THE RECORD OF JOHN

A REFLECTION FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT

“This is the record of John.” Thus begins today’s Gospel, “when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?”  Since the birth of our Lord, when wise men had come from the east, following a star to a humble stable in Bethlehem, the secular world had been in a state of unease.  The kings of the earth had consulted their scribes and priests, and had learned that a king was to be born in a little town called Bethlehem, one who would be the salvation of his people Israel.  For King Herod, the arrival of three foreign rulers in his kingdom, coming not to pay their respects to him, but bearing gifts and giving homage to a little child in a stable, this was an ominous portent, a threat to his rule, and something which must be stamped out.  As Psalm 2 prophesied, “The kings of the world rose up, and took counsel against the Lord and his Anointed.”

In spite of Herod’s best efforts to murder that Child, rumors continued to fly within the land of Judah.  And so, when a holy man appeared on the banks of the Jordan River, not only preaching penance and the hope of a Redeemer, but even going so far as to attack the wicked morals of Herod’s successor, a second King Herod who lived with his brother’s wife, people began to speculate exactly who this wild-looking man was.  They quickly figured out he was about the right age to have been born about the time those Three Kings had followed their star to Bethlehem, and that he was himself a descendant of the family of King David. The buzz began to grow—could this be the Messiah, the Christ?

And so the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?  And he confessed, and denied not, and said plainly, I am not the Christ.”  But they persisted in their questioning: “Art thou Elias… art thou the prophet?  And he answered, No. What was their motivation?  Was it because the Jews were seeking the truth about John the Baptist?  Or, more likely, was it to make sure he did not represent a threat to the status quo, the swamp of iniquity that Israel had become?  If so, Caiphas and the other high priests of the temple would work hand in hand with the evil king they despised, Herod, to make sure their deep state of veniality and exploitation would not be shaken.  It turned out that John was indeed the enemy of this deep state, and Herod would eventually have him arrested and executed.  But he was not THE enemy.  John observed to them that “there standeth one among you, whom ye know not.”  This man would be the one who would be the salvation that God had prepared before the face of all people, “to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel.”

The events of our own times provide us with a secular parallel to these Biblical events of old, and it is in these verses of Scripture that we should turn to make sense of today’s happenings.  We must remember that as soon as the Deep State is disturbed and the Swamp threatened, the enemies of goodness and truth will rise up against what endangers their foul hold on power.  And we must equally bear in mind that while John the Baptist was not the Christ, nor can any president, no matter how righteous he may be, hold the title of Saviour.  That is reserved for the one who, at midnight in Bethlehem in the piercing cold, shall be born the Son of God, who soon will stand among us, and whom they know not.  Prepare ye the way of the Lord.