, 12/7/14
The Gospel calls our attention to the relationship between
Jesus and his cousin, John the Baptist. They both were stellar performers on
their century’s religious scene, and although some followers of John resented
the sudden prominence of Jesus, John had disclaimed any rivalry with Jesus. Of
Jesus he said, “He must increase, while I must decrease.” And he said that he was
like a best man who rejoiced for his friend.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus reached five hundred and sixty
years back in Jewish history for an image to describe John’s exalted role in
God’s plan. Forgive me for giving an account of the ancient drama to which
Jesus alluded.
We all know that the Jewish People were captives in Babylon
for seventy years. Roughly, those years stretched from six hundred B.C. to five
hundred and thirty years B.C.
What happened to free them in 530 B.C. was that Persia under
King Cyrus II had conquered Babylon, declaring that the Jews were free to
return to Jerusalem to rebuild their ancestral homes. We say, they were free;
but actually, after the passage of seventy years those original exiles had been
replaced by their grandchildren and their great grandchildren; and those
people, having made lives for themselves in Babylon, were fearful of pulling up
stakes for a month-long trek through wild places.
At that time God sent the people a great prophet whose name
we have never learned. That prophet spoke God’s words in our first reading, He
said, “Comfort, give comfort to my people , says their God.”
God told the people that he would be invisibly accompanying
them. What is more, he would be sending his angel before the returning
multitude. He would make the road smooth and straight for them.
For explaining John’s role in God’s marvelous plan for
saving us through himself, Jesus said that John in like that angel, going
before him, crying out, “Prepare the way of the Lord!”
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