Third Sunday of Advent (B)

December 13, 2020

Readings:

First Reading: Isaiah 61: 1-2a, 10-11

Psalm Luke 1 “My soul rejoices in my God.”

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24

Gospel reading according to John 1: 6-8, 19-28

+

Homily:

“A man named John was sent from God” (John 1: 6).  This man was John the Baptist.  Before his birth it was announced by the Angel Gabriel to his father Zechariah that, “He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. . . . And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1: 14-17). His birth in the simple yet holy parents, his growth trained in the wisdom and power of God and the Holy Spirit that led him to live in the desert, and when the time of coming out in the desert, he proclaimed repentance, performed baptism and preached to bring back many to the Lord (balik loob sa Diyos), as planned by God the Father in preparation for the coming of his Son, Jesus Christ.  John is the herald and the precursor (taga-panguna) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

When the fullness of time had arrived, he came out into the open in the desert to give his testimony.   “He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him” (John 1:7).  He was testifying the coming of light in the dark world.  The One who is coming will bring light to sinful nations living in darkness.   His testimony was true and righteous.  He never misled the people of Israel to the truth and righteousness, for that was the purpose of his sending, to announce the coming of light (liwanag) into the world covered by the shadow of death and in the valley of tears.  “He was not the light, but came to testify to the light” (John 1: 8).  He was telling the truth, he was not the light.  The true light is the One coming after him whom he was preparing “in the desert, he is preparing the way of the Lord! He is making straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!  In every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low, the rugged land shall made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley” (cf. Isaiah 40: 3-4).

John, the Evangelist and Apostle of Jesus, explained in his gospel the testimony of John the Baptist. “And this is the testimony of John” (John 1: 19).

The Jews, they were the elders and the leaders in the Temple of Jerusalem, the whole Sanhedrin, sent emissaries, their own priests and Levites, to John in the desert to interrogate him to find information about him and his activities.  “When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, Who are you? he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, I am not the Christ.  So they asked him, What are you then?  Are you Elijah?   And he said, I am not.  Are you the Prophet?  He answered, No. So they said to him, Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?  What do you have to say for yourself?” (John 1: 19-22). The representatives of the Jews asked John, Who are you? Who is he? As if he was scrutinizing his authority, his power to preach repentance.  They wanted to know about John, his background, his personality, where he came from, who sent him to do what he was doing.  He admitted that he was not the Christ whom they were longing and waiting for his coming to liberate the people of Israel from the grip of the Roman Empire.  And if he was not the Christ, then they asked him if he was Elijah, one of the greatest prophets of old whom they also waited for his coming to renew the Jewish faith to Yahweh, their moral and cultic life.  Again, John told them that he was not Elijah.  Then he was asked again if he was the Prophet.  There was no indication who this Prophet was referring to.  We may guest that they were referring to Moses, the most and greatest prophets of old and friend of God who liberated the people of Israel from the slavery of the Pharaoh in Egypt, and gave them the Book of Laws, (the Torah and Ten Commandments) to be followed when they entered the Promised Land.  John did not deny that he was not that great Prophet they were referring to. 

So they asked him for the second time around, “Who are you?” for they reasoned out, so that they can give an answer to those who sent them.  “He said: I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said” (John 1: 23). He explained to the agents of the Jews from Jerusalem that he was “the voice” (ang tinig), that voice for a long time never heard since then. That resounding voice, crying out loud, but nobody listened to it. It remained silent for so long a time, until such time, it came out, in the fullness of time, hearing again the voice that cried out this time in the howling desert where no people lived or stayed.  Nobody can hear him except those whose hearts were always awake, who were waiting day and night to hear this “voice.”  John is that voice of God crying out loud to his children to amend their lives and to go back to God.

The Jews from Jerusalem were not contented in sending their own priests and Levites, they also sent the Pharisees, the separated ones, the purists who thought they were holy for following the Law of Moses literally but they were indifferent from the rest of the people, to interrogate John on his baptism. “Some Pharisees were also sent.  They asked him, Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet? John answered them, I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie” (John 1: 24-27).  The baptism performed by John is about cleansing of sins done by the people, whoever they may be, holy or sinful, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, powerful or powerless. Anyone who wanted to amend his or her life and opened for baptism of John can be baptized.  John wanted also to make repentance possible through the baptism of water and in preparation of the One who will come and baptize them with the Holy Spirit.  He was among them but they did not recognize him.  The truth about who John was, as what the Angel Gabriel announced before John’s birth, “because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. . . . And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God, [through his baptism and preaching of repentance]. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1: 15-17).  Now, the cohorts of the Jews have something to report to them, who he was, (who are you, what are you?).

The meeting between the representatives of the Jews from Jerusalem, i.e., the priests, the Levites and the Pharisees, and John happened in Bethany across the Jordan River and the desert. “This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing” (John 1: 28).  Bethany was the place where John was baptizing and the place when the Jews from Jerusalem sent their emissaries to know about this John, whose testimony was to bring light to the people living in darkness and in the shadow of death.