3rd.
Sunday of Advent (A)
(Isaiah
35:1-6, 10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11)
It has often been said that too many Catholics know little of the Bible because of their failure to appreciate the fact that not only do the Scriptures form the basis of our Christian faith and Catholic teaching, but also that the Scriptures are the Word of God to and for each and every individual child of God. Consequently, even the humblest of Catholics and Christians should be able to establish, sustain, and gradually deepen a personal relationship with God by the help of the Scriptures: for what we find written there can – under the guidance of the Spirit given us -- be of special significance and particular importance for our personal formation as a child of God and disciple of Jesus in a secular and hostile society.
Let me now show you how Jesus recalled the Scriptures to
John the Baptist in his prison, thereby helping him learn how to face up to the
future that lay before him.
John had been told by his father Zechariah:
You, child, will be called
the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare
His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the forgiveness of
their sins. (Luke 1:76-77)
And John had, indeed, tried throughout his life to be
faithful to that calling to prepare the way for the Lord Who was to come. From his earliest years he had lived in the
desert seeking not food so much as the opportunity to learn and live the ways
of God: ever striving to listen for, recognize, and respond to, His
guidance. Then having entered upon his public
ministry, he had preached repentance to the people, who had come in crowds to
be baptized by him in the Jordan.
Finally, having publicly rebuked the king himself for his sinful
behaviour, he had been put in the dungeon where he now found himself.
However, despite such fidelity, John had not yet come to
know sufficiently well the Lord Whose way he had been preparing, the Messiah sent
by Israel’s God to usher in the Kingdom of God.
There had been a time when he thought that Jesus of Nazareth, his own
relation, might be the One sent by God; but Jesus had certainly not rallied the
mass of the people around Himself as John might have hoped; and now -- perhaps
because of his weariness from hunger, pain, and lonely abandonment -- John
didn’t know what to think. It was in
some such a state of mind that he had managed to send a message to Jesus
saying:
Are You the Coming One, or do
we look for another?
Jesus well knew John's faithfulness and courage; He knew
full well that John was in danger because of his zeal for the Law of the Lord
and the well-being of God's People. Was He -- Who later would tell the
repentant thief dying on a cross beside Him, that he would, that very day,
enter Paradise with Himself -- now going to let John, the greatest of all the prophets,
just linger on in prison, unsure and worrysome of the outcome and value of his
life’s endeavour, while awaiting a violent and degrading death in lonely
isolation? By no means! Jesus would, indeed, send help: He would
speak to John – who was, He declared,
more than a prophet -- through the words of the prophets so well known
to him .
Accordingly He sent John's disciples back to their master
with a reference to Scripture which they could easily remember and in which
John would find the comfort and strength he needed, if, fully trusting in Jesus,
he could open his mind and heart to the grace of the Spirit Who had inspired
God’s Word:
Go and tell John the things
which you hear and see: the blind see, and the lame walk; the lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the
gospel preached to them. And blessed is
he who is not offended because of Me.
As John considered those words the cloud of dark-unknowing
in his mind and the burden of anxiety in his heart would have begun to lift;
for those words showed that Jesus was, indeed, taking over from John; and that,
as the promised Messiah, He was now preparing to usher in the Kingdom of
God!
The eyes of the blind were
being opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; the
lame were walking, and the tongues of the dumb were singing praise
to God.
But those other words of Jesus:
The poor have the Good News
– beginning with John’s very own word of proclamation ‘Repent’) -- preached
to them;
were even more personally relevant to John.
It was the very last few words, however, that invited, nay,
they lovingly warned, John to stand firm in his faith in God, and with confidence
in his own calling by God, in order to embrace
the fulfilment of that calling now about to be asked of him:
Blessed is he who is not
offended because of Me!
Words exhorting John to take courage from yet another
prophecy of Isaiah:
Make your alliance with
the LORD of hosts— for Him be your fear and your awe! He shall (indeed) be a snare, an
obstacle and a stumbling stone to Israel,
a trap and a snare to those who dwell in Jerusalem; and many among them
shall stumble and fall, broken, snared, and captured. (8:13-15)
People of God, note carefully, for here we can trace how
grace works, secretly and powerfully, upon those in tune with God: Jesus was offering John a glimpse of the
ultimate fulfilment of his own life’s work and Israel’s calling. As Moses had been given just a distant
glimpse of the Promised Land before he died, here John is likewise being given
a glimpse of the full majesty and beauty of the One Whose way he -- foremost of
the prophets of Israel -- had been called to prepare: God’s Anointed, the
Messiah of Israel, indeed; yet, still more, even the very Lord of Hosts Himself.
Jesus was doing for John what He would later do for the
repentant thief: that is, urging, encouraging, him to gird up his loins and
lift up his head in hope for what was soon to come.
That was indeed the message which none but Jesus could get
through to John in his total isolation, a message carried by the Scriptures but
only to be interpreted by John's life-long sensitivity to God’s ways, and
sovereign willingness to once again commit himself, in response to the
grace of the Spirit, to Jesus the Messiah, and to the Lord of Hosts, the God of
Israel. John had prepared the way for
Jesus, Jesus was now preparing the way for John; preparing him to die as he had
lived, the greatest of all Israel's prophets.
And so, when the soldiers would come to cut off John’s
head, they would not find him cowering from fear in the darkest recess of his
dungeon cell; but, having confirmed his alliance with the Lord of Hosts,
they would discover John having a profound joy in his heart and a gleam of
expectancy in his eyes, with a new uprightness in his stance and a calm
strength in his bearing. All of this
would show those executioners that they were not so much taking his life from
him, as he, John, was offering it -- through them indeed! -- to Someone they
could not see and did not know.
Such was indeed the case: they came, quickly and secretly,
they carried out their dread task, and went back to Herod with John's head. However, they left that dungeon both humbled
and puzzled. What had happened to the
man imprisoned there? They had come to
take his life and he had received them as welcome guests, as friends bringing
him a gift: what, indeed, had happened in that cell? The answer was, of course, that John had come
to realize that he had, indeed, fulfilled his life’s purpose: he had borne
witness to God’s truth; he had pointed out, even baptized, God’s Messiah; and
now -- having learnt his ultimate lesson through the words of Jesus and the Scriptures
-- he had found the peace and been given the strength to seal his witness and
crown his commitment to God in Jesus with his very blood.
People of God, how will you experience the end of your
days? Will you feel you have fulfilled
your life’s mission? Will you be
grateful to God for having guided you to do something
worthwhile with your life?
Let us listen to Jesus again as He spoke to the people
about John:
What did you go out into the
wilderness to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a
prophet. For this is he of whom it is
written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your
way before You.' Assuredly, I say to
you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the
Baptist.
Dear friends in Christ, dear People of God, surely, when we
come to our end and look back on our life, we want to humbly acknowledge the
righteous judge sent by our loving God and Father, and embrace His presence with
gratitude, humility and confident trust as did John? Surely, none of us can ever envisage ourselves
as painfully realizing that our life has been aimless, having pursued no saving
purpose nor served any worthwhile cause.
In other words, none of us can ever willingly allow ourselves to be
recognized as having been a reed, shaken hither and thither by winds of
circumstance? Who would ever want to
risk, in those final moments, seeing oneself and being seen as one having enjoyed
being “dressed in soft clothing” and having enjoyed the "good things of
life"?
John the Baptist had fulfilled his life’s mission, and
great joy, peace and gratitude were his at the end. You might say, of course, that anyone called
to be great -- like a prophet -- would feel they had a mission in life, a
purpose to fulfil, and a cause to serve, but such is not the case with ordinary
people not endowed with any special talents that they are aware of.
Listen then to Jesus for a final time, and learn about
yourself:
Assuredly, I say to you,
among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the
Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Dear fellow disciples of Jesus, whatever the circumstances, all of us can --
in the power of the Spirit -- bear witness to Jesus: by teaching, encouraging,
and correcting your children; by showing honesty in business and speaking the
truth in love; all of us can be charitable in our attitudes and chaste in our
relationships, steadfast in faith, selfless in service of God and neighbour; all
of us can sympathetically share with the humble and those in need, and try to
bear our own cross patiently with and for Christ. Above all, as true children of Mother Church,
each and every one of us can, through her teaching and sacraments, come to love
our heavenly Father to the utmost of our being in Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.
Dear People of God, you are important enough to God for Him
to want to speak to you, to speak with you, personally, in and through the teaching
of the Scriptures and Mother Church, and above all by the example of the life, death,
resurrection, and the perennial presence
and fruit of Jesus Himself. Let Him do this, beg Him thus lead
you to fulfil your vocation in Mother Church, and true happiness here on earth and
ultimate blessedness in heaven will be yours.
(2022)
