REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

3rd Sunday Advent A (12 Dec 2010)

Fr James McTavish, FMVD

“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

To be disappointed is a common experience in life. It can happen because something or someone fails to meet our expectations. We can be disappointed when our boss fails to meet our expectations and the person or the way they work ‘is not what I expected.’ Somehow we have our criteria, standards and we can even say our bias and slight prejudice. In this light it is amazing the question of John the Baptist to Jesus today in the gospel of the third Sunday of Advent “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (See Matt 11,2-11). Should we expect someone else or is this it, are you the real McCoy, is that it?

We invited our parish priest who is Filipino to our house for lunch. We cooked some pasta and afterwards served some Italian coffee. As it is expresso we served it in a small cup. When he saw how little the quantity was he asked “Is that it?” He was expecting more! John the Baptist was expecting more. He had been preaching hell fire and damnation, brood of vipers, repent and all that. Then comes Jesus in his public ministry, eating meals with sinners, forgiving and spreading the mercy of God. Jesus brought fire, but not a destructive fire, not a fire of vengeance or anger but the fire of a heart burning in love with humanity. Jesus himself said “I have come to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it was already blazing!” (Lk 12,49). The sinner is not burnt up instead Christ himself is the living holocaust of love. One Saint from the 4th century, St Ephrem the Syrian, a poet theologian recognized the presence of the fire of God’s love in the Eucharistic species "In your bread hides the Spirit who cannot be consumed; in your wine is the fire that cannot be swallowed. The Spirit in your bread, fire in your wine: behold a wonder heard from our lips... The fire came down with anger to destroy sinners, but the fire of grace descends on the bread and settles in it. Instead of the fire that destroyed man, we have consumed the fire in the bread and have been invigorated"

It is understandable perhaps the reaction of John the Baptist. He asked his question if Jesus was really the expected Messiah while John was still in prison and the evil King Herod was still in power. If this episode had been written by Hollywood, at least Herod would be taken out, John freed from prison and all would live happily ever after. In our lives too we experience situations of disappointment when things don’t quite work out. One teacher we know had prepared her class to meet the President. On the day they were to perform a song and dance number for him, some students had a protest and the President had to change his schedule. When we suffer and experience contradiction it seems to be an enemy of joy. We wonder how we can rejoice in the Lord when we feel sorrow for some of the situations in our lives.

How to find a deeper joy? In fact this Sunday is called “Gaudete Sunday” from the Latin word for joy. We are encouraged to be joyful because our salvation is near. The second reading from the letter of James reminds us to be patient - “Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.” (See James 5, 7-10). When we are patient, and find a moment to take stock of the situations at hand we perhaps can get a glimpse of what God is actually doing.

When John questions Jesus, it is interesting how Jesus responds. Jesus says to the disciples of John ““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 offense at me.” There are many signs that God is working, that the Messiah is really here to save. Do we notice them? We don’t know what to do, we are blind, then the light comes. We find ourselves stubborn and little by little we start to hear oour conscience talking to us. A situation of hopelessness, all seems dead and lo and behold the person picks themselves up and starts to walk again. There is a song is Spanish – “don’t just give me a new world, but give me new eyes to see,” eyes of faith, ears that can listen.

In the busy-ness of Christmas we are to also find time to be in silence and listen to the Word of God. One busy businesswoman came to our house yesterday for prayer. After she was so thankful as she received clarity and so much joy. Prayer is fruitful as the prophet Isaiah tells us in the first reading today “The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.” (See Isaiah 35, 1-6a, 10). Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Celebrations can be organized but not joy (Verbum Domini 123).

John the Baptist had to be open to that experience of conversion. In the words of one psychotherapist, Eugen Drewermann, “Here is a man, John the Baptist, who tied himself to a way of hoping, a yearning for the future and of proclaiming this future in the name of God, and then, when this promised future finally came, it looked completely different from what he expected. Indeed, it was hardly recognizable. This happens to us and our expectations too. Do we have the power then to once again change ourselves, from law to grace, from morality to understanding, from human striving to simple being? ...What John wanted to pass, but entirely from within. It is not whipped into being with the rod of fear; instead, it grows out of the power of a milder climate”
Let us be open in this season of patient waiting. The Messiah is coming. He will fulfil all our expectations. Amen.