Herald

 

On the 3^rd Sunday of Advent the poetic voice of the writer of John’s Gospel speaks to us (John 1:6 – 8): 

A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. This is the story of John Baptist who heralds the arrival of the Messiah.

Most of us probably use the word ‘herald’ at Christmas (hark the herald angels) or when we are referring to the The Herald Sun that I buy every Friday (for the racing pages - for my father-in-law, Jim). A herald is somebody who brings or announces important news or who is a forerunner of something or gives an indication of something that is going to happen. Every great story is heralded by an announcement. New programs, new funding, new appointments, new taxes - even new heirs make the headlines. John Baptist headlines his cousin Jesus. The scriptures tell us that John’s baptismal ministry presages Jesus’ public ministry. It is he who prepares a path.

We Christians are unanimous that the greatest message brought to the people of the world is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We see not only the life and work of John Baptist, but the entire story of creation and the events unfolded in the first books, as heralding the person of Jesus himself. For John, Jesus is The Word.

For the Hebrews and Jews dabar means ‘word’ or ‘talk’. In the context of the scriptures it often refers to a ‘word event’. This is most evident in the creation story where God’s words – when spoken –  become the thing that is spoken. Thus in Genesis 1:3 God says, “Let there be light,” and there was light. For the writer John, Jesus the Messiah is The Word spoken by God, he embodies what God wills, what God requires. It is magnificent imagery and powerful enough to engage the cleverest of theologians to unravel this extraordinary mystery.

The first verses of John’s Gospel confirm the Word’s ever-presence and creativity from the beginning of all time. John has no need of a folkloric, infancy narrative to explain Jesus’ human inheritance. As The Word, Jesus was always with God.

After many years as a Sunday school teacher, catechist, lay reader and deacon, my sister Vianney was ordained a priest in the NZ Anglican diocese of Te Manawa o te Wheke on Sunday surrounded members of her large family and worshipping community. She is a wife, mother of 4 and grandmother of 4 and a full time education officer with New Zealand's Ministry of Education. Her namesake Jean Baptiste Vianney, the Curé of Ars was an ordinary priest whose extraordinary ministry as a confessor reached far beyond his village church. God's work calls for workers in the vineyard, regardless of gender or marital status. Those who choose to do that work continue to herald the coming of our Saviour and proclaim aloud and in their lives the good news that the reign of God has begun in him.

 

Peter Douglas

Vianney and her husband Pierre

 

Reflection on the Gospel: 3rd Sunday of Advent Year B (John 1:6-8, 19-28)

Veronica Lawson RSM

The first section of today’s gospel reading comes from the prologue of John’s gospel and offers comment on the identity of John the Baptizer. The second section revolves around a question that has already been answered in the prologue. In other words, the reader knows the answer to the question posed by the characters in the second section. The prologue presents John the baptizer as one “sent from God”. He is not “the light”; he is rather a “witness” whose role is to testify to “the light”. The true light [Jesus] was “coming into the world”. As we proclaim Jesus as “the light”, we might take time to appreciate the wonder and the properties of the material reality that informs this metaphor.

In the face of less than friendly questioning, John the baptizer responds simply and honestly to questions about his identity. The questions in this second section of the reading are relentless and John’s responses are unambiguous. He is not the Messiah/the Christ, the Anointed of God. He is not the prophet Elijah that some identified with God’s messenger of Malachi 3:1-3 who would return and restore the “descendants of Levi” He is not the prophet-like-Moses of Deuteronomy 15. He states his identity with reference to the words of the prophet Isaiah: he is the voice crying out in the wilderness, inviting God’s people to prepare the way for God’s advent, God’s coming.

John knows who he is. He understands the parameters of his mission and he points his questioners in the direction of the truth. His role is pivotal in the story of God’s saving action and in the unfolding of the drama of the fourth gospel. It is worth asking how we might answer the question that the priests and Levites put to John on behalf of the Jerusalem “Jews”: “Who are you?” If we can honestly answer that question, if we can admit who we are with all our strengths and weaknesses, if we can know our place in the scheme of things and own it in all humility, then we are probably in a good position to recognise and, like John, witness to the “one who is coming”, the light of the world, the revelation of God, the Word who became flesh and tented amongst us. For many of us, pandemic time has sharpened our awareness of who we are and how we are called to be.

A caution is in order regarding this reading: not only the opponents of Jesus but most of the actors in the gospel drama are Jewish. The group of characters specifically named as “the Jews” includes some influential members of the Jewish religious leadership, but cannot be identified with them because it comprises a more extensive group who are consistently in conflict with Jesus. It would be a serious disservice to the gospel to condemn the Jewish people on the basis of this and similar stories of Jewish opposition to Jesus.