interesting to see how Matthew locates the ministry of John the Baptist in the wilderness. From the Scriptures we learn that the wilderness served as a place of testing and of punishment, but more importantly it was a sacred space of spiritual encounter and of renewal. This is the sense of the wilderness of John where the people came for repentance and baptism.
Meanwhile, for the purpose of affirming that the prophesy of Old was realized in John the Baptist, Matthew described his type of lifestyle:
1. ‘He fed on honey and locust’ which is an allusion to Leviticus 11:22-23.
2. ‘He wore camel’s hair and a leather belt’, a perfect description of the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). With this Matthew teaches his audience that the promise made by God that Elijah will preceed the Messiah (Mal 4:5) is fulfilled in John the Baptist whom Isaiah foresaw crying in the wilderness. (43:3-4).
Meanwhile, there are two things that Matthew’s readers must pay attention to:
1. The central personage in this passage is not John the Baptist. On the contrary it is Christ. By introducing the ministry of John the Baptist, Matthew only demonstrated the indispensable link between his ministry and the ministry of Christ. It is same link that existed between his birth and the birth of Christ (Lk 1). This suggests that the birth and the ministry of Christ necessitated the birth and the ministry of John. Hence the term Herald of the Messiah does not only signify that he proceeded Christ to announce him to the people, rather it means that for the sake of Christ, John the Baptist was born. Thus his life, his ministry and even his martyrdom found their expression in the life of Christ.
2. Secondly, the message of John the Baptist today is not first of all repentance and baptism, but the revelation of the person of Christ to the people. That is why Matthew was very much careful to gradually lead his audience away from focusing on John the Baptist, to focusing on the Christ. And he realized this through John’s personal testimony: “I baptized you with water for repentance, but the one who comes after me is mightier than I, and whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Thus, the message of repentance preached by John and the baptism he administered became the means to encounter this Christ. His message came with fire and boldness. He told the people and the authorities that there is no shortcut to encounter the Messiah. Therefore being the sons of Abraham is not a ticket, rather they must turn away from being a “brood of vipers” (dangerous and unrepentant).
LIFE MESSAGES:
1. From the First Reading:
The message of Isaiah to us today is this: God is sending us a Messiah. And for those of us who feel threatened by the forces and powers of this world, to the point that we no longer have peace, the Lord comes to restore what was lost in us. He assures us that if we are suffering from disharmony as a result of humans and the conditions of life that come to us in the form of lions and wolves and leopards to threaten our life and existence as innocent lambs and kids, we should not be afraid. The Lord says today, “On my Holy Mountain they will never be hurt or destroyed (Is 11:9). Thus, if we can learn to hide ourselves in the presence of God and make our lives his dwelling place, there is absolutely nothing that will threaten us or destroy us. And even when we feel threatened, we are at peace because he comes to dwell with us.
2. From the Second Reading:
There can be no true encounter with the Lord if we cannot live in harmony with one another. It will be a waste of time waiting for the Lord to come when our hearts are full of hatred and prejudice that block us from accepting the other. We can be faithful to daily masses and devotional prayers, but if we are not agents of peace in our christian communities, then we are not in communion with the Lord, and the Lord who comes is not meant for us.
3. From the Gospel:
First we see from John the Baptist that to be empowered by the Spirit of the Lord, we must learn how to retreat in prayers. The wilderness experience should be path of our Christian journey. It helps us to discard the voice of the world in order to hear God and to discern his will.
Secondly, John tells us that we cannot receive the Messiah whom we are expecting if we do not turn away from our evil ways. Like the crowd that trooped into the wilderness to hear him, so do we troop into our churches with our broken lives of sin. But John the Baptist tells us that there is no shortcut to encountering Christ. We need true repentance, if not we will remain a “brood of vipers” who by appearances looks gentle, but in reality are venomous.
Furthermore, the Gospel tells us that like John the Baptist, all of us have the mission to announce Christ to the people, and we must do so by truly pointing the people to Christ and not to ourselves. And like John the Baptist, in our mission of evangelization, we must be bold enough to denounce what is evil (brood of vipers), and not to caress it either, because of fear or because of the favor we get from the people. Finally, we must announce Christ through our exemplary lives. We must learn from John the Baptist that a true witness to the Messiah must be done with the spirit of detachment and evangelical poverty.
PRAYER
Almighty and merciful God, may no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son, but may our learning of heavenly wisdom grant us admittance to his company, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
