Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
2nd SUNDAY IN ADVENT TIME (Cycle A)
Readings:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Romans 15:4-9
Matthew 3:1-12
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity, which is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: The First Advent of Christ and
the Announcement of the Coming of His Kingdom
In the season of Advent, leading up to the celebration of
the birth of our Savior, the faithful of Jesus's Kingdom of the Church not only
look back in time to the Savior's birth but also forward in time, anticipating
Christ's promised return in the Parousia of His Second Advent. Such a
reflection is appropriate in preparation for celebrating the birth of the Savior
since we not only remember His First Advent when His coming forever altered the
course of human history, but we also reflect upon the end of human history when
Christ will return in glory to judge the living and the dead.
In the Old Testament, God's holy prophets foretold the coming of a future Davidic Redeemer-Messiah. As a descendant of the great King David, the people in covenant with God anticipated the Messiah to come as a righteous king to redeem them and all humanity, ushering in a reign of justice for eternity. In the First Reading, the 8th century BC prophet Isaiah foretold His coming. He wrote that the Messiah would be a descendant of Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David. He would rule over the covenant people with a charism that comes from God and be a holy sign for the peoples of the earth. All nations not in a previous covenant relationship with the LORD God would seek the Davidic Messiah as their Lord, and He would welcome them into the peace of His glorious Kingdom.
The Responsorial Psalm, attributed to King David, depicts an ideal king and his just reign. The prophetic psalm probably refers to David's son Solomon, the heir of God's everlasting covenant with the House of David. Jewish tradition, however, has consistently interpreted this psalm as a description of David's promised heir, the Davidic Messiah. The psalmist offers his prayers for the Davidic king and the righteousness of his reign, for all the covenant people, and especially in securing justice for the poor.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul quotes the Old Testament five times in Romans 15:1-13 to make his point that what happened in the First Advent of Jesus Christ fulfilled what the prophets wrote in the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul wrote that everything written in the Old Testament is for the instruction of every generation between the Frist and Second Advents of Jesus Christ who embraces the New Covenant Kingdom of the Davidic Messiah. As heirs of Christ, we are also heirs of the promises made to the Patriarchs and King David's promised eternal kingdom that is the Church over which Jesus reigns. To us, as Christ's heirs, God displays His faithful love and extends the promise of our rightful inheritance in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.
In the Gospel Reading, St. John the Baptist calls the covenant people to an act of water immersion as a purification ritual in preparation for the coming of the Messianic Era and the new Davidic Kingdom. Ritual immersion was a symbolic act of purification or renewal familiar to the Jews; however, St. John's ritual of immersion in the Jordan River for repentance and conversion was unique. The baptism John offered took on aspects of purification from defilement caused by sin and the one-time ritual conversion experience of Gentile converts. St. John's baptism prefigured Jesus's baptism unto death and new life in His crucifixion and Resurrection. The people who came to repent their sins in St. John's baptism were turning away from the rebellion of sin and turning back to God in faithful obedience. Moreover, in one decisive act, they were also turning to a new beginning in preparation for the coming of the Messiah's Kingdom and their journey to salvation when they would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit as redeemed children in God's eternal family.
The First Reading Isaiah 11:1-10 ~ The Oracle of the
Coming of the Davidic Messiah
1 On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of
Jesse, and from his roots, a bud shall blossom. 2 The spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and
of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, 3 and his delight
shall be the fear of the LORD. Not by appearance shall he judge nor by hearsay
shall he decide, 4 but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright
for the land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his
mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked. 5 Justice
shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. 6 Then
the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to
guide them. 7 The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young
shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. 8 The baby shall play by the
cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair. 9 There shall be no
harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with
knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea. 10 On that day, the root of
Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his
dwelling shall be glorious.
In the year of King Uzziah's death (about 740 BC), Isaiah received his prophetic vocation while praying in the Temple. His divine call was to preach the coming judgment against what had become the divided Kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judah in the south in a covenant lawsuit for the people's failure to remain faithful to their covenant obligations to Israel's God. Their apostasy resulted in a prophecy of judgment by war and exile, but God, in His love and mercy, also promised an eventual future redemption. The setting of this oracle was Jerusalem, the capital of the Southern Davidic Kingdom of Judah. Our reading is the third Emmanuel (God-with-us) oracle of the prophet Isaiah (also see Is 7:1-8:22 and 9:1-7). This third oracle has two parts.
Part I (verses 1-5) is the formal announcement of the ascension of a new Davidic king. The oracle proclaims that the Davidic Messiah, "the sprout," will be a descendant from the "stump of Jesse" of Bethlehem, the father of the great King David. After the exile of the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria in the 8th century BC and the exile of the Jews of the Southern Kingdom of Judah to Babylon in the 6th century BC, only a "stump" of the Davidic line of those descended from Jesse (King David's father) remained. The prophet says the new king will be humble because he comes from a "tree" (the Davidic line of kings) that has been "pruned" (received God's purification through divine judgment) and yet has produced a vital new bud or shoot (verse 1). The bud refers to the future king and not a current Davidic monarch. The line of Davidic kings would end in the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC when the last king died in exile. Verse 2 promised that the future king, thanks to the power of God's divine Spirit, would be blessed with exceptional qualities that would equip him to rule with justice. The gift of God's Spirit was a blessing given to key figures in salvation history to enable God's agents to accomplish a divine mission: for example, Moses (Num 11:17), the Judges of Israel (Judg 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6; 15:14), and David (1 Sam 16:13).
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of
wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge
and of fear of the LORD, 3 and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.
In verse 2, the oracle prophesies that the new Davidic king
would rule over God's people with a divine charism, unlike the self-seeking
kings of previous reigns. Isaiah names three pairs of gifts with which God's
Spirit would endow the future king:
In Scripture, "knowledge" of God is always defined as fear (reverence for) the Lord and obedience to God's commandments. The fulfillment of these divine attributes would give the future king joy in obedience to his mission as God's representative to the people.
Part II (Is 11:6-11) describes the good associated with the reign of the promised future Messianic king from the line of King David. The oracle uses the imagery of an era of Messianic peace in restoring creation to a state of original justice and peace before humanity's fall from grace. The harmony and perfection that reigned over Creation before Adam's fall and the corruption of sin would even be restored among the wild animals. Humankind would receive the gift of divine grace in the "knowledge of the Lord" (verse 9). The "child," mentioned twice in verses 6 and 8, is not the promised child of the second oracle (Is 7:14) but the image of redeemed children in the family of God. The "they" of verse 9 are the redeemed citizens of the Davidic Messiah's kingdom whose mission is to spread the knowledge of the Kingdom of Yahweh across the face of the earth.
10 On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for
the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.
"On that day," the Davidic Messiah, "set up as a signal" for
all peoples of the earth and all nations, including the Gentiles who were not
in a covenant relationship with God, would seek the Davidic Messiah as their
Lord and be welcomed into His glorious dwelling place.
The Church sees the two parts of Isaiah's oracle as fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, the Redeemer-Messiah and legitimate Davidic heir (Mt 1:1; Lk 1:32-33; 2:11). Jesus is the Messianic Divine Shepherd who came to redeem the scattered "lost sheep" of Israel (Ezek 34:4, 16; Mt 15:24) and to bring justice and righteousness to the earth. He has sent out His emissaries of the new Israel (CCC 877) of the "holy mountain" of the universal (catholic) Church. Their mission is to gather into His Kingdom the Gentiles who are also called to come into a covenant relationship with God and receive the divine gift of salvation through Jesus, the Redeemer-Messiah, and King of Kings.
Jesus's Kingdom of the Church is the "signal" Jesus established to call all nations to Himself (verse 10). The Church is seen as both the "signal" (verse 10) and the "faithful remnant" (Is 11:11) of Israel, who has experienced God's gift of universal salvation. Her mission is to bear witness to this joy to all nations and peoples of the earth, according to Jesus's command when He said: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." Jesus's promise to always be with us fulfills Isaiah's first Emmanuel oracle in which the promised Davidic Messiah is called Emmanuel, which means "God with us" (Is 7:14). Isaiah's prophecy of an ideal restored creation in verses 6-9 will not take place until the Second Advent of the Messiah at the end of time when the old earth will pass away and with the creation of a new Heaven and earth (Rev Chapter 21; also see Mt 28:20).
Responsorial Psalm 72:2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 ~ Justice and
Peace in the Era of the Messianic King
The response is: "Justice shall flourish in his time, and
fullness of peace forever."
2 O God, give your judgment to the king; your justice to the
king's son; that he may govern your people with justice, your oppressed with right
judgment.
Response:
7 That abundance may flourish in his days, great bounty,
till the moon be no more. 8 May he rule from sea to sea, from the river to the
ends of the earth.
Response:
12 For he rescues the poor when they cry out, the oppressed
who have no one to help. 13 He shows pity to the needy and the poor and saves
the lives of the poor.
Response:
17 May his name be forever; as long as the sun, may his
name endure. May the tribes of the earth give blessings with his name; may all
the nations regard him as favored.
Response:
Psalm 72 is attributed to David's son, King Solomon (verse 1), and was perhaps written for his enthronement ceremony as the new Davidic king. The psalm depicts an ideal king and his reign, which Jewish tradition attributes to David's promised heir, the Messiah. In Psalms 69-72, the psalmist asked for divine help on his behalf. He offers prayers for the Davidic king and the righteousness of his reign, for the people, and justice for the poor (Ps 72:1-2).
Righteousness and justice are attributes connected with the saving power of God (Ps 9:4, 7; 19:9-10; etc.). The words "king" and "king's son" in verse 2 refer to the same thing and apply to the principle of the dynastic legitimacy of the Davidic kings as promised by God in His covenant with David (2 Sam 7:11b-16; 23:5; 1 Kng 2:4). The anointed Davidic king shares in God's saving power from on high in everlasting righteousness and peace from one end of the earth to the other, expressed as from the River Euphrates (the original northern boundary of Israel in Gen 15:18) to the ends of the earth (verse 8). The ideal Davidic king is the deliverer of the poor and the weak and offers them his salvation (verses 12-13). Because of his reign of justice, the psalmist prays that the future king endures forever and will bless all nations. All nations acknowledge the Messianic king because He brings deliverance to the oppressed of the world and salvation to all people (verses 17-18).
Christian tradition interprets these verses as a prophecy concerning Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah and the legitimate heir of King David (Mt 1:1; Lk 1:32). Jesus Christ fulfills this psalm by bringing universal salvation as the divine Messiah-King. Jesus's name is above all other names (verse 17 and Phil 2:9). The Magi were the first Gentiles to adore baby Jesus at Bethlehem (Mt 2:1, 10-11). For this reason, the Church also uses this psalm in the liturgical calendar to celebrate the Mass on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord when the Magi, the first Gentiles of the nations of the earth, fulfilled this prophecy by coming to revere the newborn Davidic king.
The Second Reading Romans 15:4-9 ~ The Old Testament
Prepared Us for the Advent of the Messiah
4 Whatever was written previously was written for our
instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures, we
might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to
think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, 6 that with
one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 7 Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of
God. 8 For I say that Christ became a minister of the circumcised to show God's
truthfulness, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, 9 but so that the
Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: "Therefore, I will
praise you among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name."
St. Paul quoted the Old Testament five times in Romans 15:1-13 to point out that everything that happened in the First Advent of Christ fulfilled what the prophets wrote in the Old Testament Scriptures. Old Testament Scripture (everything written before the Advent of Christ) was not intended only for those in the generation in which the inspired writer wrote but also for the instruction for those who came to embrace the New Covenant in Christ, as Jesus told the Apostles in Luke 24:44 and as Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were described in writing to be a lesson for us, to whom it has fallen to live in the last days of the ages (1 Cor 10:11). Paul wrote that all Christians could look to every Old Testament passage for instruction, which included the passage he quoted in verse 9 from Psalm 18:49. Paul's point was that those verses from Sacred Scripture, read in the light of Christ and His Passion, would provide the kind of "encouragement" and "perseverance" that would give the Roman Christians (and all of us) the hope we need to endure in faithfulness. We are to persevere in the unity of "one heart" to the glory of God the Father, even when we, like God's beloved David and His beloved Son Jesus Christ, suffer for our faith in living a life of obedience to God.
7 Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for
the glory of God. 8 For I say that Christ became a minister of the circumcised to
show God's truthfulness, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, 9 but so
that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:
"Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name."
The first words of Romans 15:7 repeat Romans 14:1, Welcome
one another.... However, in 14:3, it was God's welcome, and in verse 7, it
is Christ's welcome for the sake of God's glory. In Romans 15:7-9, Paul defined
the ultimate mission of the Church. The divinely ordained purpose of the One,
Holy, and Apostolic universal Church is to bring the Gospel of salvation to the
world's nations and glorify God's name through all the earth, that His Son,
Jesus Christ, is recognized universally as God's gift to humanity. Both Jewish (the
circumcised) and Gentile Christians were to accept one another and be united as
one people in their mission as citizens of a Kingdom ruled by Christ the King!
In Romans 15:8, Paul wrote it was God's plan for Jesus to come as a minister to the "circumcised," meaning the Jews. Jesus confirmed this in Matthew 15:24, when He said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Jesus came to redeem humanity as a Jew, minister to them, and confirm and fulfill God's promises to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-Israel). In doing this, He gave evidence of God's faithfulness and truthfulness. It would become the mission of the faithful remnant of Jews who accepted Jesus as their Messiah to carry the New Covenant Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentile nations (see Mt 28:19-20).
St. Paul defined Jesus's mission in bringing salvation to the Jews and Gentiles as having three parts (Rom 15:8):
Once again, in Romans 15:9, St. Paul turned to Scripture to make his point by quoting from Psalm 18:49. The key to understanding this part of Paul's letter is revealed to us by Paul in Romans 15:4-7, where he says we must apply all Scripture for our instruction in the "light" of Jesus Christ. Psalm 18 is a triumphal hymn of deliverance in which David, the servant of God and God's anointed king of Israel, praises the works of the LORD [Yahweh], who has delivered him and has given him victory from all his enemies. The psalm ends with a promise to praise God among the Gentile: For this I will praise you, Yahweh among the nations, and sing praise to your name. He saves his king time after time, displays his faithful love for his anointed for David and his heirs forever (Ps 18:49-50, NJB). Verse 49 of this psalm has the prophecy that all nations will come to worship the One True God. The covenant people sang this hymn in the Temple at every liturgical Sabbath celebration (see "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Lamb," Chapter IV: Daily Worship in Jerusalem's Second Temple.
Paul was linking God's promise to the Patriarchs and the ancestral "fathers" like David with His promise to bring the Gentile nations into covenant with Him. Paul's point was that these are the promises being fulfilled in the ministry of the Roman Christians as members of the Body of Christ in continuing Jesus's ministry. As heirs of Christ, they (and we) are also heirs of the Patriarchs (Gal 3:29) and heirs of King David's promised everlasting earthly kingdom that is now the Church over which Jesus reigns (2 Sam 7:16, 29). It is to us as His children and heirs that God displays His faithful love and extends to us the promise of our rightful inheritance in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.
The Gospel of Matthew 3:1-12 ~ Prepare for the Coming of
the Lord
1 John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of
Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" 3 It was of
him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: "A voice of one crying out
in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." 4 John
wore clothing made of camel's hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His
food was locust and wild honey. 5 At that time, Jerusalem, all Judea, and the
whole region around the Jordan were going out to him 6 and were being baptized
by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. 7 When he saw many
of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce good
fruit as evidence of your repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to
yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up
children [sons = ben] to Abraham from these stones [eben]. 10 Even now, the ax
lies at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good
fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I am baptizing you with
water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I
am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing
floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with
unquenchable fire." [...] = literal Greek translation (The Interlinear
Bible: Greek-English, Vol. IV, page 6). Verse 9: sons (of
God) is ben in Aramaic, and stones (as to Abraham
from these stones) = eben in Aramaic.
1 John the
Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand!"
The desert/wilderness had special significance in the
history of the people of the Sinai Covenant. It was in the crucible of the wilderness
between Egypt and the Transjordan that God transformed a community of former slaves
into the holy nation of Israel during the forty years between leaving Egypt and
arriving on the border of Canaan (Dt 1:1-3).
St. John the Baptist was a relative of Jesus whose priestly father was a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses. St. Luke tells the story of the announcement of St. John's birth and his consecration to God from the womb of his mother (see Lk 1:5-17, 24-38):
John the Baptist appeared
The Greek verb translated as "Baptist" is baptizein, from
the Greek term baptisma, which means "to dip, soak, or immerse into a liquid
so that which is dipped takes on qualities of what it has been immersed" (Catholic
Dictionary, page 39). The title "immerser," translated as "baptist," is applied
to St. John in the New Testament. He was the last and greatest of the Old
Covenant prophets (Mt 11:13; Lk 1:76; 7:26) sent by God to prepare the way for
the Redeemer-Messiah. The people enthusiastically received John and his mission
because God had not sent a prophet to His people since Malachi in the mid-5th
century BC. St. John's title, "immerser," stems from his practice of purifying the
Jews in the waters of the Jordan River as a symbol of their repentance and
renewal in preparation for the forgiveness of their sins and the coming of the
Messiah. It was significant to the people that this new prophet dressed in the
same manner as the great 9th century BC prophet Elijah (Mt 3:4; 2
Kng 1:8).
In verse 2, St. John the Baptist called the people to prepare for the coming of the Messianic Era and the new Davidic Kingdom. Jesus would repeat this same statement in Matthew 4:17, calling for repentance in preparation for the advent of His Kingdom. The Old Covenant people of God understood the necessity of a confession and repentance of sins to remain in fellowship with God. All sin sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple began with a verbal confession of sin, and all peace offerings (communion sacrifices) with a confession of praise. The imperfect Old Covenant animal sacrifices prefigured the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Heb 10:1-10). At the same time, the ritual purity laws requiring immersion prepared the Old Covenant people for the Sacrament of Christian Baptism.
There were many ways in which an Old Covenant believer might become ritually impure under the Law of the Sinai Covenant. The sixth section of the Jewish Talmud-Mishnah oral Law is devoted to "cleansing rituals." Becoming immersed or washing in clean, flowing waters was a prescribed means of ritual purification under the Law as outlined in Leviticus Chapter 14-15. Ritual purifications in an immersion pool (mikvah/miqvah) occurred many times for a covenant member during their lifetime (see Mishnah: Miqvaot, 1:1-10:8). However, every Gentile convert to the faith had the one-time experience of a profession of faith in the God of the Patriarchs followed by ritual immersion as part of the conversion experience. This act symbolized the washing away of the old life and rebirth as a member of the covenant community. It is carried forward much more profoundly in New Covenant Christian baptism, which is not a symbol but a Sacrament of spiritual rebirth (Jn 3:3-5).
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!
In the New Testament, the Greek word basileia translates
as "kingship" (an abstract noun), "kingdom" (a concrete noun), or "reign" (an
action noun). We can divide Salvation History into four periods of the "Kingdom
of God":
The New Testament presents three teachings about the Kingdom of God:
There is no contradiction. St. John the Baptist and Jesus announced the coming of the Kingdom of God during their ministries. Understanding the concept of the Kingdom of Heaven/God is crucial to understanding the Bible and God's plan for humanity's salvation. In this present age, the Kingdom of God is present in the Church, and it comes to all who put their faith and trust in Jesus and His message of salvation. And yet, in the present, the Kingdom comes only partially. To live in Christ through the Eucharist and to receive God's grace in the other Sacraments of His Church is to be journeying toward our salvation and having peace in one's life even though there is no peace in the world. However, when Christ returns at the end of the Final Age of humanity as He promised, He will unite the Kingdom of the Church on earth to His Kingdom in Heaven, inaugurating a Kingdom that is complete when the Kingdom has finally come in all its fullness.
The Kingdom is a condition in which the authority of God's sovereignty is acknowledged by humanity in Heaven and on earth (Mt 6:10) through His Church. The Church on earth is called the "pilgrim Church" or "Church militant," which is still involved in the struggle for salvation. The Church in Heaven is called the "Church glorified" and consists of the saints with God in Heaven. The "Kingdom" is also a condition in which God's promise of a restored creation free from sin and death begins to reach fulfillment. This restoration begins when Heaven's gates are thrown open to the redeemed (CCC 1026). It is completed upon a final trial, the return of the Messiah, and the creation of a new Heaven and earth (CCC 675, CCC 677; also see Rev 20:11-21:1-4).
3 It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when
he said: "A voice of one crying out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths."
In this verse, Matthew quotes Isaiah 40:3 to show that John's
preaching in the desert and his proclamation of the coming of the kingdom of Heaven
is a fulfillment of the prophecy of the 8th century BC prophet
Isaiah. St. Mark will couple this prophecy with Malachi 3:1 (see Mk 1:2-3), and
Luke will quote Isaiah 40:1-3 from the Greek Septuagint Old Testament
translation (Lk 3:4-6). The "voice" in the prophecy calls the people to prepare
the way for God to return to Jerusalem, begin His reign, and reveal His glory
to all humanity. Matthew wrote that John, the son of the chief priest, Zechariah,
was not merely one more priestly prophet calling the people to repentance and conversion.
He identified St. John as the prophetic "voice" of Isaiah's prophecy, and the
herald announcing the coming of God to His kingdom.
In identifying the prophetic voice as St. John the Baptist, Matthew is making a veiled revelation concerning the identity of Jesus. If John is the prophetic voice announcing that God is coming to claim His kingdom, and if St. John is also calling the people to prepare the way for the promised Messiah, then it follows that Jesus, the Davidic Messiah, whose name means "Yahweh/God is salvation," is linked to the coming of God Himself to restore Israel.
The Old Covenant people did not study the prophecy of a single prophet in isolation from other prophetic texts. If the Jews made the connection that St. John the Baptist was the prophetic voice proclaiming the coming of God to His people and that Jesus is the Davidic Messiah sent to "shepherd my people Israel" (Mt 2:6), they might have also recalled the well-known 6th century BC prophecy of the coming of the future Davidic Messiah by the priestly-prophet, Ezekiel. In Chapter 34 of the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet gave the people God's message condemning the priests of Israel for failing to correctly "shepherd" His people, followed by the promise: For thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock ... I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture them and be their shepherd. I, the Lord will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them, I the LORD [YHWH], have spoken (Ezek 34:11-24; underlining added for emphasis. [...] = literal translation from The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-English, Vol. III, pages 1986-87).
If the Jews made the connection to the prophecies of Ezekiel, they might also have connected John's ritual of water purification with the same section of Scripture where Ezekiel predicted a new form of water purification. In that passage, God promised the restoration of Israel: I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live my statutes, careful to observe my decrees. You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God (Ezek 37:25-28). Ezekiel wrote his prophecies in the 6th century BC after the Babylonians exiled the last Davidic king of Judah (King David died centuries earlier in c. 970 BC).
4 John wore clothing made of camel's hair and had a
leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Matthew's description of St. John the Baptist confirms that
he dressed like a prophet, and the food he ate in the wilderness was ritually "clean"
in faithful observance of the Law (see Lev 11:20-23; locusts and honey were
"clean" as food). When the angel Gabriel announced John's birth to his father,
Zechariah, the angel told him that God was sending John in the "spirit and
power of Elijah" the prophet (Lk 1:17). In the Book of 2 Kings 1:8, King
Ahaziah's soldiers described Elijah as wearing a distinctive hairy garment with
a leather girdle just as John's clothing is described (Mt 3:4).
For religious Jews, this information was significant. It tied both John the Baptist and Elijah to another prophecy concerning Elijah found in the last verses of the book of the last prophet of Israel, the prophet Malachi, whose name means "My Messenger." Elijah was God's prophet in the 9th century BC, and Malachi was God's prophet centuries later in the mid-5th century BC. The prophecy in Malachi 3:22-24 (in some translations, it lists as 4:4-5) names the prophet Elijah who will return as God's messenger before the "Day of the LORD [Yahweh] comes" to call the people to repentance.
The prophets St. John the Baptist (1st century AD) and Elijah (9th century BC) have more in common in their ministry than a similar taste in clothing:
God gave Elijah's successor, the prophet Elisha, the gift of a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Elisha performed twice as many miracles as his predecessor (2 Kng 2:9-15). Jesus, who came as Israel's supreme prophet, priest, and king, succeeded the ministry of St. John and was a greater prophet and miracle worker (CCC 783, 904).
The chief priests did not miss the similarities between John and Elijah; therefore, they asked John if he was the prophet Elijah (Jn 1:19-21). John denied being Elijah because he was not the bodily reincarnation of Elijah. The angel Gabriel told John's father that John was Elijah in the sense that he came with the spiritual gifts of Elijah (power and spirit), just as the prophet Elisha received the spiritual gifts of Elijah. Jesus quoted Malachi 3:1 (Mt 11:10) and told the Apostles on two occasions that John had come as the Elijah-messenger of the prophecies (Mt 11:13-15 and 17:11-12). Malachi's prophecies were also fulfilled in St. John the Baptist, who, in the spirit of Elijah, called God's people to repentance and conversion in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. The spirits of both Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah, named in the Malachi prophecy (3:22-23), stood with Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration in the presence of Saints. Peter, James, and John Zebedee, with Moses and Elijah, brought together the Old and New Covenants in the presence of the glorified Jesus (Mt 17:1-3).
5 At that time, Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole
region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him
in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
Ritual immersion, as symbolic of purification or renewal, was
familiar to the Jews; however, St. John's ritual of immersion in the Jordan River
for repentance and conversion was unique. John's ritual baptism had aspects of
purification from defilement (sin) coupled with the one-time conversion
experience of Gentile converts. In John's baptism, which prefigured Jesus's
baptism into death and new life, the people who came to him to repent their
sins were turning away from the rebellion of sin and turning back to God in
faithful obedience. And they were also, in one decisive act, preparing for a
new beginning in the coming of the Messiah's Kingdom and their journey to
salvation.
Repentance and conversion are the first works of the grace of the Holy Spirit, effecting justification, which follows God's merciful initiative of offering His forgiveness to the contrite and repentant sinner. In the repentance of sins, one turns toward God and away from sin. The repentant sinner accepts God's forgiveness and righteousness, and the human heart opens to become a holy reservoir of divine love: "Justification is not only the remission of sins but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man" (Council of Trent: DS 1529; CCC 1982). Sin contradicts the love of God and separates man from God. Justification separates man from sin and purifies his heart: "When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight" (Council of Trent: DS 1525).
St. John's ritual immersion for the repentance of sins was preparation for Christian baptism, but it was not the same. Old Covenant priests could only offer forgiveness for unintentional sins by making atonement for the repentant sinner through the repeated rites of blood sacrifice on the altar of God at the Jerusalem Temple (Num 15:27-31). Only Christian baptism in Christ Jesus offers complete forgiveness of sins through Jesus's one perfect blood sacrifice. However, John's baptism and Jesus's baptism were both a call to conversion. John's baptism was a call to conversion in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, and Jesus's baptism is a conversion to new birth in the gift of life through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and the first step the professed Christian takes on the path to salvation. See Lev 4:32-35; 17:11 and CCC 535, 977-78, 1425-26.
In encouraging the people to declare their confession of repentance, John was readying the souls of those who came to him to receive the Messiah and participate in His Kingdom's inauguration. St. John's call for repentance was the beginning of the process of the opening up of the Kingdom that reached its climax when the Passion of Christ Jesus merited justification for humanity as He offered Himself on the altar of the Cross in His blood sacrifice as the perfect, sinless victim. In His holy offering, Jesus's blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of humankind (Rom 3:21-26), opening the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven to all repentant sinners seeking the grace of God (CCC 536, 1026). In the preaching of St. John and Jesus, they both stressed an urgency to repent and turn back to God because "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (see Mt 3:2 and 4:17).
Matthew 3:7-12 ~ St. John the Baptist Condemns the Pharisees
and Sadducees
7 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming
to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee
from the coming wrath? 8 Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. 9 And
do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father." For I tell
you, God can raise up children [sons = ben in Aramaric] to Abraham from
these stones [eben in Aramaic]. 10 Even now, the ax lies at the root of
the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire. 11 I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but
the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry
his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His
winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his
wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." [...] =
literal translation (The Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, Vol. IV, page
6).
In Judea in the 1st century AD, several rival groups sought influence over the people; the two most influential were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. There is very little information about these two groups of Jews outside of the New Testament and the writings of Flavius Josephus (1st century AD Jewish priest and historian). It should be noted, however, that not all Pharisees were hostile to Jesus:
The point of St. John's insult to the Sadducees and Pharisees was that he did not believe their show of repentance was sincere. Vipers are little snakes. John is essentially calling them the offspring of the big snake, the Serpent, Satan (Rev 12:7-10). His point is that, like Satan, they oppose God's plan for humanity (Gen 3:1, 14-15; Wis 2:24; Rev 12:9; 20:2; Mt 12:34 and 23:33). St. Paul defined good works as evidence of repentance (Acts 26:20).
9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, "We have
Abraham as our father." For I tell you, God can raise up children [sons
= ben in Aramaic] to Abraham from these stones [eben in Aramaic].
St. John used wordplay in the Aramaic words for the similar-sounding
words "sons" (ben) and "stones" (eben). St. John's point is that
the Jews believed their ethnic identity as descendants of Abraham, and the
covenant ritual of circumcision guaranteed their unique status as God's chosen sons/people.
St. John was telling them that to be children in the family of God takes more
than physical descent and more than an outward physical sign like circumcision.
God desires an inward transformation; He desires the genuine repentance of "circumcised
hearts," not just circumcised bodies, if His people want to withstand His
judgment (see Gen 17:5-14; Dt 10:16; Dt 30:6; Jer 4:4).
The Jews coming for St. John's baptism of repentance would not have missed that St. John's form of baptism was very similar to the ritual immersion of Gentile proselytes who desired to become members of the covenant family of God's holy people. In this warning to the Jews, John was saying that even the descendants of Abraham must prepare for the kingdom's coming by a declaration of a change of heart through repentance and baptism, just as Gentiles converts. It was a shocking declaration, and he gave a warning following it.
10 Even now, the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the
fire.
The symbolic imagery of the prophets depicted a covenant-faithful
Israel as a fruitful fig tree or vine (Is 5:1-2; Ezek 19:10-11; Jer 24:4-7)
while depicting unfaithful Israel or wicked Gentile nations as unfruitful trees
or vines that were destroyed by fire (Ezek 19:12-14; 31:12; Dan 4:11; Is 5:3-6;
Jer 8:13; Nah 3:12-15; also see the Chart "Symbolic Images of the Prophets").
John's warning was that God's judgment was coming, and like unfruitful trees
that are cut down and destroyed by fire, those who refuse to repent and turn
back to God will experience His fiery wrath. St. John applied the fiery
judgment imagery to an unrepentant Judea, as did the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 4:4). Jesus would use the same unfruitful tree imagery for Judea when He symbolically
curses a fig tree on the Monday of His last week in Jerusalem (Mt 21:18-22; Mk 11:12-26) and in His parable of the unfruitful fig tree (Lk 13:6-9).
11 I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the
one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his
sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
It was a slave's duty (when required) to carry the sandals
of his master. Most Jews considered carrying a master's sandals or washing a
master's feet such a demeaning task that most Jewish slaves were not expected
to perform such services. In this statement, John was addressing those who have
sincerely come seeking repentance through John's baptism, and he makes two
significant statements about the One who is coming:
In the imagery of the prophets, "spirit" and "fire" were associated with purification and restoration. The Old Testament prophets warned of a purifying fire that would refine the souls of God's people by burning away what was impure and purifying the souls of the repentant sinner (Is 4:4; 66:24; Joel 2:30; Zech 13:9; Mal 3:2-4/4:1). They also promised an outpouring of God's Spirit when He came to redeem His people (Is 32:15; 31:31-34; 40:24; 41:16; 44:3; Jer 4:11-16; 23:19; 30:23; 31:31-34; Ezek 13:11; 36:25-27; 39:29; Joel 2:28-29). These were prophecies that were very familiar to the people, and the significant word clues and actions that John used would have triggered the recall of these significant prophecies.
John's promise of one who will baptize with God's "Holy Spirit" would have called to mind for the Jews another prophecy connected to the coming of the Davidic Messiah in Ezekiel 34:23-24. In Ezekiel 36:25-27, God promised His people: I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees (emphasis added).
St. John's judgment imagery continued with the "wheat" and "chaff" metaphors in his next statement when he said of the coming Messiah: 12 "His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." After the harvest, the workers took the grain to a flat surface called a threshing floor, usually located on the top of hills where the wind would help separate the grain's fruit from its inedible chaff. The workers tossed the grain into the air with a fork-like device called a winnowing fan. The heavier pieces of grain fell to the floor while the lighter chaff blew away. The workers gathered the gain and stored it for future use, but the chaff they destroyed by fire.
John the Baptist used the familiar image of the harvest as a symbolic image of the "great harvest" when God will separate the fruitful souls of the righteous from the souls of the wicked in the Last Judgment. The righteous will enter His heavenly "storehouse," while the fire of divine judgment will consume the wicked. It is a vision another John (St. John the Apostle) would see of the Final Judgment in the Book of Revelation (21:11-15).
The word "threshing floor" was another keyword associated with both judgment and worship. Faithful to God's command, the Jerusalem Temple was built on a threshing floor on top of Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem (1 Chr 21:18; 22:1; 2 Chr 3:1). In the Temple, built by King David's son, Solomon, there was an outer courtyard where the Gentiles could come and receive instruction about the one true God and offer Him their sacrifices. God's invitation was for all the nations to come and worship at His Temple, which was His "threshing floor," where He separated the souls of the righteous from the souls of the wicked. The judging of sin in the Jerusalem Temple prefigured the coming spiritual "harvest" after Christ's death and Resurrection when the souls of the righteous would follow Christ's Ascension, gathered into God's storehouse in Heaven.
In this the Final Age of Humanity, we are in the days of "the great harvest" of souls. The "threshing floor" imagery is also a significant symbol of judgment in the prophet Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a statue and the destruction of four successive kingdoms that oppress the people of God (Dan 2:35). Daniel prophesied a 5th kingdom set up by "the God of heaven." It is "a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people," but which "shall stand forever" (Dan 2:44). The Kingdom of the Church fulfills the prophecy of Daniel's 5th kingdom in which Jesus Christ rules as King of kings and over which His Vicar (the Pope) presides until His return (Parousia) to judge the faithfulness of His vassal people.
We must ask ourselves, have we been listening to the warnings in the liturgical readings? Have we taken those warnings to heart, and are we prepared for the return of Jesus Christ in glory? Are we prepared to be "winnowed" by the divine Judge when He will separate the righteous from the wicked in the Last Judgment (CCC 1038-41)? It is then that the righteous find eternal happiness in God's storehouse, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the wicked who neglected the poor and suffering and rejected Jesus and His gift of eternal salvation enter into everlasting punishment (Mt 13:40-42; 25:31-46). Jesus said, "the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear" (Mt 13:43).
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Isaiah 11:1-9 (CCC 672*);
Isaiah11:1-2 (CCC 712*, 1831*);
Isaiah11:2 (CCC 436*, 536*, 1286*, 1831*)
Romans 15:5-6 (CCC 2627*); 15:5 (CCC 520*)
Matthew 3:2 (CCC 2816); 3:3 (CCC 523*); 3:7-12 (CCC 678*); 3:7 (CCC 535*)
The prophets and the expectation of the Messiah (CCC 522*, 711*, 712*, 713*, 714*, 715*, 716*, 722*)
The Mission of John the Baptist (CCC 523*, 717*, 718*, 719*, 720*)
Conversion of the baptized (CCC 1427*, 1428*, 1429*)
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2013; revised 2022 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.