In the early 1500’s, a gifted German artist by the name of Matthias
Grünewald painted an altarpiece of great power and beauty. Five
hundred years later, it still draws people from across the world to the
French village of Colmar where it graces a lovely chapel. At the
center of the Grünewald altarpiece is the crucified Christ whose
unspeakable sufferings are echoed in the compassionate faces of Mary his
mother, Mary Magdalene and the beloved disciple. Off to the side
is John the Baptist. Holding the holy scriptures in one hand, he
points intently to Christ with the index finger of the other. For
all its anachronism (John the Baptist, after all, never lived to stand
near the cross of Christ), there is in this great painting a powerful
presentation of John the Baptist and his role – this mysterious man who
came from God to do one thing only: to point to the light. “He was
not the light; he came to give witness to the Light.”
Of course, we at St.
James don’t need to go all the way to France to see John the Baptist
depicted in a remarkable work of art. We have only to climb the
few steps to the cathedral chapel to see our own Renaissance altarpiece
by Neri di Bicci.
Hard to believe, but our altarpiece actually
predates the Grünewald one by fifty years – from 1456, to be exact.
Near the center of it is John the Baptist, a scroll in one hand
proclaiming “Behold the Lamb of God,” and the index finger of the other
hand pointing to Jesus – not the crucified Jesus, but the tiny child
Jesus about to be nursed in his mother’s arms.
Our painting is no less
anachronistic than the Grünewald one, for John the Baptist was not that
mature, rather scraggly figure at the time Jesus was cradled in his
mother’s arms. But no matter: it is the Baptist’s call that counts
– his vocation to point to the Light. And that vocation is a timeless
one.
Each year during Advent,
it’s the church that points to John the Baptist, as if to say to us:
there is your model. Look to John the Baptist for how you are to live
out your Christian calling for, my friends, like John, we are to be
witnesses. Like John, we are not the Light, but point to the Light
we must.
This past week, I found
myself thinking about John the Baptist and about what it is that makes a
good witness. Three things came to my mind. A good witness
knows who he is, or she is; a good witness always points to the other;
and a good witness cares more for the truth than for what others think.
John the Baptist was a
good witness. He knew exactly who he was. When they put the
question to him, “Who are you?” he made it clear that he was not the
Christ, nor Elijah, nor the one some called the Prophet. “I am only a
voice,” he told them, “only a witness, not even worthy to loosen the
sandal strap of the one who is coming after me.” A good witness
knows who he or she is, or isn’t – that’s the first thing. And a good
witness always points to the other, never to self. John the Baptist
spent his life pointing to the other. “He must increase,” he insisted,
“I must decrease…I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘make
straight the way of the Lord!’” Lastly, a good witness cares more
for the truth than for what others think. John the Baptist, clad in
camel hair (not the Nordstrom variety!) and eating wild insects and
honey, always said what needed to be said, what truth demanded to be
said, and then he “let the chips fall.” One day the axe fell right
on his neck. Such is the lot of the witness.
I can never think of a
faithful witness without thinking about our former Archbishop, Raymond
Hunthausen, who died two years ago and is laid to rest in the Cathedral
crypt over there. He is a man whose memory needs to be kept alive, as
those of you who were privileged to know him will agree. During the
sixteen years he led this local church, Archbishop Hunthausen more than
established his credentials as a faithful witness. In all he did, he
made it abundantly clear that he knew who he was. He was our shepherd
and leader, yes, but he never forgot that, in the Church, leadership
means service – the humble service of Jesus who got down on his hands
and knees to wash his disciples’ feet.
And in the archbishop’s
ministry among us, it was always Jesus he pointed to, never himself. The
question, “What would Jesus do?” was his question long before it became
a something of a bumper sticker slogan. It was the question he
instinctively asked every time he faced a decision.
Lastly, like a good
witness, he cared more for the truth than for what others thought. In
preaching the gospel, he took the risk of stretching people’s way of
thinking, never stopping to count the personal cost. And there was a
cost, a price to be paid!
My friends in Christ,
during these Advent days we should thank God for the example of good
witnesses because we are all called to be witnesses, and people like
John the Baptist and Archbishop Hunthausen show us the way.
Witnesses know who they are and because of this they point not to
themselves but to Christ who is the truth and who frees them to speak
the truth.
But there is one
more thing about witnessing I need to say, and this is the scary part.
The Greek word for witness is martyr. All witnesses, one way or another,
end up by losing their lives. Of course, they find them in the process!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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