From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts–
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:
A voice of one crying out in the desert,
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair
and had a leather belt around his waist.
His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea,
and the whole region around the Jordan
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
Matthew 3:1-6, first part of Sunday’s Gospel
Why was John not a priest? And why are we reading about Jesus’ baptism as we build up to celebrating Jesus’ birth at Christmas? Let’s take these questions one at a time.
Remember, priesthood was inherited by family in the Jewish system. John’s family conformed to this norm. His father Zachariah was “of the priestly division of Abijah” (Luke 1:1-5), obligated to serve in the Temple in a set rotation, and his mother Elizabeth was also of Levitical background, as required for proper marriage for priests. So, why did John end up by himself in the desert instead of following in his father’s footsteps?
One of the privileges given to John’s parents was the insight that God was about to do something brand new in the midst of the old Jewish system. As a sign of this, John was not to be named routinely after his father. His father Zachariah was unable to speak until he ratified this new direction by giving him a name previously unknown in that family: John (“The Lord has shown favor”).
Both John’s parents were old—he may have not been raised within the family for very long. At that time orphaned children were taken into the Jewish group at Qumran (Essenes?) priests at odds with the corrupt Temple crowd. They did not marry, and they emphasized repentance and symbolic washings. We have no historical information that this is what happened in John’s case, but we do know these ideas and practices were then current in Jewish circles.
In any case, as with all of us, John had to discern the particular path God was calling him onto. By the time he was an adult, that path was clear to him. He was to live as the prophet announcing the immanent coming of the One-Who-Is-to-Come and calling upon everyone to respond with repentance and renewed faithfulness. What Isaiah and other prophets projected into the indefinite future, John was to pronounce as happening “even now.” Therefore, the need to repent and live faithfully is acute and cannot be put off.
Now, why this reading in Advent? Because Jesus is coming—his first coming as a baby. And that is what “advent” means— “the coming.” This first “coming” is a hidden coming, known only to a few, for the God-Man must have time to grow up as a human being before he can do and say what he came for. John announces Jesus’ public “advent” what we might call his “coming out” as the Suffering and Triumphant Savior. And this is also to remind us of Jesus’ return, popularly called the Second Coming, which is absolutely final and definitive. New Testament Scripture uses the Greek word Parousia for this event. “Parousia” translates as “Advent.”
That Advent will have no second fiery John the Baptist figure calling us to repent and live faithfully. That Advent will come “when we least expect it, like a thief in the night.” John’s call should thunder from every pulpit every Sunday in some form, and it should shape our lives and our prayers every day, for now any day may be the one of His coming.
For further reflection:
Consider “as with all of us, John had to discern the particular path God was calling him onto.”
On the one hand, this sounds normal to us. Most of us in a contemporary society grow up wondering, “what do I want to be?” So many choices beckon! And we blunder along, trying a little of this and a little of that. Now, of course, we should have begun by asking “what does the Lord who created me and loves me want me to become?” But not that many of us were instructed to go about it that way! I shudder to think what I might have tried to become if I had really relied only on myself–but the Lord used my blundering around to finally point me on the right way for my life. However, the process never ends in this life–it is always step-by-step. It is only after we have moved from step A to step B that the Lord reveals what step C is going to be for us. And then to D, and only then to E. And thus it goes right up to the end of our lives here on earth. We only get the big picture, the complete picture, after God calls us home. Then we will see how it all fits. Fits us, and fits into the larger plan our Father in heaven has for the entire world.