When I was in college at the University of New Brunswick I had opportunity to sing with the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, and one of our Advent staples was Orlando Gibbons' "This is the Record of John" (you can hear it here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gswHQevskKI if you wish, a very fine recording). It is a choral rendition of verses 19-23 of our Gospel reading for today's Mass (St. Jn. 1.6-8, 19-28).
Jumping not just the Tiber (a metaphor for going Roman Catholic), but the Danube or the Adriatic (metaphors for going Eastern Orthodox), we turn to see icons of John the Forerunner (his Greek title: Ιὠαννης ὁ Πρόδρομος "John who runs in front") with him depicted with the wings of an angel and a plain old nimbus or halo.
These items show us two things about the man we call commonly John the Baptist. First, he is "the greatest of those born of women" (St. Mt. 11.11), a man so committed to the Kingdom of God and the life of the age to come that material comforts were of no matter to him, that the life of the Spirit was everything to him. As such, among the Orthodox he is considered the foremost example of one who espoused what is called "the Angelic life." Also, like an angel, John is the last and most important messenger to proclaim that the Christ was coming into the world, one "whose sandals I am unfit to untie." (St. Jn. 1.27)
Second, and we cozied right up to it just a moment ago, John the Baptist is NOT the Christ. He was rather emphatic about it. Gibbons' choral piece gives the countertenor a rather satisfying "NO" in the recitative to reflect the vehemence of John's denial when quizzed by the authorities from Jerusalem. John did pretty much everything but sky-write the proclamation: he was not the prophesized Messiah; he was not the long-expected Desire of Nations; he was not the promised Deliverer, God among us, Root of Jesse.
John instead emphasized one greater than he was coming. John merely was the one sent to prepare the way for Him. The one who would grade and bank a road in the wilderness of human hearts to make straight the way of the Lord. He preached repentance, he preached the washing of sins to receive the Lord of all, he preached about the wrath to come. This human angel, this embodied member of the bodiless host, this greatest among those born of women, this man who ultimately would pay the ultimate price for standing up for what is right and good, he was not to be our redeemer and deliverer, but make His way straight.
As the Blessed Virgin points to her Son, the Incarnate Lord, and tells us to "do whatever He tells" us (St. Jn. 2.5), so John tells us the same One is coming who indeed is the Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. Let us honour their message and seek Him who redeemed us, Jesus Christ Our Lord.
