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The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe-8, 23 December 2016 Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24//Luke 1:57-66
Last Monday we reflected on how St. Luke is like Mark Zuckerberg who had linked us via his Facebook with the past, present and future. Today I give you the biblical proof that the first “techie” is actually Zechariah because according to St. Luke, “He asked for a tablet and wrote, ‘John is his name,’ and all were amazed.” (Lk.1:63)
As we near the end of our Simbang Gabi, we now go back to St. Luke’s first story on Christmas, the birth of St. John the Baptist. We have seen how St. Luke had researched about him to show us his deeper links with Jesus Christ not only as His precursor and relative but also as what I would call as a “stepping board” into the Lord’s mission. I say this when we see his being a priest of the Old Testament tradition based on those details narrated to us by St. Luke last Monday that Zechariah and Elizabeth were from priestly classes that dated back to the time of Moses and Aaron. Technically speaking if we have to follow the Old Testament tradition of priests belonging to certain classes and tribes, St. John the Baptist is a priest by birth so that as a precursor of the Lord, he also pointed to the mission of Jesus Christ as the eternal High Priest bringing forth the new priesthood of the New Testament. In its truest sense, St. John indeed prepared the way of the Lord not only by preaching conversion but also in opening the minds and hearts of the people to the radical newness Christ was bringing forth into the world! Remember how we have reflected on St. Luke’s setting of the annunciation to Zechariah in the Temple as a preparation for the fullness of “worship of the Father in Spirit and truth” as per Jesus Christ to the Samaritan woman (Jn.4:23) when His body eventually replaces the Temple based on His claim after cleansing it, “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn.2:19)? Although our citations are from St. John’s gospel account, they still jibe with St. Luke’s presentation of the annunciation of St. John’s birth where his Old Testament priesthood was a prelude to the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
This we can also find in St. John’s similar background of having old and barren parents just like the other great biblical figures of Isaac, Samson, and Samuel. Their conception and birth were all made possible through the goodness and power of God so that they were all set apart for God, particularly Samson and St. John the Baptist who were told not to taste wine even while in their mother’s wombs as they would be wholly dedicated to serve God later in life. Hence, we found St. John as a priest retreating into the wilderness, leading simple lifestyle preaching conversion to men and women he was tasked to bring back to God he served totally. This would be the kind of priesthood we shall also have in Christ Jesus, both as ordained ministers in the clergy and as laypeople sharing in Christ’s three-fold ministry.
Finally, it is interesting to note that the name John in Hebrew is “Jehohahan” that means “God is gracious” or “the graciousness of God.” During the time of Moses when the Israelites were still wandering in the desert, stepping stones called “john” were placed on streams where the priests carrying the Ark of Covenant were supposed to step on when crossing a body of water. These stepping stones or johns kept the feet of the priests dry and clean while carrying the Ark of the Covenant as the presence of God. As a priest of the Old Testament and precursor of the Lord, St. John the Baptist was an intermediary with God that would eventually reach its highest point in Christ Jesus our Eternal High Priest. What a role St. John the Baptist had in prefiguring, becoming the stepping board of the new priesthood, the new worship, and the new order in the coming of Jesus Christ!
As we celebrate the Year of the Parish this 2017 in preparation for the 500th year of our Christianization in 2021, it would be good to reflect on our role as priests with Jesus Christ. When we were baptized and anointed with chrism, the priest proclaimed “may you share” in the kingly-servant, prophetic, and priestly roles of Jesus Christ. We exercise our kingly-servant role when we serve (diakonia) and our prophetic role when we witness (martyria) our being Christians before everyone. The priestly role we share with Christ as baptized Christians and distinct from the ordained priests is when we perform our cultic or liturgical (leiturgia) function during worship when we are sanctified or made holy. Remember our joke Wednesday of the caller asking the time for “constipated mass”? See how our Mass today lacks the energy and power so vibrant in other Christian denominations like those mega-churches. Fact is, our hierarchy and clergy in the Church have long known that a major reason Catholics are joining evangelical churches is the “constipated” masses we always have and yet, we have remained unmindful or seemingly not interested with it. Whether on television or on the streets, one could feel Christ so alive among these Christians mostly young people so inspired to proclaim Jesus. What have happened with us Catholics supposed to be centered on the Eucharist which is the summit of Christian life as Vatican II declared?
The Sunday Eucharist is the perfect setting for us, clergy and laypeople alike, to truly point as St. John the Baptist did, the coming of Jesus Christ. It is in the liturgy of the Holy Mass where and when Jesus exercises His Priestly role with us as an assembly gathered in His name but, are we present with Him? Bo Sanchez’s gathering called the “Feast” is a commendable effort but when we come to think of it, it is being led not by an ordained priest who must always set the tone of every Eucharistic celebration as its presider. Problem is when the priest has ceased to be enthusiastic with the Holy Mass, becoming more as a rheumatic or arthritic, even asthmatic and diabetic that the congregation is lethargic!
A few years ago during the papacy of Benedict XVI, we celebrated the Year of Priests. This year as we celebrate the Year of the Parish, it is inevitable that we ordained priests must have a harder look again on ourselves, of how like St. John the Baptist we must point the people to Jesus Christ not to ourselves whereby some are busy building a fans club even cults. Most of all, we have to go back to our roots again, be radical like St. John the Baptist who gave himself wholly to God and His people, living simply and holy in the obscurity and hiddenness of the wilderness. Pray for us your priests that we may bring back Jesus Christ to the Parish. Lord Jesus Christ, make us your priests as your stepping boards like St. John the Baptist who boldly claimed You must increase and we must decrease. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista
Gov. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan
