The First Reading (Isaiah 41:13-20) humbly reminds us that we would be nothing without Almighty God. Indeed, we are nothing but a worm (תּוֹלַ֣עַת/towlaat) without God. And there is no substitute to God. In this passage, we see God is coming to us as our redeemer (וְגֹאֲלֵ֖ךְ/goalek). Of course, reading this passage during Advent, the redeemer, who is coming to us, is the Christ.
God calls Israel (Jacob) a worm (Isaiah 41:14) because of the lowly status of Israel, having been humbled by God’s judgement for their sins. Though Israel lost its dignity, God is going to restore it. But Israel must remain humble, acknowledging majestic and awesome power of God anew.
Without God, Israel’s existence is in vain, as it is written:
You shall seek but not find those who strive against you; They shall be as nothing at all who do battle with you (Isaiah 41:12).
In order to redeem His beloved Israel from vanity God says:
For I am the Lord, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, Do not fear, I will help you. Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you maggot Israel; I will help you—oracle of the Lord; the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer (Isaiah 41:13-14).
As He is loving, God promises His beloved Israel to empower them and to care for them so that they can rejoice in Him (Isaiah 41:15-17). For this, God the Creator, using his might to create something new out of old things, turning what was not useful and barren into something useful and fruitful (Isaiah 41:18-20). This is a metaphor for transformation of a worm into a new being with great dignity by the loving power of the redeemer.
Reading Isaiah 41:13-20 during the Second Week of Advent, we regard ourselves as Israel, a worm, for we, too, need to be humbled and deserve God’s judgement for our sins. And we certainly desire to be redeemed from a vicious samsara-like cycle of sin-induced vanity. So we not only long for but actively prepare for the coming of Christ the redeemer.
Hearing John the Baptist calling to repent for forgiveness, as our way to make the way of Christ the redeemer to come (Luke 3:3) in the Gospel Reading of the Second Sunday of Advent, Cycle C, Luke 3:1-6, we are making ourselves ready to be transformed from a worm into a new being so that our lives will no longer in vanity. We will remain in humility, acknowledging the majestic power and immeasurable mercy of God that the Christ brings to us.
It is, indeed, John the Baptist to call our attention to prepare the way of the Christ to come to us, by mending ourselves through repentance (Luke 3:1-6). And as he comes to us, Christ the redeemer will apply his power to mend the problems in the Creation to benefit us, while transforming us from a vain being, like a worm, into a new being rejoicing in God (Isaiah 41:13-20). Because of the significance of John the Baptist, as the forerunner to herald the Good News of Christ’s coming, in juxtaposition to God’s words of post-exilic consolation to the Israelites, pointing to the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 40-55), we also zoom in on John the Baptist in the Gospel Reading (Matthew 11:11-15).
Christ sees John the Baptist as the fulfillment of the messenger ahead of him, as prophesized by Malachi(Matthew 11:10):
Now I am sending my messenger- he will prepare the way before me; And the lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple; The messenger of the covenant whom you desire - see, he is coming! says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 3:1, NABRE).
And John the Baptist, as Christ’s forerunning messenger, is the voice crying out in the Judean wilderness to call to make the straight and smooth way of the Christ to come (Isaiah 40:3; John 1:23).
Christ regards John the Baptist highly for bridging the old covenant to the new covenant for being the precursor of him. At the same time, Christ also expresses the superiority of the new covenant to the old one in connection to the humility of John the Baptist. Thus, he says:
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. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear (Matthew 11:11-15).
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| Saint John the Baptist Pointing to Christ by Bartolomé Estebán Murillo |
In the above words, Christ affirms what Archangel Gabriel said about John the Baptist to Zechariah, being and ministering in the spirit of Elijah (Luke 1:17; Matthew 11:10, 15; cf. Matthew 17:11-12). And Christ sees John the Baptist as a great prophets among those in the old covenant. However, he is considered to be less than the least in the Kingdom, which is contingent upon the new covenant. It is not necessarily to say that John the Baptist is “less” than the least in the Kingdom. Rather, it is to say that the new covenant is greater than the old covenant, and John the Baptist represents the old covenant as it’s last and greatest prophet. In fact, because of his humility, John the Baptist himself would consider himself to be less than the last in the Kingdom. He said, in regard to Christ:
I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie (John 1:27-28).
In connection to the First Reading (Isaiah 41:13-20), John the Baptist represents a worm (Isaiah 41:14), which is old Israel. When Christ comes, he establishes the new covenant with his blood (Luke 22:20), and in light of Jeremiah’s prophecy, it is represented by new post-exilic Jerusalem (Jeremiah 31:31-34). And when Christ the redeemer comes, a warm (Israel) will turned into a powerful threshing sledge (Isaiah 41:14-15). As even the greatest one among the worms is less than the least among the sledges, John the Baptist of the old covenant is considered to be less than the least of the new covenant and of the Kingdom.
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