Thursday in the Third Week of Advent, December 16, 202

Luke 7:24-30

When the messengers of John the Baptist had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine garments? Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom Scripture says: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you.  I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.” (All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves.)

The reason for the seeming preoccupation with John the Baptist in the Mass readings these days is that as we await the second coming of the Lord, the Church fills his role — and all of us who belong to the Church.  As John preached repentance and judgment, so does the Church in the world, and so should we.  Since the time the Lord ascended into Heaven we have lived in a long season of Advent, preparing for the great feast of Christ on the last day.

Jesus asks the crowd about their reaction to John: “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?”  He wants them to understand the significance of John which will lead them to thinking about his own significance.  John was not a “reed”, a common man influenced by whatever opinions prevailed at the moment.  At the same time, did they go out to see “someone dressed in fine garments?”  That is, did they go out to see a man notable only for his expensive clothing?  We do this when we are lured to pay attention to someone based solely on his smooth appearance. “Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces.”  That is, this man had put on rich clothing in order to defraud the people.

“Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”  Notice here how Jesus speaks about John.  The Lord speaks with certainty and authority, and as John’s superior.  He speaks of the unique role John played while also expressing its limits: “This is the one about whom Scripture says: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you.”  The Lord quotes Malachi 3, 1.  We know that the speaker in the prophecy is the Father, speaking to the Son about his messenger, John.  “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”  The Lord sets the limit to John’s greatness here: that any of the saints standing before the face of God in heaven is “greater” than he while he lived on earth.  We might understand “greater” in terms of proximity to God’s glory.

“All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves.”  Luke adds his own commentary here.  He speaks first of the lowly and the despised as acknowledging the righteousness of God.  He highlights them, as it were, because they made up the core of the Jewish Christian community in Israel after the Ascension and Pentecost. Luke came to know many of them.  He speaks second of the Pharisees and the scholars of the Law.  The Douay-Rheims has a better translation than what we have in the lectionary: “But the Pharisees and the lawyers despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him.”  That is, they refused to be baptized by John because they saw no reason for their repentance, deeming themselves already righteous.

Baptized in the baptism of Jesus Christ, which fulfills the sign that was John’s baptism, we possess the grace to act as the Lord’s heralds as he did, through our words and actions.