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A good Sunday to all.

Luke is considered as the historian among the evangelists because his work, the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles contains accurate and precise references to emperors, kings, procurators, proconsuls and in today's Gospel passage, introducing the figure of the Baptist, offers us very valuable and precious information that allows us to date the beginning of the public life of Jesus.

The time when all our history begins with the preaching of the Baptist and then the baptism of Jesus is during the Pax Romana, which Emperor Augustus initiated. The empire was pacified, there are no more civil wars. Palestine, which interests us, was firmly in the hands of Rome. There is no sign of rebellion. The Zealots do not appear at the time of Jesus. They will appear a few decades later. Life in Israel is, therefore, tranquil.

Let us listen as Luke solemnly introduces this decisive moment of our history, the beginning of the public life of Jesus:

 

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the desert.”

 

After having narrated the infancy of Jesus in the first two chapters of his Gospel, Luke introduces the beginning of the public life of Jesus, referring to the great personages of his time. They are the story's protagonists, those who count, and Luke gradually enumerates them according to their importance. We will stop on these characters because we want to understand in which historical context the Son of God set the new world in motion.

The first of these characters could only be the emperor Tiberius. In the background, I have placed a gold coin of Tiberius. It showed him with the inscription: Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus. And on the reverse, a representation of his mother Livia, the third wife of Caesar Augustus, with the inscription "Pontifex Maximus," referring, of course, to Tiberius. He is the ruler of the world and he presented himself with this coin, which was not used for trade but propaganda. He introduces himself as Augustus ('sebastós' in Greek), meaning the venerable one, therefore, the divine one, a superman. Luke tells us that he had already been in power for 15 years, and this indication is precious because it allows us to make some calculations to understand in what year Jesus' public life began.

Tiberius was not the son of Augustus, but he was the son of Livia, and when all the successors that Augustus would have wanted as emperors after him die, either by natural death or by poison, (and, it seems that Livia was also involved in these intrigues and these poisons), Augustus adopted Tiberius in 4 A.D. (by the way, Livia had growing disagreements with her son, and Tiberius could not stand anymore her meddling to interfere in political affairs; in the end, he did not even go to her funeral).

In 14 A.D., when Augustus died, Tiberius came to power, and if we add 15 years of government that he has been in power, we will be in the year 29. But we must keep in mind that the writer is Luke, who comes from Antioch of Syria, and in Syria, the emperors' years of reign were counted differently. Therefore, today historians agree that the public life of Jesus began in the autumn of 27 A.D.

What was going on in the world when the Baptist began to preach? We are in the year 26, exactly the year Tiberius left Rome and moved to Capri, where he had 12 villas built and chose them as his residence. The most beautiful of them all is the famous 'Villa Jovis' (Jupiter's Villa) which is located on the island of Capri Three hundred meters above the sea, facing a breathtaking panorama in the Gulf of Naples. Tacitus and Suetonius tell us that Tiberius indulged in unspeakable perversions.

Meanwhile, the ruler of Rome is the prefect of the praetorium, the infamous Lucius Sejanus. In Rome, it is a time of intrigue, denunciations, assassinations, cruelties of all kinds. The life of those who aspire to power is a straight slalom between daggers and poisons. This is the world in which Jesus begins to preach his Gospel. If Luke had wanted to give us the date of the beginning of Jesus' public life, he could have stopped here. Instead, he continues to present us with the power holders of his time in and around Palestine.

First, of course, the representative of Rome, Pilate, who resides in Caesarea and governs that part of Palestine which Herod the Great had left to his son Archelaus in his will, but from the beginning, the most important people of Judea had asked Caesar Augustus to remove him. It was a time of riots and revolts that were quelled in blood. The first had caused 3,000 casualties, many of them by crucifixion around the city of Jerusalem.

Who was this Pilate? He was a protégé of the notorious Sejanus. Philo, one of his contemporaries, introduced him and a contemporary of Jesus. Philo is from Alexandria in Egypt and says that he was a man of uncompromising character and in addition to his arrogance, he was harsh and only capable of violent acts, robbery, brutality, torture, execution without trial, and atrocious cruelty, without limits. This is the one who rules Judea and Samaria.

The third personage is Antipas, another son of Herod the Great, to whom his father had left Galilee, that interests us very much because there is Nazareth. Jesus always lived as a subject of this Antipas. His father left him also Perea, where John was baptizing in Bethabara.

The fourth character is Philip, the third of Herod's sons, who inherited his kingdom. He has been given the northern part, in the extreme north of the land of Israel, and he lives there quietly; he founded his capital which, naturally, he called Caesarea, a reverence to Tiberius, and to distinguish it from the other Caesarea which is on the Mediterranean; he called it Caesarea Philippi. He lives with Salome, his very young wife, who is the famous dancer.

Then, Luke mentions Lysanias, of whom we know practically nothing; I think he added him because he wants to reach to number 7 with two other characters that are not political leaders, but religious leaders, the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, who are the real ones responsible for the death of Jesus. Annas had been a high priest from 6 to 15 A.D., and after him, four of his sons became high priests; and the high priest of that time was his son-in-law Caiaphas.

You can see at the back a very famous ossuary, which was found near Jerusalem in 1990, and it is important because it was found among the ossuaries of the family of Caiaphas. This is important because in this ossuary is found the inscription 'Joseph, son of Caiaphas' and the historian Josephus Flavius tells us that the Caiaphas of the Gospel was called 'Joseph.' For the date of this ossuary, the evident wealth, and it is a very elaborated and well-preserved ossuary, with the bones of a man of about sixty years, all this leads us to deduce that it is the ossuary of Caiaphas, one of the two greats responsible for the death of Jesus. Unfortunately, it does not say that it is the high priest. Otherwise, we would be sure that it is his ossuary.

We are interested in pointing out that there are seven of these characters, and we want to capture the message that Luke wants to give us. First, Luke wants to make it clear to everybody that what he is going to narrate is not the beginning of a fable, or an esoteric myth created by the fantasy and imagination of a dreamer. He wants to refer to concrete facts; and this is also important for our catechesis today; to situate the story of Jesus in our world, in an exact historical context, in a certain culture, the culture of a Semitic people. Therefore, he will speak, reason with images and in the language of his people. It is placed in this context to give us to understand what he proposes to us.

Second message: it comes from that number seven. All the history that is narrated, the sacred and profane history, the Jewish history and pagan history is represented here. The number 7 indicates completeness and involves the event which Luke is about to tell. A new kingdom is about to begin. Not an otherworldly kingdom, but a kingdom that is to be established in this world. If it were of the other world, it would not have had the violent reaction of these political and religious institutions who instead felt challenged and wanted to perpetuate their domination. Jesus presenting his new kingdom will put them in crisis. These two powers will ally to oppose the coming of the new reign. How does this new world history begin?

Let's listen:

 

"The word of the Lord came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness."

 

To present the prophetic investiture of the Baptist, Luke resorts to a formula well known in the Old Testament when one wants to present the vocation of a prophet. The book of Jeremiah begins by saying: "The Lord spoke to me." It is the same expression that Luke uses for the Baptist: "The word of the Lord was addressed to John, son of Zacharias." In what spiritual context of the people of Israel does this call come? It is a harrowing moment because Israel for centuries has been experiencing the silence of God. God no longer speaks to his people; He no longer sends prophets. His word does not descend to anyone because the hard-headed people do not listen to the prophets. God then closed the heaven.

We find this painful silence in the mouth of the psalmist. Psalm 74 says: "Lord, there are no more prophets and no one among us can tell us how long this will last. No one can show us the ways of the Lord.” Also, in chapter 3 of the book of Daniel, where there is that prayer: "Lord, for the sake of Abraham, your friend, remember your mercy, for we have no prince, no chief, no priest, no prophet. And we no longer have even a place to go to pray." If we consider this pain for the silence of God, we understand the angel's announcement to Zechariah when he says: "You, Zechariah, shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at this birth." The reason is that a prophet appears again after this silence of centuries.

Upon whom, then, does the word of God descend? Not on the great ones of this world and least of all on the priests of the temple, the high priests Annas and Caiaphas. These people oversee the powers and are refractory to the word of the Lord. We will never find prophets in institutions of power. The word of God descends upon John, who lives in the wilderness. And as today we also want to welcome this word, we are in Advent, therefore, the preparation to receive the word, which is Christ, which is the Gospel, in what context should we place it? The Baptist suggests it to us: in the desert.

Let us try to reflect on what happens in the desert; it creates suitable conditions for the word to descend upon us. First, the desert is a place of silence. One night in Palmyra, therefore, in the Syrian desert, the group's guide said, 'Tonight, I want you to have a particular experience in the desert.' He told them to remain silent for half an hour to listen to the silence.

The silence of the desert is an unforgettable experience. We are stunned by the noise, the clamor, the shouting, the loudspeakers... How does the word of God come down in this situation? The prophets Jeremiah, Baruch recall the wisdom of a people esteemed by all, the people of Teman, a people living in the desert where wisdom is cultivated and valued more than gold and precious stones. One of Job's friends, a wise man, came from Teman. Where there is silence there, the word of the Lord may come. There is no noise there. We are afraid of silence because, in silence, the inner restlessness arises, those questions that so often we want to silence; then we make noise, we create confusion.

In this Advent, we must experience silence, discover moments of silence to be receptive to this word for that word of the Lord may descend upon us. Also, if we want this word to descend, the desert is the place where we return to the essential; there are no extra things in the desert; their bread is bread, not cookie; water is water, it is not coke; there is only what is necessary for life, not the extra. Many superfluous things burden us. Fashion and advertising that determine so many of our choices and make us lose our minds for the ephemeral, make us forget and neglect the essential, what really counts. If we do not go back to the essential, if we do not avoid all the waste the word of the Lord cannot descend upon us.

The third context we find in the wilderness where the word can descend: It is the place where one cannot accumulate. In the wilderness, you cannot carry what weighs you down; you only take what you can carry on your shoulders; the land that is yours is the one that you are treading on because when you take a step forward that land belongs to another. If you do not assimilate this message from the desert, you are still a slave of the old-world logic where it is suggested that you accumulate possessions to appear, to be a successful person. It is a world of competition, injustice, deceit, and war. If one does not have this experience of the desert and, therefore, of detachment from the goods of this world so as not to become its slave, the word of the Lord cannot descend upon us.

The last characteristic of the wilderness experience: You cannot walk alone. If you walk alone in the desert, you die. You must walk together with others, sharing all that one has. If one isolates oneself, one does not survive if one thinks of one's own life, disregarding others. If we want the word of the Lord to descend upon us, we must cultivate this attention to those who live next to us; otherwise, the word cannot reach us, we will not be able to welcome the word that wants to enter our lives, which is Christ, which is his Gospel.

The Baptist grew up in the desert. Therefore, he assimilated this spirituality and was able to receive the word. Let's listen now to how he begins to carry out the mission to which God called him: "John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘A voice of one crying out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

The Baptist carried out his mission throughout the region. In the bible, this river has a theological meaning, to be the border between the pagan land, the land of slavery, from which the people of Israel came out, and the land of freedom, where Joshua introduced these people. But the Baptist wants to make these people aware that they are not really free; they must make this transition again from this passage of the slavery of sin to true freedom. And he preaches conversion. In Greek 'metanoia' from the verb 'metaloein': to change the way of thinking, the way of judging, to change the criteria by which one evaluates the things of life.

Then, as a sign, the crossing of the Jordan River, a gesture that indicates the option to make this change of life. The goal is the remission of sins, the forgiveness of sins. What does the forgiveness of sins mean? The Baptist does not say that you must ask forgiveness from the Lord, that you must do penance, sacrifices, fasting... no, none of this. Not to worry about the mistakes that have been made. He says 'metanoia' is needed, this realization that we are making wrong choices, erring in life. And when the Lord obtains that you understand this, you will be forgiven.

This way of understanding forgiveness is revolutionary because forgiveness in Israel was obtained by going to the temple to offer sacrifices to God or doing penances, purifications, no. The Baptist says that forgiveness is God's work, that he can make you understand that you must do a 'metanoia,' a change in the way of thinking and living; then your sin is erased. Then, to present what is happening, Luke introduces a prophecy found in the book of Isaiah and says that this prophecy is fulfilled in its entirety at this time, as it is written in the book of the oracles of the prophet Isaiah, 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'

The prophet who uttered this oracle is an anonymous prophet, who lived in Babylon in the 6th century B.C., with a people enslaved by the Babylonians and is announcing to these people the end of slavery: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths, for now, he will bring us back to our land." The prophecy applies to the Baptist because he is now preparing these people for the deliverance that is about to come. It is the invitation to prepare the way of the Lord and make straight his paths. The Lord wants to come to deliver these people, to free them from the slavery of sin. But we must wait for him in his paths and prepare how he wants us to go.

What is the way by which he wants to come to liberate us? It is the way of the Gospel. There are many ways We invent for the Lord to come to save us, but these ways often have nothing to do with the Gospel. People may like certain religious practices, but they do not save; they do not lead to freedom. The only way by which the Lord comes is the way of his Word, of his Gospel. This Gospel is the one that saves us.

We know many devout people, but then they remain slaves of money, selfishness, and pride. ‘Straighten my ways; follow my path. Do not try to make them crooked because you like them that way. No.' The way is straight; it is the way of Christ that we know well; it is the way of deliverance.

And then there is a promise: "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.” Sometimes these words of the prophet are interpreted as an invitation to cut down the mountains of our pride and of our self-sufficiency to fill the ravines that separate us from our brethren... No. This is not what we have to do here. This is a promise of what the Lord will do. And it is a promise that we must internalize well because there is a dangerous temptation, and it is against hope. How many times we say that certain hills, certain mountains will never flatten... the hills of the powers of this world that create untenable situations, and we say they will never change... that these powers are too strong. God says: "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.” All these separations between peoples, between cultures, will be flattened. Respect for all cultures will not cause wars but diversity will be positive, will create union, mutual service. Therefore, the importance of internalizing this promise because if we lose hope, we drop our arms, and then evil has won. Let us repeat to ourselves this promise that the prophet makes: the hills and the mountains will be flattened, not by us but by God, by his word.

And then the last message, wonderful, that only Luke mentions. Matthew and Mark also quote this prophecy, but they stop at the first one, 'the mountains that shall be flattened and the valleys shall be filled.' But Luke continues the prophecy by saying that “every flesh shall see the salvation of God.” ‘Flesh' in the bible. indicates the fragile condition of our humanity, which will all be saved. Also, this is a message of hope that we must cultivate. Hope in the certainty of the victory of God's love over our frailties.

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.