Advent: John the baptist

The Holy Bible that the Christians live on is a library of 66 books written through various people, across a large stretch of time. Some of these books overlap in the periods they cover/ were written, and some do not. Some were not authored in times that overlap - and the period of silence between the old testament and the new is one gap that was immensely deep and forlorn - some 400 years between God's servant Malachi's prophesying, and when God "perceptibly" moved again, in the space of a page dividing the uneven halves of the Bible.

In this space lingered a promise, the promise, of God's Anointed One, who will render the "offerings of Judah and Jerusalem acceptable to God as before", who will "purify the Levites".

But first, The Anointed One sends His servant to prepare the way for His entry:

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord[a];
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.[b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple..

So John comes. He wears camel skin and wore a belt. People double take as they recall the great prophet Elijah from the old days, who was said to have dressed similarly, and these Jews remember the signs of the Messiah - Elijah will reappear. And this man called loudly for repentance of the people, and proclaimed the coming of God's Kingdom. He was a sight, he was the gossip of the towns, and he was in the thick of it - is this what the Jews thought he might be? People watched closely.

Then Jesus came, and got baptised by John, and Jesus goes off into solitude for a solid 40 days, and soon begins His ministry. Meanwhile, John gets arrested for calling Herod out on his disgraceful act of marrying his sister-in-law. John is landed in prison, but John has already heard about Jesus' burgeoning popularity and miraculous deeds.

"Are we waiting for some one else?" falls a bit off from John's lips. Who had more anticipation than him, the prophet who prepares the way for the long-awaited Messiah? Yet as he waits in prison, and he sends his disciples to Jesus, one wonders, what is John expecting of the Messiah?

Did he yearn to be set free from his dark cell, to see justice? Did he yearn for God's kingdom come, here and everywhere, now and forever? To see the miraculous and immediate end of the Roman occation?

Jesus quotes all the signs of the time of the Messiah: "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor." (Isaiah 35)

But he stopped there.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor...

He left out the bit about setting captives free (Isaiah 61). Why did Jesus do this to John, his own cousin, knowing the very circumstance he is in? Knowing John knows the promise of the year of the Lord's favour in the prophecy of Isaiah? Knowing John is in a lonely cell, and that he is in a precarious predicament. Perhaps knowing, that John will die.

Why did Jesus stop there, when John, the disciples, and all the Jews for that matter, thirsted most for freedom from their captors, the invading Roman empire?

Jesus didn't stop there though, actually.

He went on preaching, healing, ministering to the masses in the region around Lake Galilee.

Jesus didn't stop there though, actually.

He went on healing on the Sabbath. Teaching the crowds in synagogues and hills. Giving mysterious and outrageous claims, dividing the people in camps of awe and doubt. Blessing the contrite and poor, forgiving the wretched and repentant. Making his way steadily towards Jerusalem where Herod had executed John.

Jesus didn't stop there though, actually.

He went on into Jerusalem, around the time of the Passover, at a time of heightened political wariness of Jewish rebellion, riding a donkey as a Jewish king in times of peace. When seemingly he is surrendering himself, a prisoner, into the territory of Roman conquerors.

Jesus didn't stop there though, actually.

He went on to flip the tables on powerful people, criticise them, proclaim woe unto them, getting himself betrayed and captured. In the unholy hours of the night as he stood trial before his accusers who sought reasons and false testimonies to mete out the death penalty to him, he could have remained silent, and his accusers would have no good reason to present to Roman authorities for Jesus' crucifixion. But Jesus declares himself to be the one to be given dominion and power, and worship, alluding to the figure in Daniel 7:13, infuriating them with this claim. Giving them the ammo they need to charge him.

Jesus didn't stop there though, actually.

He went on to be deserted, mocked and tortured and flogged, and crucified on the cross.

God with us.

God with us, even though we blame him for all our pathos, grief and suffering. Even all the suffering that isn't ours, but others'. All the problems of pain in the world.

Aren't you God? Why don't you save yourself, and us while you're at it?

Jesus didn't stop there though, actually.

He went on to rise from Death's grasp, and ascended to rule forever from the right hand of the one and only almighty God. He paid for us, and paid in full.

And as it were, Jesus will never stop ruling in all glory and power.

We got what we deserved, but you came to be with us while we rejected you and your way. You love us, we worship you – remember us Jesus, when you come into your kingdom.