In the readings of Saturday of the Second Week of Advent (Ben Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11; Matthew 17:9a, 10-13), we see how John the Baptist, who is the forerunner of the incarnated Christ, is related to Elijah. For this, we need to know about Elijah.
The passage of Ben Sirarch 48:1-11 reflects Elijah’s
work against corrupt king of Israel (Northern Kingdom), Ahab, of the house of
Omri, to smash his desecrating reign of Israel, in particular their worship of
Baal (1Kings 17-19; 2 Kings 1-2).
When his mission against a corrupt king of Israel,
Ahab, was consummated, Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind as a fiery
chariot and fiery horses came down and went up, when he was with his successor
Elisha (2 Kings 2:1-14). The presence of
fire (2 Kings 2:11; cf. 2 Kings 1:10; cf. 1 Kings 18:24;19:11-12) symbolizes
the powerful presence of God. This is also reflected in the descent of the Holy
Spirit on Pentecost upon the disciples of Christ (Acts 2:3). But, Ben Sirach
also points to the return of Elijah:
You
were taken aloft in a whirlwind, in a chariot with fiery horses. You are
destined, it is written, in time to come, to put an end to wrath before the day
of the Lord, to turn back the hearts of parents toward their children, and to
establish the tribes of Israel. Blessed is the one who shall have seen you
before he dies! (Ben Sirach 48:9-11).
And it is where the return of Elijah is written:
See,
I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you
seek will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom
you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure
the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a
refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold
and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the
offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the day of
old and as in former years (Malachi 3:1-4 (NRSV)).
Now
I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the
great and terrible day; He will turn the heart of fathers to their sons and the
heart of sons to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with utter
destruction (Malachi 3:23-24(NABRE)/4:5-6(NRSV)).
With these above words, God announces that He will be
sending a messenger of Christ to prepare the way of his coming (Malachi 3:1).
And the messenger is Elijah, and his coming before Christ is Elijah’s return.
Mark sees Elijah, the messenger sent ahead of Christ
(Malachi 3:1, 23-24), as John the Baptist, who is also the fulfillment of the
voice of one crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3) (Mark 1:2-8). And this
voice out of the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3), the voice of John the Baptist in the
Judean desert (Mark 1:3-4) is, indeed, fiery, especially speaking to the
Pharisees and the Sadducees:
You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good
fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves,
“We have Abraham as our father”. For I tell you, God can raise up children to
Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown
into the fire. I am baptizing you with water for repentance, but the one who is
coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his
hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but
the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire (Matthew
3:7-12).
Such fieriness in the voice of John the Baptist, in
preparing the way of Christ’s coming, reflects that of Elijah, of which Ben
Sirach writes:
Until
like fire a prophet appeared, his words a flaming furnace. The staff of life,
their bread, he shattered, and in his zeal he made them few in number. By God’s
word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire. How awesome are
you, Elijah! Whose glory equals to yours? (Ben Sirach
48:1-4).
In facts, Elijah projected fiery words of God out of
his mouth to confront Ahab and his desecration of Israel (1 Kings 18:18-46) and
condemn Ahab (1 Kings 21:17-2). And he sure was an agent to send down God’s
holy fire to defeat the prophet of Baal (1 Kings 18:39-40). Furthermore, he brought
down divine fire three times to kill messengers of Ahaziah, son of Ahab and
Jezebel (2 Kings 1:9–14). Though John the Baptist did not bring down fire upon
those who were to be condemned, he sure projected fiery words to Israel’s
hypocrite leaders, such as the Pharisees and the Sadducees, to prompt their repentance
and conversion (Matthew 3:7-12). And he sure prophesized the coming of the divine
fire (Matthew 3:11-12) for the final judgement (Revelation 20:9-10).
In the Gospel Reading (Matthew 17:9a, 10-13), Peter,
James, and John, ask Christ as they were coming down from the mountain, after
the Transfiguration of the Lord, why the scribes said that Elijah must come
first (Matthew 17:10; cf. Malachi 3:23-24/4:5-6). And Christ explained:
Elijah will indeed come and restore all
things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize
him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at
their hands (Matthew 17:11-12).
Acknowledging Malachi’s prophecy of Elijah’s return to
restore Israel back in order to prepare for the judgement (Malachi 3:23-24/4:5-6),
Christ reminded these three disciples that “Elijah” had already come and
completed his mission, referring to his preparation for the public appearance
of Christ by calling for repentance and baptizing. But, Christ also pointed out
that not everyone did not recognize him and did not respond to his call to
repent and to be baptized for the coming of Christ. And Christ also indicated
his passion and death, as these people who did not recognize John the Baptist
as the returned Elijah in spirit. In fact, Christ metaphorically spoke of those
who did not respond to the works of John the Baptist and his because they did
not recognize the forerunner of Christ, the returned Elijah in spirit, and
Christ, incarnated in Jesus. But they ridiculed the returned Elijah in spirit,
in John the Baptist, and incarnated Christ, Jesus, as addressed in the Gospel
Reading of Friday of the Second Week of Advent (Matthew 11:16-19).
Christ surely sees his forerunner, John the Baptist, as
the returned Elijah, as prophesized by Malachi (3:23-24/4:5-6) (Matthew 17:12),
came to us as the voice crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3) (Mark 1:2-4). It
is not to say, however, that John the Baptist was an incarnation of Elijah. It
is to say that the return of Elijah to prepare for the judgement was fulfilled
by John the Baptist, who came to prepare for the coming of Christ, also,
projecting to the final judgement that will come upon Christ’s second coming. Therefore,
the readings of Saturday of the Second Week of Advent (Ben Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11;
Matthew 17:9a, 10-13) calls us to keep in mind that our Advent preparation for
the coming of Christ into our hearts is also preparing for the second coming of
Christ and the final judgement.
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