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December 12, 2020
It is natural for us to categorize people? We categorize men from women, rich from poor, old from young because it helps us to place them in a context. Currently there is much discussion about categorizing by identity to understand how people will act. If the police categorize people, it is called profiling; that can be bad thing according to some critics. When politicians and their advisers categorize people, well, that is their stock in trade. People of African-American ancestry are not supposed to vote Republican. That is why Justice Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Michael Steele, the Republican National chairman are not supposed to be conservative Republicans. On the other hand, Joe Biden, a Catholic, ought not to be a pro-choice Democrat.
Many thought Hispanic voters were a slam dunk for the Democrats, but the election did not turn out that way. Although only a minority of Hispanic voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump in the November presidential election, the size of that minority was larger than most had predicted. Georgetown University presented an Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life to consider the phenomenon of Hispanic voting. Alejandra Molina, who grew up in Southern California, had this to say about the Hispanic vote,
There are truths in stereotyping in a general sense; that is why we do it. However, the exceptions will always stand out. What happens when the known categories are simply inadequate. What happens if you profile Jesus of Nazareth and John the Baptist? Where does it lead you? That is what the gospel is about today and, pretty much, in its entirety."Many people are realizing we can't see Latinos as a monolith," "I grew up in Southern California," said Molina, who attends a Jesuit parish in Los Angeles. "The Mexican community is super different from Central Americans, Salvadorans Guatemalans," she said, "and California Latinos are different from Texas Latinos and Florida Latinos." In interviews with Hispanic voters, "their faith did come up a lot," Molina said. "Abortion is very important to many Latino Catholic voters." Moreover, "Latinos still connect mass deportations with (former President Barack) Obama and (President-elect Joe) Biden and not President Trump." Catholic News Service, December 3, 2020
John the Baptist and categories
The Gospel describes how the Priests and Levites question John the Baptist trying to understand who he thinks he is. The gospel recounts:
And this is the testimony of John, When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?”
- He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” John denied that he is the ‘anointed one of Israel. ’Christos is where we get the word ‘chrism’ from. This passage refers back to 2 Samuel 7, the earliest prophecy of King David’ and the Messiah. The Lord said to David, “… and I will establish (your) royal throne forever. V.13 Forever is a long time.
- So (then) they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.“ The prophet Malachi, whetted Jewish expectations for a return of the prophet Elijah, “Now I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, Before the day of the LORD comes, the great and terrible day;” Malachi 3:23 Elijah was supposed to return to announce the day of the Lord, because, according to 1 Kings, he was carried to heaven in a fiery chariot and whirlwind, from which he would at some point return. 2 Kings 2:11.
- They then asked, “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” This was a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15-22. Moses said to the people that “A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kindred; that is the one to whom you shall listen.” Dt. 18:15 So, a new Moses was expected, a prophet and a law giver.
- So (then) they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’”
” A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low;” Is. 40:1-5
John ultimately describes himself as a voice, crying out, preparing the way for one ‘stronger than himself.’ He is not the Messiah; he is not a prophet and is not ‘the prophet.’ He is himself the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy.
The one whom you don’t recognize. The one who busts the categories.“Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “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.”
The problem of categories: Jesus’ self-description
Jesus is not any easier to fit into a category than was John the Baptist. Jesus said that he is something greater than a prophet like Jonah. John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah the prophet, according to the Lord. When Jesus and his disciples turned toward Jerusalem and thus toward his death, Jesus brought up the problem of categories and asked his disciples who they said that he is. They responded:
Actually, he did not admit to being the Messiah until his trial in front of the Sanhedrin. The conventional understandings of that category were obviously inadequate to the reality of someone who walked on water, raised from the dead and made water into wine. He did not advocate the violent overthrow of Rome saying the “kingdom of God” or the “kingdom of heaven” is not of this world. His priesthood is exercised in the Temple of his body, the Church, not an ancient building in Jerusalem. He is not a Messiah in any conventional Jewish sense at the time of his death, although he is condemned as King of the Jews. How true are the categories?“John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. (Mark 8:28-30)
Jesus refers to himself, as “The Son of Man,” a figure from Daniel 7. In Daniel’s dream-vision he saw four gigantic beasts rising from the sea; a winged lion, a bear with three ribs of the creature it is eating hanging from its jaws, a leopard with four heads. The fourth beast, so twisted, as to be unclassifiable. The fourth beast devours or tramples everything in its path (Dan 7:1-8). Then, in a new vision, Daniel sees “one like a Son of Man” (cf. NRSV: “one like a human being”). This figure is the opposite of the beasts; they came from the sea, but this human figure comes from heaven:
That has the resonance of Nathan’s messianic prophecy to David, but it is different than a conventional king. Daniel 7 seems bizarre because it is highly symbolic, 3rd Century B.C. coded language. The four beasts probably stand for the successive world empires, each more bestial and wicked than the last: Babylon, Media, Persia, and the empire of Alexander that all arise from chaos, as symbolized by the sea. They live on dominance, oppression and violent power that has nothing but contempt for human beings. The Son of Man puts all that nonsense to an end. So, what do you make of the categories?“I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed. (Dan 7:13-14)
Busting the categories
The truly human reunites heaven and the human inaugurating a truly human society coming entirely from God, not built on violence, but on nonviolence even if that should mean death. In this is its power revealed as mightier than the strength of all the great powers and world empires. It is why in the early Church the martyrs were so revered.- St. Stephen, the first deacon martyr whose feast is celebrated the day after Christmas, December 26. Scripture records that the first martyrs, in reality, are the Holy Innocents slaughtered by Herod the Great as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, whose feast is celebrated on December 28.
- Mostly the apostles are all martyred.
- St. Polycarp of Smyrna
- St. Ignatius of Antioch
- St. Justin Martyr
- The entire Roman martyrology. Almost all the women are martyred because they refuse to enter into abusive marriages with Roman, pagan men who want their property.
- The list of martyrs continues to grow to this very day. The martyrs to militant Islam, Archbishop Oscar Romero and Blessed Stanley Rother and all others victimized by violence in Central America. Lots of human beings witnessing to Christ with their deaths.
Jesus remarks in Matthew 11:12, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” The kingdom of heaven resides in the martyr’s life.
Categories reveal and conceal. Jesus is the king, the prophet, the priest, the Temple. At Christmas, he is called Emmanuel, ‘God with us.’ St. John says that he is the ‘Logos’, the ultimate coherence of reality. He is called Son of God by his disciples. But he refers to himself as the “Son of Man;” the last figure in time that brings an end to the violence and domination that runs our world. In his death, violence did not overcome him. In his Resurrection, a new life is revealed. When John the Baptist answered the priests and the Levites from Jerusalem he said,
John the Evangelist, writing some years later, simply referred to John the Baptist as“They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “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.”
The Greek word ‘martyrios’ means ‘witness.’ John the Baptist gave his life as a witness, a martyr and so others have followed as victims of violence and witnesses to the light.“A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light but came to testify to the light.” Jn. 1:6-8