Mission Monthly – January 2004
“Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
from the Gospel of the Sunday before Theophany, St. Mark 1:1-8
[The following is an abridged commentary on this Gospel passage by St. Nikolai Velimirovich.]
The Evangelist Mark begins his Gospel with the beginning of Christ’s public preaching and ministry in the world. And he immediately gives emphasis to the Prophet Malachi’s prophecy (3:1) about John the Forerunner, as a messenger (an angel) who will go before the face of the Lord.
Why do the Prophet and the Evangelist call John an angel, when he was not an angel but a man? Firstly because John was of all men most approaching the angelic life. Secondly, that the teaching should be clear that the goal of Christ’s earthly ministry was to make men angelic—mortal and sinful men—men in their fallen nature enslaved, to become again immortal, sinless and naturally free beings, like to the holy angels. In what way was John like an angel? Firstly, in his obedience to God; secondly, in his freedom from the world; and thirdly, in his lack of concern about his physical life Every day, the inexpressible mysteries of God’s wisdom, power and love are directly revealed [to the angels], and their obedience towards their Creator is not forced, but springs from joy and humility. Saint John was perfectly obedient to God from his very earliest youth All this was carved on the heart of the young John (even from the miracle of his mother’s barren womb), as ineffaceable as though it were on a stone tablet. God revealed the dominant threads of his life to him and it must at once have been clear to him the kind of life he had to live. He withdrew at once to the wilderness (Luke 1:80) in order to attune his spirit to the will of the living God. He completely clave to God and looked to Him for all things And so, withdrawn from the world, John, as do the heavenly angels, drank from the very Source of wisdom, power and love.
John was free from the world and free from men. The world was dust to him and for him, men were a confused flock that had lost sight of its shepherd. Why should he fear the world, when the whole world lives in fear and by fear? Therefore John passionlessly thundered against the sinful elders of Jerusalem (Luke 3:7) and poured rebuke on Herod (Luke 3:19). John took account of no one but the living God and His holy will. He made no distinction among men. His eyes did not see bodily men but their naked souls that are hidden from the eyes of others by the mask of the body. Such freedom from the world and from men is had only by the angels of God.
John was free from care about his life. Angels are completely free from care about themselves. They are not fatigued by any care. In serving God they know that God will provide [all things necessary] God knows what we are made of and our needs, and He satisfies us day after day. Why cannot men realize this? For example, experience shows that physical hunger can sometimes nourish the soul. The clearest proof of this is fasting. He who fasts nourishes his soul. The more a man accustoms himself to fasting, the fewer cares he has for his body, and the greater joy in his soul. This is not something that comes by hearsay; it is clear in itself, when a man tries it and practices it in his life. St. John fasted, knowing that man can live without all those foods over which he takes such pains and yet it is not said that he ever lacked food or drink. St. John ate“locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6) but it was God’s power that nourished him. This is what generally happens to the faithful and obedient, while the faithless and the disobedient need many medicines with their rich diet, weighed down by heaviness, wrath and sickness.
Neither did John worry about where to live or what to wear. His dwelling was the wilderness and his raiment was camel hair, girt by a leather thong. Elijah was also girt with a leather belt, signifying the death of the passions and readiness to fulfill the will of God. And shoes? If you go long enough without shoes, your feet become shoes of themselves. He saw his soul clad rather in the sun-bright robes of the heavenly angels than in bodily corruption—it is probable that he, like the Apostle Paul, did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body (2 Cor. 12:3-4). He rested and slept in the Transjordan wilderness. But what did that matter to him, when his soul could take rest at the kingly breast of his heavenly Creator? Poisonous vipers and hungry lions were his neighbors. But he did not fear them, for he knew that the all-seeing Eye was keeping watch over him. Why should he fear them, when they could do no harm to his soul? He saw himself in terms of his soul, not of his body. Men who see themselves only in terms of their bodies exert themselves for their body’s sake, seek comfort for their bodies, care only for their bodies. Saint John was free of all earthly cares. His soul was his only care, and God’s will the only law and ruler of his soul. In this, he was like the heavenly angels, and for this cause the prophet called him an angel.