Matthew 3:1-12
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send your Spirit that I may learn to be small
like Zaccheus, small in moral stature, but also grant me strength to lift
myself a little from the earth, urged by the desire to see you passing during
this time of Advent, to know you and to know that you are there for me. Lord
Jesus, good master, by the power of your Spirit, arouse in our hearts the
desire to understand your Word that reveals the saving love of the Father.
2. Read the Word
1 In due course John the Baptist appeared; he proclaimed
this message in the desert of Judaea, 2 'Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is
close at hand.'
3 This was the man spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when
he said: A voice of one that cries in the desert, 'Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.'
4 This man John wore a garment made of camel-hair with a
leather loin-cloth round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5
Then Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole Jordan district made their way to
him, 6 and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed
their sins.
7 But when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees
coming for baptism he said to them, 'Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee
from the coming retribution? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, 9 and do
not presume to tell yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father,"
because, I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones. 10
Even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees, so that any tree
failing to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire.
11 I baptise you in water for repentance, but the one who
comes after me is more powerful than I, and I am not fit to carry his sandals;
he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing-fan is in
his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into his barn;
but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.'
3. A moment of silent prayer
Each one of us is full of questions in our hearts for
anyone who listens to us, but above all we need to listen, knowing that it is
Jesus who is speaking to us. Allow yourself to be led to your interior self
where the Word echoes in all its weight of truth and love, in all its
therapeutic and transforming power. Prayerful silence demands that we remain
“inside”, that we stand completely at the feet of the Lord and use all our
energy to listen to him alone. Stop and listen.
4. To understand the Word
a) The manner in which the plot of the passage is
expressed:
In this Sunday of Advent we are presented with the figure
of John the Baptist, a challenging personality, as Jesus once said about John
the Baptist in describing his personality: ”What did you go out to see a reed
blowing in the wind?” (Mt 1: 7). The profile of the Baptist that the liturgy
puts before us is in two main sections: 3,1-6, the figure and activities of
John; 3,7-12, his preaching. Within these two sections we may detect smaller
matters that define the expression of this text. In 3:1-2 John is presented as
the one who preaches «repentance» because «the kingdom of heaven is close at
hand». This cry is like a thread running through the whole of John’s activity
and is repeated in 3:8.12. The reason for this call to repentance is given as
the imminent judgement of God which is compared to the cutting of every dry
tree to be thrown into the fire to be burnt (3:10) and to the winnowing done by
farmers on the threshing-floor to separate the wheat from the chaff which is
also to be burnt in the fire (3:12). The image of fire which characterises the
last part of our liturgical passage shows the urgency of preparing oneself for
the coming of God’s judgement.
The text presents
the following:
Matthew 3:1-3: in this first small part «the voice crying
in the desert» of Isaiah 40:2 is identified with the voice of the Baptist who
invites all to repentance «in the desert of Judea»;
Matthew 3:4-6: there follows a brief section which, in a
picturesque manner, describes the traditional figure of John: he is a prophet
and an ascetic; because of his prophetic identity he is compared to Elijah,
indeed he dresses like the Thesbite prophet. A geographical and special detail
describes the movement of many people who come to receive the baptism of
immersion in the waters of the Jordan, in a penitential atmosphere. The
influence of his prophetic activity is not limited to one place but embraces
the whole region of Judea including Jerusalem and the area around the Jordan.
Matthew 3:7-10: a special group of people comes to John
to receive baptism, these are the «Pharisees and Sadducees». John addresses
them with harsh words that they may stop their false religiosity and pay
attention to «bearing fruit» so that they may avoid a judgement of
condemnation.
Matthew 3:11-12: here the meaning of the baptism in
relation to repentance is made clear and especially the difference between the
two baptisms and the two protagonists: the baptism of John is with water for
repentance; the baptism of Jesus “the more powerful who comes after” John, is
with the Spirit and fire.
b) The message of the text:
In a typical biblical-narrative style, Matthew presents
the figure and activity of John the Baptist in the desert of Judea. The
geographical indication is meant to situate the activity of John in the region
of Judea, whereas Jesus will carry out his activity in Galilee. For Matthew,
the activity of John is entirely oriented towards and subject to “the one who
is to come”, the person of Jesus. Also John is presented as a great and
courageous preacher who foretells the imminent judgement of God.
The message of the Baptist consists of a precise
imperative, “repent” and an equally clear reason: “for the kingdom of heaven is
close at hand”. Repentance is foremost in the Baptist’s preaching even though
at first its content is not yet clear. In 3:8, however, the fruits of
repentance are revealed to give new direction to one’s existence. Such a
revelation, on the one hand, is typical of prophets who wanted to make
repentance as concrete as possible through a radical detachment from whatever
until now was held as valuable; on the other hand, the revelation goes beyond
and means to show that repentance is a turning towards “the kingdom of heaven”,
towards something new which is imminent, together with its demands and
prospects. It is a matter of giving a decisive turn to life in a new direction:
the “kingdom of heaven” is the foundation and gives meaning to repentance and
not just any human efforts. The expression “kingdom of heaven” says that God
will reveal himself to all and most powerfully. John says that this revelation
of God is imminent, not distant.
The prophetic activity of John, with the characteristics
of the figure of Elijah, is meant to prepare his contemporaries for the coming
of God in Jesus. The motifs and images through which the figure of the Baptist
is interpreted are interesting, among them the leather loin-cloth around his
waist, sign of recognition of the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8); the garment
made of camel hair is typical of the prophet according to Zacharias 13:4. This
is a direct identification between the prophet Elijah and John. This
interpretation is obviously an answer of the Evangelist to the objection of the
Jews of the time: how can Jesus be the Messiah, if Elijah has not yet come?
Through his prophetic activity, John succeeds in moving
whole crowds just as Elijah had led back the whole people to faith in God (1
Kings 18). John’s baptism is not important because of the great crowds that
come to receive it, but because it is accompanied by precise commitments of
repentance. Besides, it is not a baptism that has the power to forgive sins,
only the death of Jesus has this power, but it presents a new direction to give
to one’s life.
Even the «Pharisees and Sadducees» come to receive it,
but they come in a hypocritical spirit, with no intention of repenting. Thus
they will not be able to flee God’s judgement. John’s invective towards these
groups, covered in false religiosity, emphasises that the role of his baptism,
if received sincerely with the decision to change one’s life, protects whoever
receives it from the imminent purifying judgement of God.
How will such a decision of repentance become evident?
John does not give precise indications as to content, but limits himself to showing
the motive: to avoid the punitive judgement of God. We could say that the aim
of repentance is God, the radical recognition of God, directing in an entirely
new way one’s life to God.
Yet the «Pharisees and Sadducees» are not open to
repentance in so far as they place their faith and hope in being descendants of
Abraham: because they belong to the chosen people, they are certain that God,
by the merits of the father, will give them salvation. John questions this
false certainty of theirs by means of two images: the tree and the fire
First, the image of the tree that is felled, in the OT
this refers to God’s judgement. A text from Isaiah describes it thus: «Behold
the Lord, God of hosts, who tears the branches with deafening noise, the
highest tips are cut off, the peaks are felled». The image of the fire has the
function of expressing the “imminent anger” which will be manifested at God’s
judgement (3:7). In a word, they show the pressing imminence of God’s coming;
the listeners must open their eyes to what awaits them.
Finally, John’s preaching contrasts the two baptisms and
the two persons: John and the one who is to come. The substantial difference is
that Jesus baptises with the Spirit and fire whereas John only with water, a
baptism for repentance. This distinction emphasises that the baptism of John is
entirely subordinate to the one of Jesus. Matthew notes that the baptism with
the Spirit has already taken place, namely in Christian baptism, as told in the
scene of Jesus’ baptism, whereas baptism with fire must still come and will
take place at the judgement that Jesus will perform.
The aim of John’s preaching, then, is to present a
description of the judgement that awaits the community through the image of the
chaff. The action of the farmer on the threshing-floor when he cleans the wheat
from the chaff will also be the action of God on the community at the
judgement.
5. A meditation
a) Expecting God and repentance:
In his preaching John reminds us that the coming of God
in our lives is always imminent, he also invites us strongly to a repentance
that purifies the heart, renders it ready to meet Jesus who comes into the
world of men and women and opens it to hope and universal love..
An expression of Cardinal Newman may help us understand
this new direction that the Word of God suggests is urgent: «Here on earth to
live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed frequently». To change
is to be understood from the point of view of repentance: an intimate change of
heart. To live is to change. If ever this urge to change grows dim, you would
no longer be alive. The book of the Apocalypse confirms this when the Lord
says: “You are reputed to be alive yet are dead” (3:1). Again, “to be perfect
is to change frequently”. It seems that Cardinal Newman wanted to say: «Time is
measured by my repentance”. This time of Advent too is measured through the
project that God has for me. I must constantly open myself, be ready to allow
myself to be renewed by Him.
b) Accepting the Gospel:
This is the condition for repentance. The Gospel is not
only a collection of messages, but a Person who asks to enter into your life.
Accepting the Gospel of this Sunday of Advent means opening the door of one’s
own life to the one whom John the Baptist defined as more powerful. This idea
was expressed well by John Paul II: “Open the doors to Christ…” Accept Christ
who comes to me with his firm word of salvation. We recall the words of St.
Augustine who used to say: “I fear the Lord who passes by”. Such a passing by
of the Lord may find us at a time of life when we are distracted or
superficial.
c) Advent – a time for interior souls:
A mystical evocation found in the writings of Blessed
Elisabeth of the Trinity helps us discover repentance as a time and occasion to
immerse ourselves in God, to expose ourselves to the fire of love that
transforms and purifies our lives: «Here we are at the sacred time of Advent
which more than any other time we could call the time for interior souls, souls
who live always and in all things “hidden in God with Christ”, at the centre of
themselves. While awaiting the great mystery [of Christmas]… let us ask him to
make us true in our love, that is to transform us… it is good to think that the
life of a priest, like that of a Carmelite nun, is an advent that prepares the incarnation
within souls! David sings in a psalm that the “fire will walk ahead of the
Lord”. Is not love that fire? Is it not also our mission to prepare the ways of
the Lord by our union with the one whom the Apostle calls a “devouring fire”?
On contact with him our souls will become like a flame of love that spreads to
all the members of the body of Christ that is the Church”. (Letter to Rev.
Priest Chevignard, in Writings, 387-389).
6. Psalm 71 (72)
With this psalm, the Church prays during Advent to
express the expectation of her king of peace, liberator of the poor and of the
oppressed.
Rule your people with justice
God, endow the king with your own fair judgement, the son of the king with your own saving justice,
that he may rule your people with justice,
and your poor with fair judgement.
In his days uprightness shall flourish,
and peace in plenty till the moon is no more.His empire shall stretch from sea to sea,
from the river to the limits of the earth.
For he rescues the needy who calls to him,
and the poor who has no one to help.He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the needy from death.
May his name be blessed for ever,
and endure in the sight of the sun. In him shall be blessed every race in the world,
and all nations call him blessed.
7. Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, led by the powerful and vigorous word of John
the Baptist, your precursor, we wish to receive your baptism of Spirit and
fire. You know how many fears, spiritual laziness and hypocrisies reside in our
hearts. We know that with your fan, little wheat would be left in our lives and
much chaff, ready to be thrown into the unquenchable fire. From the bottom of
our hearts we say: Come to us in the humility of your incarnation, of your
humanity full of our limitations and sins and grant us the baptism of immersion
into the abyss of your humility. Grant us to be immersed into those waters of
the Jordan that gushed out of your wounded side on the cross and grant that we
may recognise you as true Son of God, our true Saviour. During this Advent take
us into the desert of nothingness, of repentance, of solitude so that we may
experience the love of Spring. May your voice not remain in the desert but may
it echo in our hearts so that our voice, immersed, baptised in your Presence
may become news of love. Amen.
Source: www.ocarm.org
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