THE MESSAGE FROM JOHN THE BAPTIST

Some time before the beginning of the activity of Jesus Christ, a man appeared preaching in the wilderness of Judea, where multitudes flocked to hear him. Something new and extraordinary, for since more than four hundred years, since the prophecy of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, God did not send a prophet to Israel. A remarkable person, whose message brought a new vision of spiritual reality, teaching this, continued and expanded by Jesus in his ministry.

But his message did not consist only in the content of his preaching. His life in the desert was a cry of protest against the lifestyle of the priestly elite who attended the temple and used to exploit the people with the trade of animals for sacrifice, a fact later reproved by Jesus (Matthew 21:12,13). John the Baptist rebuked these authorities and, ignoring them, developed an independent ministry, baptizing people for forgiveness of sins and preaching: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 3: 1-9).

Repentance was the keynote of his message, as it prepared the ground for the coming of the Messiah who would soon come after him (Matthew 3:11,12). But the Jews waited for a Messiah King, a religious and nationalist leader who was to restore the kingdom of Israel among the nations. In the context of this mistaken view, they cultivated a spirituality grounded in legalism, that is, in the futile effort to fulfill the Law and in religious formalism, that is, in the mechanical observation of rituals of sacrifice. Israel was far from God, living as in the days of the prophet Hosea, who, speaking in the name of the LORD, said: "For I desire mercy, not sacrifices, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings"(Hosea 6: 6).

The messianate of Jesus, however, was another, that is, it was spiritual. He came to free men from the power of sin and bring them to a life, again, under the dominion of God. Notice that Matthew recorded that Jesus began his ministry with the same message of John the Baptist: "When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison ... began to preach: repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 4:12, 17). The idea of ​​the Kingdom of God is central in the teachings of Jesus, and it is mentioned only in Matthew fifty times. But man enters this realm not through dead religiosity, but through true repentance.

This word "repentance" comes from the Greek “μετάνοια” which means spiritual and intellectual conversion. It is a change of mind, the attainment of a new mentality, marked by the return to God that results in new attitudes and moral and ethical actions. An inner spirituality that overflows into relationships with God and with men. Paul, writing to the Romans, says something in this direction: "therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12: 1-2).

This teaching of John the Baptist, the message of repentance of sins, continued later by Jesus Christ and his disciples, redirected the spiritual life of the Jews of that time. The spirituality for them, in those days, consisted in the feeling of belonging to the Jewish religious system with the temple, the Law and the rituals, even living in disagreement with the divine teaching. This fact shows that we can be far from God, even in the midst of a religious life. Only the attitude of repentance, that is, a mind turned to God, in our living, bring us to close to Him and makes us feel his presence, which leads us to a life of love for Him and our neighbor.

Antônio Maia - M.Div.

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