3rd. Sunday of
Advent (A)
(Isaiah 35:1-6, 10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11)
It has often been said that many Catholics
know too 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 most humble
Catholic and Christian should be able to enter upon, 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 (above all
at confirmation and by Jesus in the Eucharist), be of special significance and
particular importance for our personal formation as children of God and devoted
disciples of Jesus in today’s secular and hostile society.
Let me now show you how Jesus recalled the
Scriptures to John the Baptist in 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 remission 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 observing the ways of God: striving to better listen for,
recognize, and respond to His guidance.
Then, entering upon his public ministry, he had openly and provocatively
preached repentance to the people who had come in crowds to be publicly
‘baptized’ by him in the Jordan.
Finally, having openly rebuked the king himself for his sinful
behaviour, John 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, the Messiah sent by Israel’s
God to usher in the His Kingdom on earth, Whose way he had been preparing. There had been, indeed, a time when he
thought that Jesus of Nazareth, his own relation, was the One sent by God; but
Jesus had not rallied the support around Himself that John might have hoped
for; and now -- perhaps because of weariness from hunger, pain, and lonely
abandonment -- John was not sure what was happening or just what to think. It was in some such a state of mind that he
had managed to send disciples with a message to Jesus asking:
Are You the Coming One, or should we look
for another?
And what about Jesus at this time? He knew John's faithfulness and courage: how
John had spent his whole life preparing the way before Him and now finding
himself imprisoned and in mortal danger because of his zeal for the Law of the
Lord and the well-being of God's People.
Was Jesus -- Who later would tell the repentant thief dying on a cross
beside Him, that he would, that very day, enter Paradise with Himself -- was
that Jesus going to let John -- the greatest of all OT prophets -- just linger
on in prison doubtful of the outcome and value of his life’s endeavour, while
awaiting a violent and degrading death in lonely isolation? If Jesus had been the earthly Messiah
popularly expected He might have gathered His followers and stormed John’s
prison in order to free His faithful servant; but, having been sent to witness
to His heavenly Father and usher in His Kingdom on earth, was there nothing
that He could do now to help John in his uncertainty, anxiety, and deadly
peril?
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 message
from the Scriptures which they could easily remember and in which John would
find the comfort and strength he needed if, fully trusting in Jesus, he would
open his mind and heart to the grace of the Spirit Who had inspired those
words:
Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the Good News proclaimed to
them. And blessed is the one who takes
no offence at Me.
As John listened to his disciples and
considered the message they brought him, the cloud of dark unknowing in his
mind and the burden of anxiety in his heart would have begun to lift; for that
message told John clearly enough that Jesus was ready both to usher in the
Kingdom of God and also to help him personally in his own deepest and most
intimate needs. Thus John learned that
he had successfully fulfilled his life’s mission, and that Jesus was
undoubtedly the long-awaited Coming One now taking over from himself as leader
and indeed as the Messiah for God’s People!
Jesus chose words from Scripture that
invited John first of all to recall the prophecy of Isaiah:
The eyes of the blind will be opened, and
the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the
tongue of the mute will sing.
Jesus then added further words of most
particular significance:
And the poor have the Good News proclaimed
to them,
specially chosen to call to John’s mind
yet another prophecy in Isaiah (61:1):
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He
has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
Jesus chose these words, so familiar and
now so directly pertinent to John, because they contained a message which John,
by the grace of that same Spirit, could not fail to recognize as being
fulfilled in himself:
He (God) has sent Me (the Messiah) to
heal the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to captives, and open the prison to
those who are bound.
The final words of Jesus, however, were of
even greater significance for, by telling John’s disciples to repeat:
Blessed is the one who takes no offence
at Me,
Jesus recalled to John’s mind a most
pertinent prophetic warning of Isaiah (8:13-14):
The Lord of Hosts, Him you shall hallow …
He will be … a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel ... and many of
them shall stumble.
People of God, note carefully, for here we
can trace how grace works, secretly and powerfully, upon one in tune with
God: Jesus was offering John a rewarding
glimpse of the ultimate fulfilment of his own life’s work and Israel’s
calling. As Moses had been given just a
distant view of the Promised Land before he died, here John was being allowed
to see something of the full majesty and beauty of the One for Whose coming he
-- foremost of the prophets of Israel -- had been called to prepare: the beauty
of God’s Anointed, the Messiah of Israel, indeed; but yet, still more, even
that of the very Son and Lamb of God Himself.
What then, for John, was the “liberty” and
the “freedom” mentioned in Isaiah and now being offered him by Jesus? He realized that Jesus was not about to lead
a task force, so to speak, to release him, but rather that Jesus was inviting
him to think of his final liberation, that is, to prepare himself for earthly
death and heavenly fulfilment. Jesus was
doing for John what He would later do for the repentant thief: urging,
encouraging, and inviting him to gird up his loins and lift up his head in hope
for what was soon to come.
That was the message which none but Jesus
could get through to John in his total isolation, a message carried by his
disciples, taken from the Scriptures but only to be rightly interpreted thanks
to John's life-long sensitivity to God’s ways and willingness to commit himself
once again in response to the grace of the Spirit, to Jesus the Messiah, and to
the Lord 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, by the grace of God, 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, to their great
amazement, they would discover John having -- thanks to the sustenance of the
Scriptures -- a profound peace in his heart and a gleam of expectancy in his eyes;
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 -- to Someone they could not see and did not know.
Such was the case; they came quickly and
secretly carried out their dread task before going back to Herod with John's
head. However, they left that dungeon
both humbled and puzzled. What had
happened to the man acclaimed by all and yet most harshly 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 to him 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 Scriptures chosen for him by his Lord – he had found
the peace and been given the strength to seal his witness and crown his
commitment to Jesus and the God of Israel by his very blood.
People of God, how will you approach the
end of your days? Will you feel you have
fulfilled your life’s mission? Will you
be grateful to God for having inspired 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 reed shaken by the wind? But what
did you go out to see: a man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear
soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what did you go out 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.
When you come to your end and look back on
your life, will you, perhaps, then painfully realize that your life has been aimless,
having pursued no chosen purpose nor served any worthwhile cause; will you
recognize yourself to have been just a reed, shaken hither and thither by winds
of circumstance? Or again, will you, in
those final moments see that, having enjoyed the "good things of
life", you have really been like one “dressed in soft clothing”. Whichever be the case, no such
qualifications would recommend you to Jesus or afford comfort for your soul.
John the Baptist had fulfilled his life’s
mission and great joy, peace, and gratitude were his at the end. You might say 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
endowed with no special talents of which they are aware.
Therefore listen once again to Jesus for a
final time, and learn about yourself, perhaps for the first time (!):
Amen, I say to you, among those born of
women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in
the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
As a baptised Christian, as a practicing
Catholic and living member of the Body of Christ, you have a calling and a
purpose even higher than a prophet’s mission: you are the dwelling place of the
Holy Spirit and called to be another Christ in this world. Whatever your circumstances, you can -- in
the power of the Spirit -- bear blessed witness to Jesus: by teaching,
encouraging, and correcting your children; by showing honesty in business and
speaking the truth in love; you can be charitable in your attitudes and chaste
in your relationships; steadfast in faith, selfless in service of God and
neighbour; you can sympathetically share with the humble and those in need; and
you can always try to bear your own cross patiently with and for Christ. Above all, as a true child of Mother Church
you can, through her teaching and sacraments, come to love your heavenly Father
to the utmost of your being in Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.
Now, living in such a way, dear ordinary
(!) Catholic and Christian people, you can do more than any great politician,
more than any powerful, rich, or famous individual, for the blessing of our
world and the well-being of its peoples today and for the future. For you are a chosen people, and each one of
you has been called by the Father to be a true disciple of His Son, Jesus. Therefore you are important enough to
God for Him to want to speak to you, to speak with you, personally, in and
through the Scriptures; let Him do this, let Him lead you to fulfil your
vocation in Mother Church, and true happiness and ultimate blessedness will
most assuredly and enduringly be yours.
