John and Mary
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December 10, 2016“Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” (Mt 11:3)
The Byzantine icon called the Deesis portrays the Theotokos and the Forerunner on either side of Christ, praying to him for humanity. John is a bridge from Christ to the Old Testament, and Mary from Christ to the New Testament.
This Third Sunday in Advent presents us with another look into the life of John the Baptist, but this time in the context of two Marian feasts: The Immaculate Conception last Thursday and Our Lady of Guadalupe on Monday. And so we have John and Mary, our Advent companions and our teachers in the art of waiting and preparing the way for the One who is to come.
On the face of it, these two figures make for a striking contrast:
The desert ascetic – The young woman of Nazareth
The voice – The humble one
The martyr – The mother
But we can also find points of convergence:
Virginity: John and Mary were consecrated from birth, given wholly in body and mind and heart to God. This is expressed in the tradition of John’s retreat to the wilderness as a boy, and Mary’s presentation in the temple as a young child.
Both were given, hidden and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Prophecy: Mary and John spoke words out of the abundance of a silent, pondering heart. They spoke fiery words, whose ramifications shake the world to its foundations. Though Mary’s public role during her lifetime was more limited than John’s, she has continued to act as herald of the kingdom throughout history, in all the times and places she has made her presence known to the lowly with the message of God’s salvation.
Patience: These two teachers of ours spent their lives waiting and preparing a way, in the desert and among the people, in one heart and one womb.
The following words could be spoken by John, or Mary or any of us:
“I do not belong to myself; I am a stranger to myself, a destitute land between the past promise and the still to come fulfillment. I have nothing to make me strong or rich. Everything within me strains forward, is set on edge in prophetic anticipation – what poverty a prophet endures! – of an intangible future, and I am certain to find therein my true self, the promised land of my loving God.”
(Johannes Baptist Metz, Poverty of Spirit)
In the same way, either John, or Mary or any of us could speak the words from today’s gospel:
“Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” (Mt 11:3)
John, the voice in the wilderness, is suddenly rendered silent within the echoing walls of a cell. He no longer speaks and acts, but listens and looks on as the one he proclaimed Messiah reveals himself to Israel. He must have started to question his assumptions about this Messiah in light of what he heard, and perhaps to doubt his mission in light of his apparent failure.
“I came neither eating nor drinking, calling for repentance and warning of the ax and the fire. But this one whom I had been waiting for and proclaiming, whom I saw and knew instinctively, whom I baptized and heard named from on high “Beloved Son” – this one eats and drinks and welcomes tax collectors and sinners. Where now is the ax and the fire? Where the judge? Was I the Forerunner of such a Messiah? Who are you, Christ, and who am I in light of your coming?”
Jesus does not reject John, the angel sent before his face to prepare his way. He invites him to look and see the effects of his coming. His love is fire, though he chooses not to destroy, but to give light and warmth to those most in need of it. He is the Judge, but he is gentle with those who know their sinfulness and need, saving stern words for those who take offence at him. At the sight of him, the people spontaneously divide into those who allow themselves to be saved, and those who will not. No, John’s life and mission have not been a waste. His fasting has not been without meaning or merit as preparation for the One who comes. Wisdom will be vindicated in this child. His blood will not fall to the ground away from the presence of the Lord (Cf. 1 Sm 26:20).
Mary, too, is sorely tried in patience: by the rejection and threats of violence from those around her because of her illicit pregnancy, amidst the mysterious hurts and seeming contradictions of her son’s mission, and of course, when at last she receives his body back into her arms, now cold and still.
“Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” (Mt 11:3)
Jesus gave John an answer that enabled him to go on toward the absurdity of his end with faith. (In that, too, he prepared a way for his Lord.) But what answer did Jesus give to his mother? Will wisdom will be vindicated in this child, too?
What did Jesus say to Mary?
“Woman, behold your son.” (Jn 19:26)
And she knew, having held this word in her heart and pondered it, that the blessed Fruit of her womb had left her pregnant with inexhaustible tenderness toward all her children.
(Cf. Guerric of Igny)
“I am your Compassionate Mother,
yours, for you yourself,
for everybody here in the Land,
for each and all together,
for all others too,
For all Folk of every kind,
who do but cherish Me,
who do but raise their voices to Me,
who do but seek Me,
who do but raise their trust to Me.
For here I shall listen to their groanings,
to their saddenings;
here shall I make well and heal up
their each and every kind of disappointment,
of exhausting pangs,
of bitter aching pain."
(Guadalupe from the Aztec)