Taste and See: Waiting

John in his prison had heard what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?’ Jesus answered, ‘Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor; and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me.’

As the messengers were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Oh no, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: he is the one of whom scripture says:

‘Look, I am going to send my messenger before you;
he will prepare your way before you.

‘I tell you solemnly, of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.’

Matthew 11:2-11

We heard that Gospel passage of Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy.

And clearly the Gospel helps us to identify reason for joy. But the joy is not unalloyed. John is in prison, conerned, and doubtful. His doubts dispelled he still faces his martyrdom. That death is to his glory, but , still, it is a cruel death and one visitied upon him as a result of scheming and of brutal dictatorship.

We have no one more that we are to wait for, the kingdom is at hand, but sometimes it appears, also, very far off.

• For what needs  – of yourself and others – do you pray today?

Beheading of John the Baptist. Pierre Puvis De Chavannes. Barber Institute. Photo © 2016, Allen Morris

Speak Lord: Our Freedom

John in his prison had heard what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?’ Jesus answered, ‘Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor; and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me.’

As the messengers were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Oh no, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: he is the one of whom scripture says:

‘Look, I am going to send my messenger before you;
he will prepare your way before you.

‘I tell you solemnly, of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.’

Matthew 11:2-11

This coming Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, a day of joy in the love and workings of God.

The gospel of the day reveals to us something of the doubt and fear that John endures in his imprisonment.

Doubt and fear linger around us too, even on a day of joy.

Remembering and being renewed by the workings of God is our way to freedom – his gift and our response.

Carving. Grasse, France. 2007

Taste and See: Living as children of God

In due course John the Baptist appeared; he preached in the wilderness of Judaea and this was his message: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’ This was the man the prophet Isaiah spoke of when he said:

A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.

This man John wore a garment made of camel-hair with a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole Jordan district made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. But when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers, who warned you to fly from the retribution that is coming? But if you are repentant, produce the appropriate fruit, and do not presume to tell yourselves, “We have Abraham for our father,” because, I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones. Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees, so that any tree which fails to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire. I baptise you in water for repentance, but the one who follows me is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to carry his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’

Matthew 3:1-12

In the Gospel that we heard on Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent, John points us to the more that is beyond ‘mere’ repentance.

We are called to be children of God, not children of Abraham. We are called not to trust in our own strengths and abilities, even when we choose the good and reject the bad: we are called to a proper and healthy humility before the One who loves us more than we can ever love ourselves.

We are beloved of God, and God longs for us to live in a way that enables us to best benefit from our being beloved.

• How does God’s love draw the best out of you?
• What in your life and living do you last credit to God’s love?

Poster. Cathedral, Nantes. (c) 2016, Allen Morris.

Speak Lord: help us do justice

The Gospel for the 3rd Sunday of Advent, and the first Sunday of the Year of Mercy, has some very practical guidance to how to live the religious, righteous, faithful life.

When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.

Luke 3:10-18

We are not told what the soldiers and others did as a result of John’s teaching. And now of course what they did is not so very important. Much more important is what we do with it.

King Lear declared: ‘I am a man/more sinned against than sinning.’ Many of us might not see ourselves as intimidators or extortioners, or unjust in any way – but see ourselves as diminished, hemmed in, oppressed by others.

Though it is to be hoped that we do not do direct and deliberate harm to others, most of us are complicit in the structural sins of the sometime exploitative economic and political systems of the West.

It is not enough, argued Saint John Paul II, for us to seek to be free of personal sin: we also need to repent of and seek to correct the effects of structural sin. How we vote; how we spend; how we respond to the victims of organised exploitation, all matter, all are relevant when we seek to give account of our religious and moral lives.

Shrine of John the Baptist, St John Lateran, Rome. (c) 2005, Allen Morris

Speak Lord: Help us overcome the world

The first of the optional Second readings for Sunday’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord comes from the 1st Letter of St John.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
has been begotten by God;
and whoever loves the Father that begot him
loves the child whom he begets.
We can be sure that we love God’s children
if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us;
this is what loving God is –
keeping his commandments;
and his commandments are not difficult,
because anyone who has been begotten by God
has already overcome the world;
this is the victory over the world –
our faith.

Who can overcome the world?
Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God:
Jesus Christ who came by water and blood,
not with water only,
but with water and blood;
with the Spirit as another witness –
since the Spirit is the truth –
so that there are three witnesses,
the Spirit, the water and the blood,
and all three of them agree.
We accept the testimony of human witnesses,
but God’s testimony is much greater,
and this is God’s testimony,
given as evidence for his Son.

1 John 5:1-9

John the Baptist preached the Kingdom, – a teaching taken over by Jesus and fulfilled by him

Overcoming the world is about learning to live to Kingdom values – values of love and service and self-sacrifice for the growth and healing of others.

In this world so marred by violence and hatred, pray that your love of Christ may help you to grow in love of neighbour.

Photograph of figure of John the Baptist by Rodin – Victoria and Albert Museum. (c) 2015, Allen Morris

Taste and See: Good News for sharing

The Gospel for yesterday’s Mass, the Mass of the third Sunday of Advent  set John the Baptist before us – a witness to the Christ.

A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light,
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.

This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take bapck an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

a voice that cries in the wilderness:
Make a straight way for the Lord.’

Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

John 1:6-8,19-28

The work of witness, of calling people to be attentive to Christ, the Light of the World, takes many forms.

A recurring theme of recent years is that the Western World is in need of a new call to such attentiveness. The recent letter of Pope Francis, the Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium), is one example of that concern being expressed. It was a regular theme of Saint John Paul II, and especially in the preparation for and celebration of the Millennium.

It is a matter being taken up afresh in Westminster diocese. Taken up not as a new programme, but as an invitation to explore further the depth of all that is presently done, to become newly attentive to how what we do and how we are relates to the person of Jesus, God with us.

A steering paper has been prepared to assist communities consider the why and wherefore of this invitation and how to respond to it. It will repay reading and praying with.

In the meantime the simple prayer of St Richard of Chichester helps move us in the right direction:

Thanks be to you, O Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the many gifts you have given us;
for all that you endured for love of us.

O most merciful redeemer,
friend and brother,
may we know you more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
and follow thee more nearly, day by day.
Amen.

Icon of John the Baptist from the church memorialising his birth in Ein Kerem, in the Holy Land.
Photograph (c) 2013, Allen Morris.

 

Speak Lord: Lead us to your light.

The Gospel for Mass today, Gaudete (rejoicing) Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Advent comes from the Gospel of John. It tells of John the Baptist and his witness to the Christ.

A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light,
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.

This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

a voice that cries in the wilderness:
Make a straight way for the Lord.’

Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

John 1:6-8,19-28

The way John the evangelist tells the story emphasises again and again what John the Baptist is not. He is not the Christ but he is the one who is witness to the light, the Christ.

The suspicion is that there was a time when many did think John was more important than Jesus. Perhaps this was during Jesus’ lifetime, perhaps at the the time the Gospel was being written, perhaps both.

What lesson might we take from this?

• Are there times when we are tempted to think of ourselves as more important than the Christ? Or our call to serve?
• What does it mean that the one whose sandal-strap we too are unfit to undo, comes to serve us?
• How open to change and growth are we?

Photograph of The Baptism of Christ by Marek Zulaski (1982) in Church of Our Lady, St John’s Wood. Photograph (c) 2007, Allen Morris.