2nd Sunday of Advent – 6th December 2020 — Gospel: Mk 1,1-8
The Messenger, Witness, and Forerunner
Forerunners are often unseen figures and unsung heroes. Their back stories are unknown. The details of their lives are unimagined or undervalued. They garner minimal attention, because they are forerunners – those who plow the ground, destabilize the terrain, and make ready for change that is to come. They are not The One; they are those who come before The One. They prepare in advance for something to come beyond. They are antecedents of change, setting the stage for an alternative future. This is the role John the Baptist plays to prepare for the Lord by preaching the need for repentance. He is best known as the forerunner of Jesus. Although he did not announce Jesus’ birth, yet he did prepare people for the coming of Jesus in his public ministry.
Mark’s Gospel jumps right into the Jordan with John once the purpose of his writing has been announced in the title: “the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God” (1:1). Today’s Gospel introduces not only to the figure of John the Baptist but also to the Gospel of Mark. It begins with Jesus, but before Jesus there was John, and before John, there was Isaiah. The good news begins with the witness of two prophetic texts from Malachi and Isaiah that announce a forerunner before the coming of God’s Messiah. A messenger of God will go “ahead of you” (Mal 3,1), one who will: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Isa 40,3). These passages announce God’s intention to visit his people in order to offer them God’s salvation. And God chose John as his messenger.
Indeed the voice of God in the Isaiah text announces God’s plan of salvation that is about to be fulfilled. In Mark’s Gospel, John the Baptist is basically an Old Testament figure. His clothing is reminiscent of Elijah (2 Kgs 1,8). His life speaks of One who is to come. In some sense, Mark believes that John is Elijah, who has returned just as Malachi said he would (Mal 4:5-6). So there is the basic advent theme here: the time of promise is drawing to a close and the time of fulfilment is drawing near. For Isaiah, the probable context was the end of exile for Israelites in Babylon. For John the Baptist, it was the coming of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.
The messenger, witness, and forerunner of this time of fulfillment is John the Baptist. We hear an extensive description of John’s identity as the herald of the good news. He is identified as a wilderness man (1,6), living near the river Jordan, offering “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (1,4). John’s primary intention was not to draw attention to himself, but to the coming Messiah (1,7). Therefore, his role is that of a servant to the one he is called to serve. Further, John’s baptism is radically different from that of the One who is to come (1,8). John points out that Jesus is the Messiah whose ministry is empowered by God’s Spirit. John’s baptism is a preparatory in anticipation for the coming of the Messiah. It draws the religious leaders from the city of Jerusalem to turn from their godless ways and receive God’s forgiveness. This is the role that John plays out in a significant way, calling attention to the one who ushers in God’s kingdom. Even though John and Jesus are not parallel figures, yet they have certain parallel features described simultaneously. John and Jesus are in the wilderness (1:4/1:12) and both are in the proclaiming business (1:7-8/1:14-15). Therefore this structural similarity sets up the unique anticipation and fulfillment of Jesus’ coming.
