This morning’s Gospel reading is Matthew 11:2–11:

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you. Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

“What did you go out into the desert to see?” Jesus asks the crowd. A better question here may well be why they went out to the desert at all — even if they were looking for a prophet. This question itself becomes prophetic at the end of Jesus’ mission, because it speaks to our inclination toward self-affirmation over truth and our sinful approach to making ourselves into our own prophets.

In the immediate historical context, John knows that he is not the Messiah and that his mission is to prepare people for His coming. John the Baptist gave his life for that mission and prophecy, and that story tells us much about Jesus’ question, too.

Herod Antipas at the time served Rome as a vassal ruler as tetrarch over Galilee and Perea. Herod had married his brother’s wife Herodias (who also happened to be his niece), and John publicly condemned them both for their sins. Herod had John imprisoned for his criticism but remained reluctant to have him put to death, worried that John was indeed a great prophet of the Lord. According to both the Gospel and the historian Josephus, Herod’s stepdaughter — whom Herod also lusted after — convinced Herod to execute John after performing a dance for him and his court.

Later in the Gospel, we see this paralleled in another episode involving Herod. During the Passion, Pontius Pilate decides that he doesn’t want to deal with the internal conflict between the Sanhedrin and Jesus, and sends Jesus to Herod instead. Again, Herod knows of Jesus’ ministry and prophecy, and at first desires to speak with Jesus and experience one of His miracles. Jesus remains silent instead, so Herod rejects Him and sends Jesus back to Pilate.

Herod therefore has at least two clear opportunities to recognize the authority of a true prophet and the true Messiah. He rejected both, but why? Because Herod desired a prophet that confirms his own worldview. Herod did not keep John alive or initially welcome Jesus to hear the Word of God, but to claim them as prizes in  a power struggle within Herod’s family and the Romans at the time. Herod wanted John and then Jesus to bow to him as ruler and therefore validate all of Herod’s actions, vices, and predilections, and especially Herod’s ascendancy in power.

Herod chose himself as his prophet, and ended up in exile and ruin. Caligula ejected Herod and Herodias from Galilee and into Gaul, where Herod died and Herodias disappeared into oblivion.

That raises another question, one Jesus also anticipates — why go out to the desert at all if what you seek is more of the same? The part of the desert where John the Baptist preached is unusually harsh and not easily accessed. I can tell you that from personal experience, having gone there on a pilgrimage nine years ago, and that was using modern transportation. It is perhaps one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, and John’s ministry would have been the only reason to travel to that spot.

So why go there for enlightenment? The reason is that we know in our bones that the material comforts are fleeting. We understand that it cannot fulfill us in the way that we all yearn to achieve. We go out to the desert because we know that there is more, and we also know that we will not find it while distracted by the mundanity of everyday life.

And yet, having made our travel to the desert — either literally as in the Gospel or figuratively through prayer and fasting — we too often want to hear affirmations rather than truth that those become all we can hear. We become Herods rather than disciples. Too often we choose ourselves as prophets rather than John the Baptist, and make ourselves into our own Messiahs.

If that’s all we’re doing in the desert, Jesus suggests, we might as well have stayed at home and hung out with the well-dressed people. We missed the point, and not just because we wasted the effort of emptying ourselves only to refill ourselves with our own self-centeredness all over again. The desert is not just a place for purification, after all, but a scene in which the Lord’s power will become most evident. Our first reading today from Isaiah speaks to true vindication and true power, in which the desert itself will become witness:

The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; they will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.

This is our salvation, which is found not in material abundance but in the deserts of our lives. The Lord comes to us in our poverty of spirit, not it our pretensions of wealth and power. Herod chose himself as prophet in part because he chose his salvation in wealth and worldly power — and the tragedy is that Herod knew better. He came into contact with the greatest prophet and the Messiah Himself and recognized the momentous nature of both, and yet chose to follow his own avarice and weakness in the jeweled prison in which he lived.

Which prophet shall we follow? Which salvation do we most desire? Why do we go into the desert, and what do we expect to find?

The front-page image is “Scenes from the Life of Saint John the Baptist” by Francesco Granacci, c. 1506-7. On display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Via Wikimedia Commons.

“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.