The Priest and the Bridegroom’s Friend

John the Baptist and the Priesthood

Frt. Jonathan Raagas

Look, I am going to send my messenger in front of you to prepare your way before you...
One cannot but be mystified by the enigmatic figure of John the Baptist when reading
through the Scriptures in particular. Linking the Old and New Testaments, his appearance turns
out to be a converging point permitting a clearer grasp of the Christ-mystery through the
framework provided by the previous covenant. Gospel writers make mention of him and his
mission at the very beginning of their narratives, as if appealing to his witness in order to present
Christ and assert his pre-eminence.

How did John prepare for Christ’s appearance? He preached and baptized: Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.1 He prepared
people to meet their long-awaited Messiah; but some did not believe in his announcement. In fact,
Jesus’ first disciples Andrew and Simon Peter, both came from the Baptist’s own band of disciples;
they shifted to Jesus’ tutelage at their own teacher’s behest.2 Chiefly, John’s role was to carry out
a ministry of preparation – a typically priestly function.

John the Baptist was not a priest however; his father Zechariah was. Zechariah belonged
to one of the twenty-four groups of priests named for the twenty-four sons of the high priest Aaron.
His wife Elizabeth was from the priestly family of Aaron, and she was named after Aaron’s wife.
A thoughtful consideration of the life and mission of Christ’s precursor might prove to be
profitable, not only for Christians in general, but also for those under whose care they are entrusted
by the Lord: priests. Without a doubt, John has a lot to offer on the ascetical and eschatological
dimensions of the Christian priesthood.

Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!
John’s preaching, as well as the ultimate witness of his life, already pointed out to Christ’s
sacrificial death on the cross: Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!3
John prepared for the great sacrifice of Christ’s life. At Jesus’ baptism, he took the honor of
presenting to Israel its true paschal lamb, the holocaust whose value was both eternal and universal.
His martyrdom at the hands of Herod functioned as a prelude to the death of the Man greater than
him. Thus, John not only heralded Christ in his life, but also in death.

A priest is someone adept in the art of preparation and foresight. By his life and mission, a
priest prepares a people for the Lord. He is a man of reconciliation and communion: if one of you
strays away from the truth, and another brings him back to it, he may be sure that anyone who can
bring back a sinner from his erring ways will be saving his soul from death and covering over
many a sin.4 Having met the Lord first in the history of his vocation, the priest must surely be able

1
Mt. 3:2f.
2
Jn. 1:35f.
3
Jn. 1:29.
4
Jas 5:19-20.
to pave the way for an encounter between Him and his people, especially the least and lost, those
living in darkness and the shadow of death.5 Every priest ought to pray: Lord, where do you want
us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover? This is now the Pasch of Christ,
dead and risen, who passed from this world to the Father,6 taking men with Him in exodus, to the
shore of heavenly lands. Essentially, the Eucharistic sacrifice is a foretaste of that eternal Passover
to which the faithful are destined to participate; the paschal banquet where the Lord meets His
people even under the mediation of signs and symbols. Therefore, each celebrant has the
responsibility of preparing his brothers and sisters to celebrate the sacred mysteries. No one must
be found unworthy, not wearing a wedding garment.7

Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the
Baptist...
Christ highly regarded John: Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has
been none greater than John the Baptist...8 His role was certainly inimitable in the drama of
salvation. Aside from the Mother of God, he is the only person whose birth and death are
commemorated liturgically, with the celebration of his birth on the 24th of June having the highest
rank of solemnity. Similarly, Eastern iconography depicts him together with the Virgin in the
Deesis (meaning intercession) icon. The two are portrayed standing in a gesture of supplication
flanking an enthroned Christ Pantocrator. The same scene appears again in icons of the last
judgment but with several added elements. Without a doubt, together with Mary and St. Joseph,
the universal Church rightly hails him as a great intercessor for humanity.

John was really worthy of Jesus’ commendation for he knew well his real worth: It is I who
need baptism from you, and yet you come to me!9 Someone is coming who is more powerful than
me, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals.10 The greatness of John did not lie so much
in his prophetic charism, but more in the excellence of his humility. He had abased himself to
honor Christ and made himself nothing that Christ might be All, and in turn the Lord honored him,
because as Christ said: Those who humble themselves shall be exalted.11 Those who honor Christ
he will honor in turn. Those who confess him before men, he will honor too even before the men
of this world.12

A John-like humility is what every priestly minister needs. With all the temptations for
self-glorification and the search for securities, many priests find themselves prioritizing personal
interests over the best interests of the Church. Allowing prestige and honor to stir the course of
one’s priestly ministry bluntly contrasts with its spirit. To do so is to abandon the love of the cross
– the priest’s first love – the only reason for the existence of this service to the Christian
community.

5
Lk. 1:79
6
Jn 13:1
7
cf. Mt. 22:11
8
Mt. 11:11
9
Mt. 3:14
10
Lk. 3:16
11
Lk. 1:52; 18:14
12
cf. Lk. 12:8
 Moreover, a danger in priestly apostolate is the obscuring of God’s rightful recognition by
the transient sun of one’s achievement and self-sung worship. Too often, the success of an
apostolate (if ever we may call it success) could be mistakenly attributed to the priest’s talent and
ability, and not to the work of God as the source of all good. If unvigilant, such one can become a
robber without himself being aware of it. It would be utterly tragic if people merely remembered
the messenger and forgot the good news he carried with him. A priest’s antidote then is to
constantly speak of God, and to let people perceive His hand behind his ministry, seeing small and
insignificant occasions in the eyes of faith. Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da
gloriam.13

But we carry this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the greatness of this love comes from
God and not from us, St. Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians. A priest is a fragile
earthen vessel yet ordained to hold an extraordinarily heavenly treasure – Jesus himself. A priest
walks through this life always carrying in his body the dying of Jesus – loneliness, rejection,
persecution, failures – that in his mortal frame, his resurrection may be also seen. 14 He is not
scandalized of the Cross since it was the lot of his Master, a man of sorrows, acquainted with
suffering.15 In a priest’s day-to-day life, the Eucharistic sacrifice does not simply begin and end at
the altar, but continues wherever he goes – for he has become a living sacrifice. It is in the priest’s
willingness to face the destitutions of life that he can truly declare without hesitation that he is ipse
Christus - Christ himself! Because without a little humility and sacrifice, the priesthood is stripped
of its meaning.

John’s unassuming personality was evident in his dress and lifestyle– a raiment of camel
hair and a girdle of leather. Living in the wilderness, alone, doing penance– he was dead to the
pomp of the world and to the pleasures of the senses. Truly, penance always come with humility.
Only a truly humble person can perform sincere penance, because he has come to know himself,
his wretchedness. The humble clothing John wore was a perfectly sacerdotal vesture. His cassock,
the melote (raiment of camel hair), shows his contempt against the love of worldly display. The
leather belt stood for chastity, sign of that love whose source could only be God. It is the love of
the world to come. Leather made from skin of dead animals is a sign of death. The priest dies with
Christ the moment he begins to do the will of God rather than his own. He may be dead in the eyes
of the world, but he is surely alive in Christ Jesus.16

The ascetical attitude of the Baptist is what the Christian, especially the seminarian and the
priest, ought to possess. St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, exhorts: Now that the kingdom
is already here, time is running short: those who have wives should live as if they do not, those
who mourn as if they did not, those who are happy as if they were not; those who buy something,
as if it were not theirs to keep, those who use things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For
this world in its present form is passing away.17

13
Ps. 113:9
14
2 Co. 4:7
15
Is. 53:3
16
Rm. 6:11
17
1 Co. 7:29
 Eastern iconography can be extremely strange at times. Certain icons portray John the
Baptist with angel wings! But I think the rationality of icon-writers was based on the common
notion that angels have wings (symbol of their fervor to carry out God’s will), and the Greek word
for messenger is angelos, and John was the messenger of the new covenant of God; hence his
winged figure. Besides, ascetics truly mirror the angels in terms of their purity, as the ascetical life
in itself is not an end but a means to prepare for an eschatological life. A priest does not deny
himself the pleasures and comforts of this world just for nothing, but for the cause of God’s
kingdom, that in the here and now, people might be reminded that there is no permanent city for
us here; we are looking for one which is yet to be.18

There is no better model for the prophetic ministry than the greatest among the prophets.
Every baptized person is called to exercise Christ’s prophetic office; each priest however, is called
to live it in a more intense way – proclaiming the Word whether in season and out of season.19 A
priest’s primary function is to open his mouth and allow God’s voice to be heard. However,
preaching is nothing without witnessing; the priest does not do this by mere words alone but by
lifestyle. It is even believed that many preachers are in hell. Somehow, priests also have to allow
themselves to be judged by the Word, so that people may realize that they too are paying serious
attention to the Word of God. Because the faithful often think that liturgical activities are for them
and the priest is simply there to celebrate for other people without entering into them personally.
This is to a certain degree imperious because many priests do so well in pastoral work, but only to
do service for others and they themselves don’t enter. As a matter of fact, it is so easy to deliver
good and stunning homilies, classy reflections, moving talks, but it is hard to live by them. It is a
lot easier to deliver moralistic sermons with the priest starting off telling people: “we must be
good, not bad and we must...you should...etc.” The charge of making the Word actual is
fundamentally what a homily is, just like what Jesus did at the synagogue of Nazareth: and he
began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 20 Nevertheless, it is really
difficult to make one because it’s much easier to demand from people than to give to them.

Give me John the Baptist’s head, here, on a dish... (Mt. 14:8)

Between Christ’s first coming and his Parousia, there is an intermediary period, a time for
going out to the world and proclaiming the good news.21 This is our time – the last days – which
is allotted for metanoia or conversion. This is a time as well when the powers of darkness are
allowed to unleash its fury on the sons of the Church, thus the fierce struggle between the woman
and the dragon22 – the Church and the Evil One. Tragically, the worst of Satan’s delicate attacks
are aimed at the shepherds themselves so that the flock scatter, at once making it easier to destroy
the Church. Hence, ministers of Christ are compelled to courageously face the violence of the
enemies of the Kingdom and give witness to the Truth, like what the Baptist did before the rulers
of this world. It cost him his head, and maybe it will cost the priest’s too – but how blessed and
great will he be in the Kingdom if he is able to give testimony with his blood to the Eternal High
Priest!

18
He. 13:14
19
2 Tm. 4:2
20
Lk. 4:20
21
Cf. Mt. 24:14
22
Cf. Rv. 12