Saint John the Baptist in the Desert, by Hieronymus Bosch. 1489 © Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid
Source: Christian Art
Gospel of 2 January 2023
John 1:19-28
This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied:
a voice that cries in the wilderness:
Make a straight way for the Lord.’
Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’
John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.
Reflection on the painting
Our painting by Hieronymus Bosch depicts St John the Baptist meditating alone in the wilderness, which features exuberant vegetation, including some fantastical plants. Saint John points to the lamb, the paschal lamb, the one who, as in today’s Gospel reading, is ‘the one who is coming after me’. Where his arms emerge from the robes, an undergarment can be seen, a coarse animal hair shirt.
But the beauty of this painting is also in other fine details such as the little bird eating small seeds which are spilling out from a cup-shaped fruit, attached to a thorny branch. The plant is producing seeds, which bring new life, and that new life will bring other new life. A little bird which didn’t feed itself is seen lying dead. In the open, undulating areas of grass behind Saint John are several deer feeding, a deer (or similar) being eaten by a wolf or bear (with attendant crows ready to feed themselves as well), and a small lake with a grey heron. At the edge of the wood on the right, a black bear is shaking the base of the trunk of a tree.
John the Baptist is saying in today’s reading: ‘I am a voice that cries in the wilderness’. This image of a voice crying out of the wilderness shows that John’s whole mission is to emphasise the importance of Jesus and not his own. John is just the voice, not the main man. He is ‘making a straight way for the Lord’….
LINKS
Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today’s reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/john-1-19-28-2023/
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