Thursday in the Second Week of Advent, December 9, 2021

Matthew 11:11-15

Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

St. John the Baptist’s ministry lasted only a few years and he spent his time only along the Jordan River, yet he left a legacy that stretched into the years after the Resurrection of the Lord.  The Evangelists felt it necessary to write about him in order to explain to their readers who he was, to emphasize that he did not claim to be the Messiah, and to clarify the relationship between him and Jesus.  What they tell us shows that they held him in great esteem, and that the Lord praised him.  Indeed, the Gospel reading for today’s Mass begins with the Lord’s lauding of John: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist.”  The Lord makes quite a statement here.  Quite apart from the great non-Jews who had created empires, written epics, made discoveries, he ranks John above Abraham, Moses, and David.  The crowd must have wondered what they were hearing.  And then the Lord adds, “Yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  The Greek word translated as “least” can mean “little” in terms of size, age, importance, quantity, or number.  We might think of the Lord speaking of someone who lived the least significant or noticeable life on earth, but who lived faithfully and so entered the Kingdom.  To be least in heaven, then, is far better than to be recognized as great on earth.  It would seem from the context of the Lord’s words that John the Baptist is still alive at this time.

The Lord Jesus then elaborates on John as a sort of milestone: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence.”  This seems a very strange saying.  How can the Kingdom of heaven suffer violence?  The key here is that Jesus says “from the days of John the Baptist”.  John ushered in a time of preparation that required people to do penance for their sins.  Those who heeded him did violence to themselves in this way — fasting and giving alms.  Jesus also preached penance, and further demanded that people “hate their own lives” (Luke 12, 46) in order to follow him.  These are the “violent” who are taking the Kingdom “by force”.  

“All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.”  The prophets and the law began to be fulfilled in the days of John.  Before him was the time of signs; with him comes the time of the fulfillment of the signs that were the law and the prophets.  In this way too, Jesus praises John and marks his importance.  “And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”. The words “if you are reading to accept it” is an idiom with which the Lord urges people to take seriously what he is saying, as is the phrase “whoever has ears ought to hear”.  The notion of Elijah returning to earth to act as the herald of the Messiah comes from Malachi 4, 5: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”  The renowned Prophet Elijah had preached repentance in the days of the kings and had spent much time in the wilderness before he was caught up to heaven in a fiery chariot.  He “returns” in John the Baptist in terms of John “completing” his mission in preparing the people for their Redeemer.

The Kingdom of heaven is not reserved for great figures like Elijah and John the Baptist but is open to all of us, even the “least” among the faithful.