Third Sunday of Advent. Today’s readings: Isaiah 61,1-2a.10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5,16-24; John 1,6-8.19-28
The story is told of a vibrant monastic community that had amazing liturgies attended by large numbers of faithful. With time, the monks grew cold emotionally, their celebrations became drab, and the congregation shrunk.
The disheartened abbot decided to visit a holy hermit who lived in the vicinity in order to share his concern. The wise hermit listened attentively. Then, with eyebrows raised and eyes wide open, he said: “Abbot, the cause of the problem is very clear. One of the members of your monastic community is actually the Messiah and none of the rest has recognised him.”
The abbot hurried back to the monastery and shared the news with his brothers. Each looked around and stared intensely at the rest, wondering who of them might be the covert Messiah. Each of them started acting very lovingly and kindly towards the others as any of them could potentially be the Lord. As a result, the community became such an exemplary one that hundreds started thronging to their revived liturgies once again.
John was sent by God precisely to help others perceive what should have been plain and obvious
John the Baptist was very much like that holy hermit who announced the presence of the Lord in the midst of his people, only this time he was Jesus truly and physically present in person. “I baptise with water,” John replied to his curious interlocutors, “but among you stands one you do not know.” (Jn 1,26)
John was addressing people who had been craving the arrival of the Messiah for centuries on end. Around his time, various individuals had claimed to be the one promised by God, but their pretence was short-lived.
Now, John preached powerfully, drawing people to repentance and conversion. Yet he did not abuse of the hold he had on people, a temptation many a sectarian leader fell into. Rather, he plainly claimed he was not the awaited one, deflecting the people’s attention onto someone else while gracefully stepping aside.
Beginning in the late 1960s, a gripping American detective fiction television series left its viewers in awe as Lieutenant Columbo, starred by Peter Falk, unravelled complex crimes. He went about searching for all the evidence he could retrieve and gradually zeroed in on the murderer who always posed as the most unquestionable and innocent person in the episode. Painstaking work eventually got Columbo to identify the criminal, though the viewers would be cognisant of his identity from the start.
Today’s gospel works in reverse: John the Baptist is sent with the sole purpose of telling us about someone whom he already knows, but to whose presence all others are oblivious. What is intriguing is the description of John the Baptist’s mission statement: “He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.” (Jn 1,7)
Courts of justice can function properly only when witnesses give a true account of facts and events. The very laborious and taxing process by which a court functions entails the extracting of the truth from witnesses without whose testimony the facts would remain obscure.
Witnesses give information that is not immediately evident or easily available to the rest. And this is what makes John’s mission particularly puzzling, because the last thing we would expect a witness to speak about is something as obvious as the light!
Indeed, does anyone need to give testimony about the light? John was sent by God precisely to help others perceive what should have been plain and obvious. If someone needs to explain the light to you, it probably means you are visually challenged.
Yet, the light of Jesus is not perceptible to the human retina as though it were photons travelling to the back of our eye. Rather, it is a truth that infuses our minds and reaches deep down into our hearts. Seeing that Light is life.