Peggy Stanton’s notes on John the Baptist
THE VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS
Reflection on the Gospel From the Didache Bible
The first words of Mark unequivocally identify Jesus, as the Son of God, and as the Messiah foretold by the Prophets. Christ is that“ good news“, (gospel) from God, the Father, since it is through his passion, death, and resurrection, we are redeemed. This good news is entrusted to the Church to be announced to all people.
John, the Baptist is the fulfillment of Isaiah‘s prophecy of the preacher in the wilderness, calling people to prepare the way for their Savior. John is considered the last and greatest of the prophets. John’s austere, life of prayer and penance made him a strong witness to the Lord‘s coming. John, however, considered himself unworthy even to be associated with the Messiah. Although John’s baptism was of repentance, rather than sacramental, it called people to conversion and pointed to the definitive baptism from Christ, which would forgive sin through the Holy Spirit.
Para. 422… “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God has visited his people. He has fulfilled the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants. He acted far beyond all expectation – he has sent his own“beloved son”.
Para. 515… The Gospels were written by men who were among the first to have the faith, and wanted to share it with others. Having known in faith, who Jesus is, they could see, and make others see the traces of his mystery in all his earthly life. From the swaddling clothes of his birth, to the vinegar of his passion, and the shroud of his resurrection, everything in Jesus’ life was a sign of his mystery. His deeds, miracles, and words all revealed that “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” His humanity appeared as “sacrament” that is, the sign, and instrument of his divinity and of the salvation, He brings: what was visible in his earthly life leads to the invisible mystery of his divine sonship and redemptive, Mission.
Para. 571… The Paschal mystery of Christ ‘s Cross and Resurrection stands at the center of the “good news” that the apostles and the church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God’s saving plan was accomplished“once for all” by the redemptive death of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Para. 763… it was the Son’s task to accomplish the Father’s plan of salvation in the fullness of time. It’s accomplishment was the reason for his being sent. The Lord Jesus inaugurated his Church by preaching the good news that is, the coming of the Reign of God, promised over the ages in the Scriptures.“To fulfill the Father’s will, Christ ushered in the kingdom of heaven on earth. The Church “is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery.”
Para. 523… Saint John the Baptist is the Lord’s immediate precursor or forerunner, sent to prepare his way. Prophet of the most high, John surpasses, all the prophets, of whom he is the last. He inaugurates the Gospel. Already from his mother’s womb, he welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being the “friend of the bridegroom”, whom he points out as“ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”Going before Jesus “in the spirit and power of Elijah,” John bears witness to Christ, in his preaching, by his baptism of conversion, and through his martyrdom.
Para. 719… John the Baptist is more than a prophet. In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah. He proclaims the imminence of the consolation of Israel; he is the voice of the Consoler, who is coming. As the Spirit of truth will also do, John came to “bear witness to the light.”In John’s sight, the Spirit thus brings to completion, the careful search of the prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels. “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have born witness that this is the son of God… Behold, the Lamb of God.”
Para. 720… Finally, with John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to man of “the divine likeness,” prefiguring what he would achieve with, and in Christ. John’s baptism was for repentance; baptism in water, and the Spirit will be a new birth.
