My Dear People, 

“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

This question seems odd because John recognized Jesus at the Baptism and, according to other Gospel accounts, acknowledged Him to be the Messiah, the one who was to come after him, and whose sandals he was not worthy to untie (Luke 3:16). So, what is the meaning of this question?

It is true John had encountered and experienced Jesus (in happier times) when he was preaching at the Jordan and all the crowds were coming to him. At that time, it seemed that the kingdom of heaven would appear in power at any time. But things had not worked out exactly that way.   

Even great saints can go through a dark night and experience trials of faith. Such is compatible with holiness. And as John is suffering the physical spiritual darkness of Herod’s dungeon, he reaches out to Jesus for consolation: Are you the one who is to come? Don’t you know I’m imprisoned for speaking up for marriage? Why was John now imprisoned for speaking the truth? 

It seems to me that John’s imprisonment was putting his faith to the test. And if Jesus was the one who had been anointed to “bring good tidings to the afflicted. . . to proclaim liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners” (Isa 61:1), could He use some of His liberating power to get John released?

Jesus said in reply: “Go and tell John what you hear and see; the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

Jesus is sending back a message of consolation to John: “Go tell him that the signs of the Messianic age according to Isaiah 35 and 61 are being fulfilled visibly in your sight.” John will understand the implications. “Blessed is the one I have not offended that my way of bringing in the kingdom of God is different from what they had expected.”

Isaiah’s prophecies about the blind, lame, deaf, and so on, were as we saw, speaking about spiritual realities. But condescending to our weak nature, which needs tangible, visible signs (John 4:48), Jesus literally enacts prophecies that were intended in a spiritual sense. 

If the primary problems with humanity were physical handicaps, Jesus would have founded a hospital to heal people’s bodies. But instead, he founded a Church to heal people’s souls. The Church has gone on to found hospitals, too, because she realizes we need tangible signs of God’s love.  But the physical healing should point us toward a deeper healing, otherwise it is only temporary and ultimately meaningless.

Jesus goes on to praise John the Baptist, calling him the greatest of the prophets of the Old Covenant, the culmination of preaching and teaching of the Scriptures of Israel. Yet, “the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than He.” What does this mean?

The kingdom of heaven ultimately is the Church. Jesus’s words may be taken as a reference to the Church Triumphant, those who are saved and even now dwell in God’s presence in heaven. They are greater than John because they see God face to face and share His blessedness while John was still subject to physical and spiritual trials and the weakness of his body.

Again, this may be taken as a reference to the Church militant (the believers who still struggle on earth). While we may lack any of John’s virtues, nonetheless we have many advantages he did not: the sacraments that convey to us the Holy Spirit; the fullness of truth in the Scriptures which is further clarified by the church; the invigorating reality of the communion of the saints, and so much more. So even the least of us who truly believes in Christ is greater than John in many ways. 

Or we should say, greater than John was, because as Jesus spoke, John was still on this earth and bound under the Old Covenant. He has since gone on to glory and stands in God’s presence now with the other saints. 

There is no doubt that this life involves painful waiting during times when life seems to go backward rather than forward. Even during Advent, as we sing songs about the coming hope and joy of Jesus’s arrival, it may sit oddly with the events in our personal lives as well as social and political events around the world, many of which seem to portend inevitable disaster rather than love, joy, and peace. The Church is realistic, and so are the Scriptures. Jesus told us: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). 

That is the message of the readings of this Sunday. Like the prophets, we are looking forward from the middle of a world running backwards. But this present world is a temporary problem to which Jesus had given an eternal answer.

 As we light the pink candle to mark “Gaudete Sunday,” Let us take heart in the fact that we, least as we are, can stand with great ones like John the Baptist and look forward to enjoying his company in the presence of God one day.

[Source from Reflections on the Sunday Readings by Dr. John Bergsma]

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente