G & P 789
In a book called “To Love and to Fight” published by Anselm Grün, a German Benedictine monk, there are some nice lines about John the Baptist. He is presented like a wild man – in the gospel according to Mark we read: “John wore clothes made of camel's hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey” (Mark 1,6). He lives in the desert – not only among wild animals but clothed with the skin of a wild animal. He is a dropout – he left his society with its laws and conventions - and the wilderness, the exterior and interior wilderness, gives him strength and energy. Strength and energy to proclaim the message of God, to call the men and women he encounters to change their way of living. His preaching is like his outfit – coarse, showing no undue respect for the feelings of his listeners.
The Pharisees were respected among the population. To them he says: “You bunch of snakes! …Do something to show that you have really given up your sins. And don't start telling yourselves that you belong to Abraham's family” (Mt 3,7f). John does not want to be everybody’s darling – he does not need to be everybody’s darling. He says what he feels aloud, he appears in public without becoming dependant upon the public.
He is free – he knows he is serving God. He dares criticise the King, the authorities – and the King fears him. The King recognises the “holy man” in John, tries to protect him from his wife who wants to kill John. “Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew that John was a good and holy man. Even though Herod was confused by what John said, he was glad to listen to him. And he often did” (Mark 6,19f).
The King perceives this inner freedom John has, an inner freedom that does not allow any fear of human beings, that makes John stand upright – also in front of the King, in front of the authorities. No one can rule over this man – John has his strength and energy from someone else, from God.
Jesus says John does not act “like grass blown about by the wind”, he is not a turncoat, an opportunist changing ideas with the changing of the authorities. John is clear and without ambiguity. To the exterior he is wild and powerful, but he does not insult or hurt people. On the contrary, John makes people stand up. His task: John is to prepare the way for Jesus; the scriptures say: "I am sending my messenger ahead of you to get things ready for you“(Mt 11,10).
So from this point of view, John may be a model for us as individuals or as a community: he does not need any masks, he does not have to show a false and undue respect for the feelings of authorities, façades that we build in order to appear faultless and irreproachable – he makes them collapse.
“To Love and to Fight” – this is the title of the book Anselm Grün wrote – this is what John was doing, what Jesus was doing – and this is what we are invited to do – as individuals, and as a community.
Anselm Grün, Kämpfen und lieben. Wie Männer zu sich selbst finden