Sunday, January 9, 2005 Tone 7
The Sunday after Theophany
Kellia For Prophet Shemaiah: 3 Kings 12:16-24 LXX Epistle: Ephesians 4:7-13 Gospel: St. Matthew 4:12-17
St. Matthew 4:12-17, especially vs. 12: "Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in
prison, He departed to Galilee." The Church identifies John, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, with a variety of names:
"Forerunner, Prophet, Baptist, and Servant." The title "Forerunner" is particularly intriguing since Holy Scripture does not
apply that specific term to St. John. Of course, when we speak of St. John as the Forerunner, it is because in the first
century, he helped to "prepare" men and women for the Lord's ministry, as he still does.
In that time, two thousand years ago, St. John's preaching and baptizing signaled that the time had come for the Lord Jesus
to leave His private life in Nazareth and assume a public ministry (Mt. 3:13). In a similar way the death of the Prophet was
a sign for the Lord Jesus to go into Galilee and begin preaching, discipling, and healing (Mt. 4:12-17). The title,
"Forerunner," is fortuitous in several ways. The Baptist's prophecies forecast that the Lord's ministry would illumine men
with the Holy Spirit. St. John's message and work foreshadowed Christ's emphasis on repentance, and the Prophet's death
forebode the execution of the Savior.
St. John was a forerunner because he "forecast" the dynamic role of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Christ. When John
was questioned about himself and his mission, he stated plainly that he was only a messenger announcing One "coming
after me Who is mightier than I, Whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire"
(Mt. 3:11).
In the present reading, the Evangelist Matthew indicates that the Lord Jesus, being filled with the Spirit (Mt. 3:16), caused
"Light" to dawn for "those who sat in the region and shadow of death" (Mt. 4:16). The Spirit enabled the Lord's preaching
to illumine the hearts of His hearers. By the power of God the Holy Spirit, the parables, the healing acts, and the teaching
of the Incarnate Word of God were effective in the hearts of those who heard Him. The Lord Jesus declared the presence of
the Kingdom, and the Holy Spirit caused Divine "Light" to shine within them, freeing them from the kingdom of sin and
death, bringing them to the Kingdom of Light.
St. John was a forerunner because he "foreshadowed" the message of the Lord's preaching and works. St. John warned the
people to prepare their hearts for the mighty One from God. Men should change their lives by active repentance before the
Messiah's arrival (Mt. 3:2). When Christ began His ministry, as the Gospel shows, He also placed repentance at the center
of all He did (Mt. 4:17). At the heart of the Christian Gospel lies repentance, the healing response initiated and made
effective by the Lord's saving Death and Resurrection through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Forerunner cast the
shadow, but the Lord engendered the saving reality.
Finally, St. John was a forerunner of the saving Passion, for his unjust death served as a type and "foreboding" of the
Lord's sacrificial death on the Cross. After the Lord's Baptism, the Prophet was arrested by the Tetrarch (the ruler of a
fourth part of a region), Herod Antipas. John had said to him, 'It is not lawful for you to have her' (Mt. 14:4), referring to
Herodias, the wife of Herod's brother Philip. St. John, as a faithful Servant of God, never hesitated to speak God's truth
honestly against adultery, as the Gospel summary of his preaching shows (Mt. 3:7-10).
John's death, like the Lord's, witnesses to the fact that our race prefers lies and murder to truth, even to the Truth Himself.
The Lord Jesus' own preaching was equally forthright (e.g., Mt. 23), and in a short three years, an unusual coalition of
religious, economic, and political groups decided on His death and brought about His arrest and crucifixion (Jn. 11:47; Lk.
23:12). The Master did forecall thee a Prophet, O thou who art more exalted than the law foretold; and having baptized
Him, thou didst appear nobler than all men. Pray for our souls.
