Gospel for Sunday, December 4: Matthew 3: 1-12
II Sunday of Advent A
1In those days John the Baptist came and preached in the Judean desert 2saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!”. 3In fact, he is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said: “The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” 4And he, John, wore a robe of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the area around the Jordan flocked to him 6and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 7Seeing many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who made you believe you can escape the coming wrath? 8Therefore produce fruit worthy of conversion, 9and do not think you can say within yourselves: “We have Abraham as our father!”. For I tell you that from these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10Already the ax is placed at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11I baptize you in the water for conversion; but he who comes after me is stronger than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12He holds the shovel in his hand and will clean his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn the straw with an unquenchable fire.”
Mt 3: 1-12
Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Misericordie, I am Carlo Miglietta, doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it).
Also today I share with you a short meditation thought on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
The Second Sunday of Advent presents us with the figure of John, known as the Baptist or the Forerunner, probably born in Ain Karem at the end of the 1st century BC. C. and executed by Herod in Macheron, between 29 and 32 AD. C.. He is among the most important personalities of the Gospels, venerated by all the Christian Churches, and also mentioned five times in the Koran with the name of Yahyā b. Zakariyyā, as one of the greatest prophets who preceded Muhammad; in the Mandaean religion, with the name of Iahia Iuhana, he is considered the greatest of all the prophets. John the Baptist is the only saint, together with the Virgin Mary, whose death is celebrated not only (the dies natalis, that is, birth to eternal life), but also his earthly birth. All the Christian Churches that allow the cult of saints celebrate the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on 24 June, because the Gospel tells us that his mother Elizabeth was in the sixth month of pregnancy when he met Mary (Lk 1,36), and if Christmas of Jesus is celebrated on December 25, the winter solstice, the birth of John is commemorated six months earlier, on June 24, the summer solstice. He is probably the most represented character in Christian art. Giovanni is the most widespread personal name in the world.
According to the Gospel of Luke he is generically a “relative” (sugghenìs) of Jesus (Lk 1,36). The Orthodox Church, however, venerates Elizabeth and Mary as daughters of sisters (Esmerìa and Anna), and therefore John the Baptist as Jesus’ second cousin. John went to live “in the desert” (Mt 3.1). For Israel the desert is the place of revelation of the Word of God, of intimacy with him, the time of engagement with God (Hos 2,16-18).
“He wore a dress of camel hair and a leather belt around his waist; her food was locusts and wild honey” (Mt 3:4). We are always in symbolism. John wore a robe of camel hair and a belt around his hips, like Elijah, considered the father of the prophets (2 Kings 1.8). The belt also indicates that he is ready for the exodus (Exodus 12:11; cf. Luke 12:35). His nourishment are locusts and wild honey, foods from the desert, where the people lived on everything that came from the mouth of God (Dt 8,3). According to the Mosaic law, the grasshopper was an edible insect (Lev 11,22). She was also called “ofiomachus”, that is, “who fights the serpent”: the Jewish commentators considered her a symbol of the Word of God victorious over the lie of the serpent. Honey also recalls the Word, sweeter than honey on the palate (Ps 19.11; 119.103). That is, John lived throughout his youth listening to the Word of God, nourished by it. This is why, in the parallel passage, Luke states: “The Word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the desert” (Lk 3:2).
John begins his preaching “in the fifteenth year of the empire of Tiberius (28-29 AD)” (Lk 3,1). The Gospel defines it as “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (Mt 3.4). Mark prefaces it with: “Behold, I send my messenger before you: he will prepare your way” (Mk 1.2), also attributing this introduction to the prophet Isaiah (Is 40.3), while in reality it is a quotation from Malachi (Mal 3,1). Some copyists, in the first centuries, attempted to remedy the inconsistency in the passage of the Gospel according to Mark, changing the introductory formula from: “As it is written in the prophet Isaiah”, to the more generic: “As it is written in the prophets”. The Gospel according to Matthew – later than that of Mark, which he also used as a source – instead correctly reports only the quote: “He is the one who was announced by the prophet Isaiah when he said: «The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!’” (Mt 3:3). Note how the synoptics, quoting Isaiah, follow the Greek text which links the desert to the voice, while in reality the Hebrew text states: “Voice of one who cries: «In the desert prepare the way of the Lord»”.
It is probable that the Baptist had close relationships with the Jewish communities of the Essenes, such as that of Qumran which stood a short distance from where John baptized: these communities awaited the advent of the Messiah and practiced baptism as a rite of purification. The novelty of John’s baptism, compared to the ritual ablutions that were already known in the Jewish tradition, consisted in the precise commitment to “conversion” (metanoia, that is: “change of mentality”) on the part of those who went to be baptized from him.
The Baptist was undoubtedly a crowd-puller, a tough and polemical leader. The summary of his preaching that Matthew leaves us is more a message of misfortune than an announcement of consolation. Instead of salvation, John foresees the imminence of the “day of the Lord”, a day of judgment against his people. Above all, the two groups that represent official Judaism, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, are stigmatized with names such as “brood of vipers” (Mt 3.7), degenerate sons of Abraham (Mt 3.9), withered trees (Mt 3.10 ). The viper is a symbol of wickedness, expressed by its poisonous bite, but refers to the serpent – Satan who deceived the first men and who continues to have descendants even among the Israelites. John reminds us that God can raise children from stones (Mt 3.9): in these lines we can read the play between the Hebrew words abanim-banim, “stones-children”. With God everything is possible: raising children from stones, that is, he can change our heart of stone into a heart of children (Ez 36,26). The illusion of being saved because children of Abraham is parallel to that of being saved because followers of Christ. God’s final judgment is threatened on those who believe they are saved only because they belong to a religious confession, expressed with the images of the axe, fire and winnowing wheat (Mt 3:10.12).
But there is also a word of consolation: to escape the imminent wrath there is only one way, that of conversion, attested not by words but by concrete good works. A true conversion to a life of charity and service is required of all of us.
But the “day of IHWH” threatened by the Baptist immediately becomes the “day of the Messiah”: the expression “he who comes” (ho ercòmenos) (Mt 3,11), is a designation of the royal Messiah.
John presents himself as a simple precursor of him, that is, as the servant who goes ahead of his Lord to make the way for him. Only Christ, who is “the strongest”, will have a baptism not only of water, but “of the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3.11).
Jesus will say of the Baptist that “among those born of women no one has arisen greater than him”, even if “the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than him” (Mt 11,11).
The Baptist truly realizes what his father Zechariah, “full of the Holy Spirit” (Lk 1.67), had prophesied:
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High
because you will go before the Lord to prepare the ways for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
in the remission of his sins,
thanks to the merciful goodness of our God,
so a rising sun will come to visit us from above
to enlighten those who are in darkness
and in the shadow of death
and direct our steps on the path to peace!” (Lk 1,76-79).
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.