God is Gracious: John the Baptist as the Herald of Christ’s Coming
December 23, 2024 - Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Malachi 3:1-4,23-24; Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14; Luke 1:57-66
The Book of Malachi stands as the final prophetic work recorded in the Old Testament, marking the end of Jewish prophetic tradition. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are regarded as the last prophets, after whom an era of rabbis and legal scholars emerged. The name "Malachi" means "my messenger," and in the ancient Greek translation (the Septuagint), this term is rendered as "my angel." Scholars have long attempted to identify Malachi with specific individuals, often Elijah, while Christian tradition connects this messenger with John the Baptist (see Matthew 11:10, Mark 1:2, Luke 7:27).
The coming of the Lord’s messenger is portrayed with powerful and dramatic imagery: "For he is like the refiner's fire, or like the fuller's lye" (Malachi 3:3). This messenger focuses on purifying the sacrificial practices within Jerusalem’s temple, especially the Levites tasked with its rituals. Although John the Baptist was from a Levitical family, he was not a temple priest; instead, he emerged from the desert, preaching repentance and announcing the Lord’s arrival.
The selection from Psalm 25 we hear today is situated between Malachi’s prophecy about the messenger of God and the remarkable events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. In this psalm, the psalmist entreats God to teach him God’s ways, paths, and truth (Psalm 25:4-5). Before John began his ministry, he, too, learned God’s ways and truth, raised by devout parents and then among the pious in the wilderness.
The Judean desert, where John preached, calls to mind Elijah’s experiences of being fed by ravens and ultimately taken up to heaven. Through his martyrdom, John also fulfilled an ancient Jewish tradition about Elijah, who was prophesied to return to “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 3:24), even at the cost of a martyr's death.
The name “John” means "God is gracious," chosen by God for this child: “You shall call his name John,” the angel Gabriel declared to Zechariah (Luke 1:13). The name underscores that John's conception, his ministry, and his role in revealing Christ to Israel were all acts of God’s gracious mercy. This truth resounds in the Church’s prayer today: “Almighty ever-living God, as we see how the Nativity of your Son according to the flesh draws near, we pray that to us, your unworthy servants, mercy may flow from your Word, who chose to become flesh of the Virgin Mary, and establish among us his dwelling, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Collect Prayer for December 23).
John the Baptist stands as a powerful example of one who was prepared by God to proclaim the coming of the Messiah with humility and conviction. His life, name, and mission were expressions of God’s grace, pointing beyond himself to the One who brings salvation. In this season, like John, we are invited to embrace God's mercy, to prepare our hearts, and to welcome Christ anew with faith. May we, too, carry forward the message that “God is gracious,” sharing in the joy of His presence among us.