THE TEXT BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO COMMENTARY BY FR. FERNANDO ARMELLINI

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A good Sunday to all.

Last week we found the Baptist in Bethabara, where he was baptizing the people and we remember the harsh words he addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came forward to be baptized, but they did not want to convert and change their life. Then he threatened them with severity: “You brood of vipers… Who has taught you how to escape the coming doom? The axe is already leaning against the root of the tree… (which is you): any tree that does not bear beautiful fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Lk 3:7-9). And also: “He is about to come; he will wield the fork to clear his harvest and gather the wheat into the barn,and he will burn up the chaff in a fire that will not go out” (Lk 3:17).

The Baptist wanted, precisely, to frighten sinners so that they would change. This language is not surprising because it was the way all the prophets of the Old Testament spoke. When people misbehaved, they threatened God’s punishments. Today we understand, in the light of the Gospel, what was the message that God wanted to give with these words.God does not punish. He is not the one who sends evil to the people and us. Evil is the consequence of sin. When the person makes bad choices and turns away from God, he always does evil to himself.

Perhaps the Baptist did not realize it, but he was giving wonderful news when he said that the one who was to come, would cleanse the harvest, and the chaff would disappear, and the bad trees would no longer exist, would be burned by this fire that he would bring. The fire is not that of God’s punishment; it is that of his Spirit, of divine life. And what was then the great news? That this fire would make the wicked of the world disappear, not because they would be killed but because they would be changed inwardly by the divine life, by the Spirit,by this fire that Jesus brought into the world. This fire would transform the wicked into sons and daughters of God.

Therefore, the beautiful news was that the world would be cleansed of all evil; the wicked would no longer exist. In today’s Gospel, we meet the Baptist again, and it is a Baptist that will never cease to amaze us; we will not find him anymore in Bethabara. Let’s hear where he is:

“John was in prison.”

The evangelist Matthew does not tell us where the Baptist was imprisoned, but the historian Josephus Flavius informs us. He was imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus, one of the eight fortresses that Herod the Great had built in his kingdom. It is worth mentioning this place to understand better the events told in the Gospels. Machaerus was in Perea, which was one of the two regions that when Herod the Great made his testament he bequeathed to his son Herod Antipas as an inheritance. The other two parts of his kingdom he left to Archelaus and Philip. To Archelaus, he left the most important part, including Judea, where Jerusalem is, and then to Philip, the northern region.

Let’s see now, in the satellite picture I have placed in the background, where Machaerus was and why it was so important. It is the only one of the eight fortresses that was on the eastern side, therefore, it had an extraordinary strategic importance because it received messages from the other seven fortresses. and then these signals were sent back to each one of them: to Herodion, Alexandrei, Masada, Jericho, and that is the one that is now behind me, the mountain where the fortress was. You can also see the Dead Sea in the background. Machaerus was a strategic location; indeed, it was here that King Herod Antipas often came and held his receptions and feasts.

Why had Herod imprisoned the Baptist? The historian Josephus Flavius and the evangelists give us two different versions. Josephus Flavius says that Herod imprisoned him because he feared his popularity. The esteem that the Baptist enjoyed with the people was enormous, so Herod feared that he could incite the people to riot, and for that reason, he imprisoned him. The evangelist Matthew says that he had imprisoned him because he denounced his immoral behavior. Herod Antipas had gone to visit his brother Herod Philipand had fallen in love with his wife and had taken her with him to his kingdom. This was against the law of God, and the Baptist denounced this immorality.

We know from the Gospels that the Baptist was treated well and with respect; he could receive visits from his disciples and through these disciples, he was kept informed of what Jesus was doing, that Jesus, whom he had baptized and had already been pointed out as the Messiah. Let us now listen to what happens to the Baptist while he is imprisoned:

“When John heard in prison of the works of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to him with this question, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’”

Perhaps we are a little surprised by the doubts and questions that the Baptist raises, and we wonder why it arises in him perplexity about Jesus. Previously he was very sure that Jesus was the Messiah, and now we see that his faith seems to waver. We find the reason in the account of today’s Gospel passage, where we are told that the Baptist kept himself informed through the disciples about what Jesus was doing, and these disciples must have told him something that had surprised and puzzled him, something that he did not expect.

It is not difficult to guess what he had been told. The evangelist Matthew, in the two previous chapters from which he took today’s gospel passage, tells us about ten healingsperformed by Jesus, and it must be these healings that the disciples of the Baptist saw; that is to say, in Jesus, they saw only manifestations of gentleness; they saw his tenderness, his love for the weakest, the most fragile, the most marginalized.

Let us keep in mind what was the conception of sickness at that time: they cared for the sick, they loved them, but they always kept in mind that they were people who had gone to look for their misfortune because they had been punished for their sins. The disciples of the Baptist must have seen the lepers, repulsive persons considered to be as the very embodiment of sin, persons rejected by men and cursed by God; and they had seen Jesus caressing them. And they had seen him setting the paralyzed on their feet, giving sight to the blind who were also unclean people who could not enter the temple and could not approach God.

Jesus was not only not hard and severe with sinners, but they had seen him eating and feasting with them. Moreover, he boasted that he was their friend. The Baptist and his disciples had learned in catechism that sinners were to be avoided, they were to keep away from these wicked ones. They knew the Psalmist’s prayer in Psalm 139 which they had certainly recited where the righteous one says: “Do I not hate, LORD, those who hate you? Those who rise against you, do I not loathe? With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own.” The Baptist had been educated in this spirituality and, therefore, could not but be bewildered by the kindly behavior of Jesus towards sinners.

Instead of cutting down trees that do not produce beautiful fruits, as the Baptist had announced; Jesus did not even break the cracked reed, he did not extinguish the smoldering wick. And there was another element that puzzled the Baptist; he knew the Scriptures, he knew the book of Isaiah, and in chapter 61, the prophet announces a deliverance and says:“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and release of prisoners.” The Baptist knows that Jesus is the Messiah and, therefore, he is this deliverer, and he does not understand why he does not decide to intervene on his behalf and free him. The Baptist had these doubts, these perplexities, and these questions.

What does it teach us today? First, it invites us to question: Which Messiah are you waiting for? And he says to us: ‘You see, I also expected a Messiah who would be hard, severe with sinners and I was surprised and disappointed. It is true that he lashed out against evil but not against sinners. The sinners he loved, and that surprised me. So, you also be careful because you might be disappointed if you cultivate expectations that are not God’s. If you expect from the Messiah what he did not come to bring, you will be disappointed.’

To be more explicit, if you expect the Messiah to come to solve your problems by performing some miracle, replacing you in what you must do, then you will be disappointed. For example, you invoke peace from him, but if you think he will miraculously make it rain from heaven, you will be disappointed. He will show you how to build peace by giving you his Spirit, the strength to work wonders, but we must be the ones to build laboriously peace in the world, with dialogue, reconciliation, forgiveness, justice, and love.

Not only the Baptist but also Peter was disappointed in his idea of the Messiah; he expected a glorious Messiah, and he was also disappointed. This is what the Baptist tells us:’Interrogate yourself so as not to be disappointed in expecting a Messiah other than the one the Lord wants to send.’

The second message that the Baptist gives us; he tells us: ‘Do not be surprised if Jesus scandalizes you because he also scandalized me; I did not expect him to behave like this; he threw away many of my convictions and certainties.’ If his Gospel does not shock you, you have not understood it. If it does not upset your way of thinking, your convictions, your certainties, even your religious traditions, you have not understood it. If the Gospel leaves you alone, if it does not call into question the image of God that you have cultivated within you, an image of God that you like because it resembles you, a God who is evil to those who do evil so that you too can be evil like him, you have not understood the Messiah of God.

The Gospel, therefore, cannot but be accompanied by questions, uncertainties, difficulties in believing, and he who does not experience these perplexities means that he has succeeded in domesticating the Gospel to adapt it to what he has always believed and thought. It means that in the Gospel you look for confirmations of what you have thought up to that moment. You listen to the Gospel to conclude to say: ‘See, Jesus also agrees with me.’ The Baptist says to you: ‘Let yourself be questioned; let the Messiah and his Gospel unbalance you.’

Now we hear what Jesus answers the Baptist’s envoys:

“Jesus said to them in reply, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regaintheir 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.’”

Let us observe, in the first place, that Jesus is not astonished by the behavior of the Baptist, who was bewildered by his behavior; Jesus would have been astonished by the opposite. He responds to those sent not by reasoning, but by enumerating facts that are there for all to see, the healings. He shows that he is only performing gestures of love, of salvation; no gesture of punishment, of condemnation as the Baptist would have expected.

And the healings that he enumerates recall the prophecies found in the book of Isaiah, especially the prophecy of that anonymous prophet who lived among those who were deported to Babylon, who understood they had ended up in exile because they had been deaf to the voice of the prophets; blind who had not allowed themselves to be guided and had ended up in exile.

To this discouraged people, the prophet had addressed an announcement of hope: ‘The eyes of the blind, that is, your eyes shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be opened, the lame shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the dumb shall begin to shout for joy.’ In other words, he announced the healing of all those evils that had been the cause of their misfortunes, and by enumerating these signs, Jesus meant that the prophecies of Isaiah were being fulfilled. It was the invitation to read the healings he had performed as parables of the new world he was ushering in. And we can contemplate this new world by seeing these wonders as parables.

The healing of the blind. The blind are those who grope in the dark; they have lost their orientation, they do not know where they are going; they hit their heads and hurt themselves and others. They are those who do not know how to give the proper value to things; they mistake for gold that which is a base metal and stake their lives on that which is futile, ephemeral. The Gospel opens their eyes; they see all things at their actual value and make life choices.

The cripples are those who do not take a step, do anything, beg for everything, and live by deception, by cheating. When they meet the Gospel, they stand up again to walk toward a goal; they still limp a little, but they are going in the right direction. The deaf are those who have their ears covered; they do not listen and, therefore, they are incapable of dialoguing,they only listen to the voice of their selfishness, of their desires; they are deaf to the cry of the poor, of the needy for help. When they encounter the Gospel, they are healed; their ears are opened wide, and they become attentive to the voice of those who cry for help.

Lepers are those who are even ashamed of themselves because they know they are ugly and repulsive. Indeed, sin makes one disfigured. We think of the arrogant, dissolute person who only thinks about in accumulating goods. All these are ugly people from whom we try to stay away. When these people meet Christ, with his Gospel, they are healed and become beautiful.

The dead who are raised are those who were withdrawn into the realities of this world, thinking only of drinking, and enjoying life; they were thinking of this life, which is beautiful but fleeting. When they encounter the Gospel, they welcome a new life, the life of the Spirit that Jesus offers, and they rise to the life of the sons and daughters of God, a life of love, joy, gentleness, peace, kindness, and benevolence.

“The poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” He who thought himself wretched, without hope, hear the great good news: ‘For you too, there is salvation.’ This is the news that is given to the poorest, those who feel they have nothing to offer to the Lord because they feel the weight of their sin. To them is announced the beautiful news that God still loves them. We can check today if we have found the Gospel; if we have accepted Christ who wants to enter our lives.

Let’s try to go through again the list of signs given by Jesus and see if they are realized in us. Have we let the Gospel open our eyes, or do we still see money, profession, our family, our friendships, our political choices as we saw them before, or do we now see them in a new light? Have we let our ears open? Do we hear the call of those who ask us for help, or do we still cover our ears? Do we move and engage in building love, or does our selfishness still paralyze us? Do we resurrect to a new life, or do we continue living as pagans?

Jesus concludes his answer with a beatitude, which is the tenth one found in the Gospel according to Matthew, “Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” The scandal that Jesus speaks of is that of the proclamation of a God who punishes no one, loves everyone, and does only good. These last words of Jesus are a sweet invitation addressed to the Baptist: ‘Do not be scandalized, do not marvel at this surprise of God’s unconditional love.’

And now the question: Has Jesus perhaps lost esteem for the Baptist because of the difficulties he had to accept the Messiah of God so different from what he expected? Let us hear:

“As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, ‘What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.’ Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.’”

After the envoys of the Baptist have departed Jesus asks all present three questions. The first: “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?” The image is taken from the reeds of the marshes that grow on the banks of the Jordan River; they are the symbol of inconstancy because they bend according to the direction of the wind. The Baptist was not a reed shaken in the wind, he was not an opportunist who adapted to all situations and fashions, one who bowed to the powerful of the day. The Baptist was a coherent person with a straight back.

The message for us today: We know that the Gospel is not fashionable today; they say that times have changed, that we are no longer in the Middle Ages, that certain values no longer have any importance… When one is convinced of certain choices that the Gospel suggests, one must have the courage to carry them out, even if one feels alone, even if you are amid people who do not understand these options and do not share them. Those who believe in them are people with a straight back, like the Baptist; they are consistent with their beliefs.

The second question, “Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing?” The answer is undoubted NO. John had nothing to do with those who splurge on refined garments; Jesus said that these live in the palaces of kings.

For us today: We know that aesthetics is proper to human beings because it goes beyond what is useful; the pursuit of the beautiful is a good thing, but when it becomes exaggerated, in unbridled use, it is idolatry of the temporary; it is a sign that we have lost sight of the true values of life. Let us ask ourselves then: In the face of certain wastes in futilities, how does a Christian not have a feeling of uneasiness? How does one not feel disgusted by the squandering of resources that should be destined to satisfy much more urgent and basic needs?

The third question Jesus asks: “Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” More than Moses, the Baptist was an angel sent by God to precede the coming of the Liberator, of the Lord.

Jesus concludes by saying: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” This final sentence is significant. Jesus, naturally, does not establish a classification based on holiness, on personal perfection, not; what Jesus says refers to us today. Independently of our holiness today, we can see and understand much better than the Baptist what he only sensed: the unconditional love of God.

The Baptist stands at the threshold of the new times while we fully enter this kingdom.Today the Baptist has left us with his words and his life, also with his perplexities, his doubts,his questions and, above all, his coherent life, a great message for us.

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.