“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet”

The Gospel for today opens with a prophecy from an Old Testament prophet being applied to the last prophet, John the Baptist. The Gospel writer is quoting Isaiah, the prophet who many consider to be the prophet of prophets. Why does John the Baptist quote Isaiah? Out of all the prophets, Isaiah is considered the most prominent among all the prophets. “The Gospel quotes Isaiah in particular perhaps because he was the most important of the prophets who foretold the coming of the Messiah: that is why St. Jerome called Isaiah the Evangelist of the Old Testament.” [1]
 
Who is Isaiah? Isaiah was born about 760 BC in Jerusalem in the Kingdom of Judah. He was the, “author of the longest prophetic book in the Old Testament…His writing paralleled the reigns of three Judean kings, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.” [2]
 
What is a prophet? A prophet is someone who “spoke, acted, or wrote under the extraordinary influence of God to make known the divine counsels and will. Yet commonly associated with this primary function to proclaim the word of God, a prophet also prophesied by foretelling future events. His role, then, was to both proclaim and to make the proclamation credible.” [3] Jews and Christians are not the only faiths who believe in prophets. Before Christ, many of the pagans believed in prophets too. “In ancient times there were prophets of many different religions, men who claimed to speak in the name of their gods; and not infrequently they existed in large groups. Thus Elijah had to confront no less than 450 prophets of Baal on the occasion of the contest on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18).” [4]
 
What was the difference between the prophets in the Bible and other prophets? There were many differences between prophets in the Bible and other prophets. First, God appointed the prophets of Israel… (cf. Jer. 1:9; Amos 1:9) This appointment by God meant giving up everything and risking life and limb. “The prophet received an inner, wordless message, which he was then compelled to communicate, sometimes in lyric poetry, sometimes in prose, often making use of parables, allegories, and symbolic actions…Many prophecies were fully understood only when they came to pass.” [5]

This video shows Isaiah’s prophecy along with scenes from the Passion of the Christ showing the prophecy of the suffering servant being fulfilled. The images as stated are from the Passion: viewer discretion is advised.
 
Scripture Search – Isaiah’s prophecies in scripture
Below is the scripture references between what Isaiah had prophesied and how Jesus fulfilled them. You can have the group look them up in the Bible or play a game where they have to match them.

 
What is the connection between prophets and Advent? Prophets heralded the coming of the Messiah. On the second Sunday of Advent in cycles A,B and C we hear three variations of the same story, John the Baptist coming to prepare the way for Jesus. John was the last of the prophets to foretell the coming Messiah. During Advent we prepare and wait patiently for the fulfillment of the promises all the prophets foretold.
 

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[1] Navarre Bible, Gospel of Mark pg. 68
[2] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 287
[3] Fr. John Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary
[4] RSV Bible Footnotes, The book of the prophet Isaiah
[5] Footnotes, The book of the prophet Isaiah