What did you go out to see? ~ reflex on Luke 7:24-30

Here, right in the middle of our preparations for Christmas, we read this Gospel about the great impassioned Precursor, the Baptist, the one whose life task it was to point to Jesus saying, “I am not He, but He is coming… Behold the Lamb of God!” John the Baptist was the final prophet of the Old Testament, the messenger whose whole life was an expectation of the coming of the Christ, the one sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. Jesus gives the most profound testimony about him, which stands for all time: “Among those born of women, no one is greater than John.”

This is a glorious testimony, which points to the pivotal place John has in the history of salvation. Far from being some zealot living primitively in the desert without any refined comprehension of the whole picture, John’s understanding and anointing by the Spirit in his mother’s womb guided his every move. Even the location of his ministry is part of the message: the Israelites had wandered 40 years in the desert and then crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, so John situated himself in the desert and invited the people to a new Exodus, bringing them through baptism in the same river into a new freedom. The first Exodus freed them from slavery in Egypt; this time, they were called to repentance, to be freed from slavery to sin. The first time, the Promised Land was Canaan, flowing with milk and honey; this time, it was the Messiah himself, who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit.

Christ’s life will likewise trace the path of ancient Israel, beginning with time in the desert. And we are called during Advent to stir up the thirst and longing of desert wanderers in search of the Promised Land, the Kingdom of the Messiah, in the certain knowledge that we cannot be free except for His coming to save us.

There is a subtle warning to each of us at the end of this Gospel: all those who were baptized by John “acknowledged the righteousness of God,” but the Pharisees and scholars were not baptized and rejected God’s Plan. It seems the simple people and the dreaded tax collectors were open to the Truth, but the more educated and those who should have recognized the signs of God’s action among the people of Israel closed themselves off.

This is the reality of the fullness of the freedom God gives us – we are free to say NO to God’s plan and purpose for our lives, to remain closed in on ourselves and refuse His grace. It is our simplicity and openness, our desire and willingness to accept God’s grace in loving obedience that makes the difference. With the simple humility of children, we see that the way to be raised up is to bow down, to crawl into the dark cave to be awed by a young family welcoming a Divine Infant King.