The Bridge between the Old and the New

Third Sunday of Advent Year A

If you have ever stepped into an Eastern Orthodox Church, one of the things that will strike you is that the view of the sanctuary where the altar is located is concealed by a screen decorated by a multitude of icons, the iconostasis. For the Eastern Christians, the iconostasis does not serve as a barrier that separates the nave from the sanctuary but is actually a doorway into the sanctuary, into the Holy of Holies. For the iconostasis symbolises the barrier that divides Heaven and Earth which has been torn. A permanent feature of the iconostasis is the icon of the Theotokos, who stands on the left of the Royal Door, and an icon of Christ the Pantokrator, who stands to the right. And then immediately to the right of the icon of Christ stands St John the Baptist, the Forerunner of Christ. The Forerunner prepares the Way for Christ’s first coming, and Christ and the Church honours the Forerunner in perpetuity.

Just as the iconostasis act as a bridge between Heaven and Earth, St John the Baptist stands as a bridge of continuity between the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament prophets all looked forward to the time of John and spoke of the Messiah who was then to appear. The Old Testament closes with this prophecy of the coming of Elijah (Mal. 4:5, 6) and the New Testament opens with a record of a fulfillment of that prophecy (Matt. 3:1–3 3). The prophetic office of the Old Testament times, reached a climax in John when the old reached its hopes and gave way to the new. This is the reason why in today’s gospel, our Lord pays the highest tribute to St John. John is languishing in prison because he had the courage to call Herod to repentance for marrying his brother’s wife. Soon he would be beheaded for the stand he took.

As he approaches his own death, St John the Baptist must now be certain that his mission is complete, that the One, whose Way he had been preparing, had actually arrived. So having heard reports of Jesus’ exploits, John sends his disciples to question our Lord, “Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?” Many Christians are perturbed by John’s question; isn’t he the cousin of our Lord? Didn’t he baptise our Lord at the river Jordan and announce Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Some commentators have tried to understand this by arguing that it was John’s disciples who had doubts, and therefore, John had sent them to our Lord for the purpose of clearing their doubts and with the hope that they will now follow Him. Others would explain John’s actions by saying that he expected a powerful Messiah that would baptise with Spirit and fire, and now there appears this gentle one who “will not quench a smoldering wick” (Isaiah 42:3).

Whether it was John or his disciples or both who harboured doubts, Our Lord calms their disquiet by showing him that the prophecy is being fulfilled in himself, “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.” Our Lord is alluding to the prophecies of the Prophet Isaiah. He is telling John’s disciples that He is indeed the fulfillment of the prophecies.

But Our Lord adds this beatitude at the end, “Happy (or Blessed) is the man who does not lose faith in me.” Of course, the beatitude can be taken to apply to everyone, to all Christians who do “not lose faith” in Christ. But this is spoken to the Baptist in the first instance. It must have come as a powerful assurance to John, for John is indeed the one who did “not lose faith” in Christ. These words were meant as an encouragement to John, despite his seemingly bleak condition and uncertainty, to continue to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, and not lose or falter in his faith. These words still have great relevance for us Christians today. Many of us go through seasons in our Christian life where we struggle with doubts and faith in God, in Christ and in His Church, especially now when we are confronted with the darkness of unbelief, the enveloping darkness of sin, the scandal of sexual abuse, the confusing reports we receive about the happenings and controversies within the Church. In such dark times, it is easy to doubt and to lose heart. But our Lord assures us again, “happy is the man who does not lose faith in me.”

Like St John the Baptist, we are invited to look at our Lord and all His works in this chaotic world of ours. In the midst of darkness, there is the light of His grace; in the midst of confusion, there is clarity of His teachings; in the midst of hopelessness, there is His promise of salvation. In different ways, we too are called to give witness to this faith as St John the Baptist did.  As St Paul tells us, “you too have to be patient, do not lose heart, because the Lord’s coming is soon.”

Then comes the part where our Lord states that John the Baptist is a true “witness” to His mission and ministry. The Greek word for witness is “matyron” from where we derive the word “martyr.” Some have questioned whether St John the Baptist could be accurately described as a martyr for Christ, since he preceded Christ and his imprisonment and execution appears to have been occasioned by his outspoken opposition to Herod. Well, the Venerable St Bede had this answer, “There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.” John was indeed a martyr for Christ. He was not a “reed swaying in the breeze,” his conviction did not falter and his faith did not stumble in the face of death.  He would not be moved. He would not change his message when the religious big shots showed up. And finally, it was his uncompromising stand for Truth that got him thrown in prison and finally beheaded.

So, our Lord was right when He made this pronouncement, “of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen.” Having paid such a great tribute to this man, our Lord adds this cryptic verse, “yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.” Who is our Lord referring to? After Our Lord Jesus died and rose again, everything that the Old Testament prophets and St John the Baptist looked forward to, we Christians know and have. Everything they had hoped for, we understand. All that they believed would come, we know has come. John could never truly preach the gospel, because the gospel is all about the death and resurrection of Christ, but we can, we who have been baptised into Christ’s death and have risen with Him in baptism. St John the Baptist never experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, but we have at our baptism and confirmation. Yes, we are the ones our Lord was referring to “the least in the kingdom of heaven.”  This is because as our Lord tells us in Luke’s gospel (10:23-24), “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.” Well, we have seen and heard what St John the Baptist longed to hear and see.

Our Lord gave this glowing tribute to John. And my brothers and sisters, as hard as it is to believe, one day if you are faithful to Him unto death, if you are not a “reed swaying in the breeze”, if you patiently wait and not lose heart, He will give you a glowing tribute before everyone who has ever lived. Live with this conviction. Deny yourself as St John did and live unto Christ. Don’t live for the approval of man, but for the approval of God. And on that final day, you too will receive praise from the very lips of Jesus Christ. What higher goal could we possibly live for?