Second Sunday of Advent: Is 40:1-5,9-11, Mk:1:1-8

 

Prepare the Way of the Lord

 

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah gives a message of comfort to the people of Jerusalem. She suffered very much under Babylonian subjugation. The message is one of hope, that God will not abandon her. There is good news for her- He will deliver her and feed her- like a shepherd tends his sheep.

 

In the Gospel reading today, we meet John the Baptist.  He was the son of Zechariah, one of the temple priests. Bishop Robert Barron tells us that since priesthood was passed from father to son, we must assume that whatever John was doing in the desert, it had something to do with the Temple and Sacrifice.

 

When people came to the Jerusalem Temple, they were seeking the remission of their sins through the sacrificial mediation of the priests.  But before they entered the precincts of the Temple, they were obliged to undergo a ritual washing called a mikvah.  Can we appreciate both of these features in John’s characteristic activity of baptizing? He was drawing his followers through a purifying bath and then promising them forgiveness.

 

But how would this happen? In Mark’s Gospel, John says, “One mightier than I is coming after me….I have baptized you with water, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  (1:7-8). And in John’s Gospel, the Baptist cries, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (1:29). These two statements are functionally equivalent in this way:  John the Baptist was preparing Israel for the arrival of a definitive priest, who would perform the final sacrifice by which sins would be wiped away. His water- baptism was in anticipation of a fiery immersion by which Israel would be finally purified.

 

It is worth noting that all the four Gospels compel us to approach Jesus through John the Baptist. All four Evangelists realize that we won’t understand what Jesus is doing and what he means without the interpretative key provided by John the Baptist in the desert.

 

The Gospel of Mark, which starts with “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”, is not a book, but a presence: the presence of the Son of God. He is the Good News of Salvation. In the Gospel of Mark, verse 2-3, Mark attributes the prophecy to Isaiah.  In fact, the text is a combination of Malachi, Isaiah, and Exodus (Mal: 3:1, Is 40:3, Ex 23:20) from the Old Testament with reference to Matthew and Luke (Mt 11:10, Lk 7:27) in the New Testament- “Behold I am sending a messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way, A voice crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord.”   John’s ministry is seen as God’s prelude to the saving mission of His Son.

 

In Mark 1: 8-9, the apostle Mark clarifies that, through Jesus’ sacrifice and with the Holy Spirit, Jesus will create a new people of God. But he identifies himself with the people of Israel in submitting to John’s baptism of repentance. As in the desert of Sinai, so in the wilderness of Judea, Israel’s Son-ship with God is to be renewed.

So- prepare the way of the Lord. Amen.

 

Fr. Lucas Thumma