Mons. Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the Gospel of this Sunday, December 16, 2023, titled: “He has sent me to announce Good News to the poor”
***
Isaiah 61, 1-2. 10-11: “He has sent me to announce Good News to the poor”
Responsorial Psalm Lk 1: “My spirit rejoices in God, my savior”
I Thessalonians 5, 16-24: “He who called you is faithful and will keep his word”
Saint John 1, 6-8. 19-28: “John came as a witness to bear witness to the light”
There are times of darkness in humanity and everything is filled with pessimism. However, the Lord always raises up witnesses of the light who fill humanity with hope. Today, the Lord also makes himself present to us and gives us witnesses of the light who illuminate the darkness and show paths of salvation. We need to be attentive to discover them and to be witnesses of the light ourselves. In the celebration of this Sunday, we are presented with John the Baptist as the “witness of the light” who gathers the words of hope and joy announced by Isaiah and then confirmed as a reality in the psalm that we proclaim. On the banks of the Jordan River, there is enthusiasm and novelty because the Messiah Savior is coming, he is already present. The one who had to come is already here. We need to discover the signs and indicators of his presence. Light transforms everything, light illuminates everything, even if things stay where they are, even if problems seem to continue, under the light everything is different. And John is presented to us this day as a witness of the light. He surprises his listeners, who come down disoriented to the Jordan. His words are new and even priests and Levites are interested in what he says, they send emissaries to dispel their doubts and fears. The first sentence of the paragraph is a general statement about the importance of witnesses of the light. The second sentence introduces the specific topic of the paragraph, which is John the Baptist as a witness of the light. The third sentence provides context for John’s ministry, describing the time and place in which he lived. The fourth sentence describes the impact of John’s ministry, noting that he brought hope and new beginnings to a world that was filled with darkness. The fifth sentence summarizes the main point of the paragraph, which is that we should be witnesses of the light ourselves.
It is very important the first question they ask this witness: “Who are you?”, because it is essential to know who we are in reality and what our mission is in this world. Although perhaps we rarely ask ourselves this question in depth. We live more concerned about what we have or do not have than about what we are. We live more from appearances than from reality. John the Baptist is not interested in appearances. The first questions of the interviewers want to frame him and even label him in ways that would have filled any Israelite with healthy pride. But he answers a resounding no, he does not want honors or to attribute false identities to himself. He is not the Messiah, he is not Elijah, he is not the prophet. His joy and his figure do not come from his eminent position, but because the one who will bring the Kingdom to its fullness is coming. His repeated and resounding “no”s are prophetic in a world like ours that values personal fulfillment, our own project and self-sufficiency so much. He could have said of himself that he was the greatest of the prophets, even the greatest of those born of woman. He could have said that he was another Elijah, that he had his spirit. He could have said that his name was John… But he was “only” a witness.
Nothing is more volatile and ephemeral than a voice. It sounds for a moment and then its sound is lost. However, there is nothing more valuable than a word. The word communicates, gives life, enriches, comforts and encourages. The word reveals truth or lies, the word builds or destroys. John is “the voice crying in the wilderness“. He is not just any voice. A witness is not a voice that falls asleep or trembles before evil. It is a voice that cries out, that makes itself heard, that draws attention, even to the authorities of Jerusalem, who have to send emissaries to investigate what this voice is saying and who it is. A voice that rebels against injustice and cries out in the midst of indifference to announce the one who is coming. A voice that does not care if it drowns in the desert because it is proclaiming its truth and is not concerned with who listens to it or who criticizes it in order to adapt to its audience. It is a heartbreaking and realistic cry that faces a deaf, opaque and indifferent environment. It is a courageous and sincere voice that becomes the mouthpiece of those who are losing hope, of those who have no illusion. A voice that points us to the One who is the most important and the only valuable one, and indicates the necessary conditions to receive him. “Prepare the way, for someone greater than I is coming.”
Today we need witnesses. Witnesses of truth, light, justice, solidarity, peace, joy, the Gospel, Christ, God. Firm witnesses who do not bend before difficulties or before promises and flattery. Credible and responsible witnesses who speak more with their works than with their words. Witnesses who are a voice that announces good news in the midst of so many falsehoods. Witnesses of light in the midst of so much darkness that suffocates and discourages us. Witnesses of Christ. John is a witness and teaches us to be witnesses, coherent, clear and courageous. Faced with the accusations about the reason for his baptism, John adds new clarifications about his person and mission: water baptism is a purifying baptism, if you will external, but the one who will come will bring a baptism that will purify the whole human being and before which John’s baptism is only an anticipation.
Faced with the figure of John in this time of Advent, a thousand questions arise in my mind about my own person and about our Church: Who am I, and what do I say about myself? Where do I put my values? Who am I a witness, and what am I proclaiming? It is Advent time to announce Jesus. How am I doing? Where do I proclaim it?
Good Father, look at the people who among so many voices and so much noise have lost hope, grant them to discover in their pain and misery, the true light of which John the Baptist is a witness and thus celebrate the great mystery of Christmas with a new heart and an immense joy. Amen.
