The Third
Sunday in Advent 2013
Isaiah
35:1-6a, 10
Psalm 146:6-7,
8-9, 9-10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11
A
construction worker once told me that he had posted a notice at the entrance to
a parking garage indicating a new height restriction. At the same time, he
constructed the appropriate barrier at the new height. He then realized that
his van, which he had left within the parking garage, was above the approved
height. He was imprisoned, unable to get his van out.
There are many forms of imprisonment. Some
people are sent to prison by society for crimes committed. Some are "prisoners of conscience" who are
locked up behind bars for political reasons or because they have spoken out
against corruption. Some are imprisoned
in their homes either because they are elderly
or handicapped and need constant care. Sometimes, too, people are afraid
to leave their homes and walk into the street. And many others, like the
construction worker, imprison themselves almost without realizing it, until the
realization that their life lacks any happiness or peace. More and more persons
today become prisoners of their addictions. Some persons can't free themselves
from their video games or TV, their ipods or cell phones or shopping malls.
But
we are told today by Isaiah that this does not have to be. Isaiah encourages
his friends. He is encouraging the
people to be strong and not be afraid.
God will strengthened the feeble and the weak, restore sight to the
blind, hearing to the deaf, movement to
the lame. Sorrow will turn to
joy. What seemed to be a lifeless desert
will bloom with abundant flowers. Isaiah encourages us to believe that God can
transform our lives. Isaiah believes deeply that God’s relief would come, but instead
of offering hope for returning to what had been, he offered an image of
something better, something unexpected. The vision of the blind seeing, the
deaf hearing and the lame once again walking was not a about the handicapped
being cured. It was a vision of peace. The Jews were captives of war. They had
been wounded and maimed. The marginalized and outcast are welcomed back into
the community.
Finally,
in our Gospel, it is John the Baptist who is in need of encouragement. There
comes a time in almost everyone’s life when a person wonders whether all the
hard work and all the commitments are worth anything. Are you really making any
difference in the world? Have you done with your life what you had hoped? Are
you missing out on opportunities that you may have passed by? That seems to be
John the Baptist’s frame of mind in today’s Gospel. He had taken up a radical, lifestyle,
fasting, praying, calling people to repentance, preparing the way and watching
for the Coming One. Was he right? So John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if
all his preaching was right on target.
Jesus
replies. Jesus says to the crowds that John was “more than a prophet” and that
there has been “none greater than John the Baptist.” Presumably, this assurance
is also conveyed to John, giving him heart to be able to quell the doubts and
to endure patiently to the end. His sending the disciples with the big question
allows Jesus to say simply, “Check it out.” Jesus then makes
reference to the prophetic poem we hear from Isaiah in the First Reading. The
blind see, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, the lame walk, the
deaf hear, the mute speak and they become evidence for John’s disciples and
Matthew’s readers that Jesus is the Messiah.
We,
too, like Isaiah and St. James and John the Baptist should be encouraged by
these readings. They remind us that our
lives can also be transformed if we are patient and place our trust in God The message of Advent is that God is here.
present among us-- not only 2000 years
ago in the person of Jesus Christ but here in our everyday lives. We need only
be prepared to recognized him.
With
the Advent season more than half over, with Christmas less than 12 days away,
it is time for us to deal with the prisons in which we have placed
ourselves. Have we allowed ourselves to
think of Jesus as unapproachable, ready to clean up and clear out the useless,
powerless, helpless? Or is this Jesus
the loving, forgiving, compassionate, gentle one who still is willing and able
to heal the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf and the dead and all in our
society who are considered as nuisances.
Is he the sharer of our ups and downs, does he inspire us to do better
and greater actions, to heal wounded and hurting hearts, intensely lovable and
loving. Most of all , do we see ourselves as poor enough to have Jesus proclaim to us the good news that
says we are good because God loves us, and not that God loves us because we are
good.
In
our second Bible reading today St. James encourages us to be patient because
the coming of the Lord is at hand. But patience is usually difficult for
everyone. Patience is waiting. Not
passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard
and slow - that is patience. Patience is something you admire in the driver
behind you and scorn in the one ahead. Patience is the companion of wisdom.
Patience does not mean sitting back doing nothing. Like John the Baptist
preparing the way for Jesus, a farmer or gardener meticulously tills the soil,
clears away the rocks and weeds, and carefully plants the seed. It takes both
the hard work of the farmer and the gift of rain, over which one has no
control, to produce the anticipated harvest. Patience is doing everything one
can, while at the same time, relying utterly on the divine provider. The way to
keep a firm heart in the waiting time. We must keep from complaining. Just as
Jesus helped John’s disciples to see the evidence of God’s saving presence in
their midst, we must look for the sprouts of hope that spring up even in the
most parched desert. Expecting to see the desert bloom or roses in December, as
did Juan Diego, whom we remember on this feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, we
keep hope alive with patient endurance even in the midst of suffering and
doubt.
Let
our prayers and our Christmas greetings and our Christmas visits and our
Christmas gifts these last days of Advent convince us that indeed Jesus is the
one who is to come. He is the one who
comes to feed us spiritually. Because
Jesus is coming and in fact is already here in our midst at this Mass, we know
for sure that we do not have to look for another Lord and Savior. Jesus is enough. Jesus is all we really need. Jesus IS
the good news that we who are poor need to hear and then in turn proclaim over
and over again.
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