2nd Week of Advent
Each year the 2nd week of Advent presents us with a person that we love yet scares us quite a bit. Is he ugly and terrifying? No. Does he hurt people or make them pay some sort of money to him. No. It is what John asks of us that makes him scary. They way he follows and he is praised for this by Jesus himself. This of course is the Prophet John the Baptist.
He speaks of brooding vipers, fires made hotter with winnowing fans, wearing camel hair and eating honey and locusts. Everything about him impresses us with his power muscle righteousness.
Yet he takes all of his righteousness, anger and disgust and focusses them all on one group the Sadducees and the Pharisees. This is one of the few times we see these two groups mentioned together. We tend to think of these various groups similar to our political parties of today. That is a very incorrect viewpoint. They believed in the Jewish God, but pretty much after that all similarities break down. Below is a listing of the beliefs that these opposing Religious leaders had. This may give us a brief idea of what they did, and who they were and for one group still are.
Who were these people?
Sadducees
THE SADUCEES were a socio-religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.
Pharisees
THE PHARISEES were a Jewish Social movement and A school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.
- Denied the Immortality of the Soul
- Denied Bodily resurrection after death
- Denied Existence of Angelic Spirits
- Wealthy Upperclass
- Favored Hellenization
- Lives Revolved around the Temple
- Rejected Oral Law
- Man has no Fate Man has free choice of Good or evil
- Torah only source of Law
- Remainder of TaNaKH were divinely inspired, but not source of law
- Believed in Immortality of the Soul
- Believed in Bodily Resurrection
- Angelic Spirits do exist
- educated, Well known legal experts (Like Scribes)
- Resisted Hellenization though accepted some
- Worship was not limited to Temple
- Accepted Oral law
- Man has freewill, however God has foreknowledge of human destiny
- Accepted Religious tradition as source of Law
- All TaNaKH Inspired
John was mad?
What was the prophet John so upset about? why the scurrilous language, why the threats and why would he stand up and say such things to powerful groups of people, lumping two completely different people together in damnation. He is making these groups and us as well know that we cannot let ourselves be fooled into thinking the world and its ways are God’s ways. John is a prophet, which means he was not there for worldly profit, he was there to speak the Word of God, before the Word arrived. And this brings with it all of the problems of earlier prophets, speaking the truth to powerful people who are used to getting their ways, does not bode well for ones future. But as it says elsewhere in the Bible, do you serve God or Mammon?
Serving God is an excellent Longterm Game plan, but the world will not want you around. You certainly can say what this person or that is doing well, but mention something not going so well… it brings with it embarrassment which tends to lead to being upset which tends to lead to anger.
I feel this very much in my own life. When someone says something negative about me.. I feel my ears getting hotter and probably turning red from embarrassment as I am not living up to expectation. I let the words travel around my mind where they take on a sinister or hateful content and eventually scream inside of my head about all of the wrongs in this previous conversation. We each have our own pathway that this embarrassment travels, but at some point one settles down and either take the challenge to “get better” or recognize the improvement that can pay huge dividends to our lives.
John’s legacy
In the end, some of the powerful group did Repent and change their minds and heart. We can think of Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and others as well. But would they have transformed their lives had not John been there telling them to change their lives? Would they have changed had God using John not challenged them to make their ways straight. Each of us have our own free-will.. we can do what we want. God asks us to do His will, but we are free to go our own way. We though have to remember that the choices we make matter and effect he future and all of the ripples through our lives. John continued to speak God’s word and he paid the human price for that. But Saint John is in Heaven with God the Father for all eternity.
We may have the calling to be a prophet. God is calling to each of us and he may tell us to do something we are not comfortable with. But we should not be living this life for today’s comfort and lose tomorrow’s peace. Big John the Baptist is a great figure which show us what it means to listen to God first and not worry about our personal lives. So Big John is back again this Advent giving us a witness to our faith. let us listen, let us learn as we recognize this next week the joy that the coming of Jesus brings with it… Gaudete. John came to announce the coming of the Christ. We have much to be thankful because of the prophet John… Big John.
For the Reading of the 2nd Sunday in Advent Click here…https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120422.cfm
For a homily I wrote a number of years ago. click here https://deacondavestowell.com/john-the-baptist/