December 11^th 2016. Third Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Matthew 11:2-11

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Matthew 11:2-11

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, 
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, 
“Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?”
Jesus said to them in reply, 
“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.”
As they were going off,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, 
“What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing?
Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.
Then why did you go out? To see a prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
Amen, I say to you, among those born of women 
there has been none greater than John the Baptist; 
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . On this “Gaudete” Sunday, what reason do we have to be joyful? The passage from the Gospel answers this question in a clear manner. John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask if he really is the Messiah or not. John was living a frugal life of prayer and penance. His message to the people was that they must change their behaviour and live righteously. Perhaps John was disconcerted to find that Jesus was doing things in a different way? Maybe he had begun to wonder if Jesus was really the Christ after all? Jesus responds to the question in a surprising way: he tells John’s disciples to go and tell him what they have witnessed – that the blind see, the deaf hear, lepers are cleansed and the dead are raised to life. John was telling people to change their behaviour but Jesus was transforming people from the inside. This is the reason that we rejoice on Sunday. The Good News is not about a Saviour who lines us all up and demands obedience under threat of punishment. Jesus saves us in a completely different way. He draws us to him by his integrity and by his fidelity to the Father. He does not demand rote actions from us but he relates to us personally and heals us within. I am the blind man who cannot see the glory of God, cannot hear what the Lord has to say to me. I am the lame man who does not move beyond myself. I am the leper who lives in isolation from others, the dead man who cannot be raised by human means. Jesus acts on me from within and heals my vision, my ability to listen. He cleanses me of my impurity and brings me into communion with others. He raises the dead man within me. The key is that I must be the poor man who knows how to rejoice in the Good News. While I remain with the attitude of the rich, I will be so full of myself that I cannot accept this message.

This Sunday we are confronted with the notions of “surprise” and “joy”. God surprises us in disconcerting ways. Even John the Baptist was shaken by the approach of Jesus. But in the end the Lord is leading us to a joy that is much greater than we could ever have expected.

The third week of Advent begins with the “Sunday of Joy”. The theme of the liturgy is that the joy we receive from the Lord far exceeds our expectations. John the Baptist is in prison and is about to embrace martyrdom, about to sacrifice himself for the truth. The last act in his ministry is recounted in the Gospel and that is the joining of his mission with that of Jesus, with the future that he (John) had prepared. John had heard of the works of the Lord and he sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one that everyone has been waiting for. We can think of this question in two ways: it can be understood as a simple request for information, or it can be understood as an attitude on the part of John to place himself in front of the facts and allow those facts to say who Jesus is. Let me explain myself better! If the Lord is to come, then we need to be ready to abandon our own schemes, our own ways of thought and action. We all have our personal schemes. Even John the Baptist had his expectations, and he too was shaken when confronted by Jesus. Last week we heard the austere preaching of John. It was a preaching that focussed on calling people to just and righteous action. But Jesus’s approach was different, and this should not be surprising because God always comes in a way that is different to what we expect. How many times in history has God intervened in human affairs through means that we had discarded! The imagination of God, and his plan of salvation that regards all of humanity, often touches our existence in ways that are surprising.

John demanded righteous behaviour, but Jesus does something else. He transforms people. He opens our eyes, gives us the ability to listen, the capacity to move forward. He cleanses us of our inner leprosy and brings us into communion with the Church. He raises the dead man within us and brings us to true life.

What John finds surprising is that the mission of Jesus does not focus on making demands on people’s behaviour, but instead is centred on healing, on the transformation of the person. Jesus tells the Baptist’s disciples to go and tell John about what they have witnessed: the blind see, the deaf hear, lepers are cleansed, the lame walk, the dead are raised, and the poor have the Good News preached to them. And this is the central point of this Sunday of Joy. The Good News is a work by which we are transformed. The Messiah is not someone who puts all his disciples in a line and forces them to obey, punishing those who fail to conform. Rather, the Messiah is someone who takes man in his condition of incompletion and transforms him for the better. A blind person is someone whose humanity is wounded by his loss of one of the five senses. The lame are those who have difficulty moving forward. The lepers are those who are impure. In the Old Testament there is an entire language dedicated to the lepers and their inability to live in society. They were isolated and cut off from the community. Only purification could enable them to be with others. The deaf are those who are unable to receive what others say. All of these conditions represent a kind of death in man. Or to say this differently: consider our life and its challenges. Each of us has difficulties to face. Some of us have great traumas to confront. And we all have our own solutions in mind, but the solution that the Messiah brings is that of the healing of man. It is not that the situation must be changed; rather what is required is that I be healed. It is not that the times must be changed, it is that my attitude towards the times is mistaken. I suffer from a certain blindness in front of the glory of God, a certain inability to walk the path of conversion, a certain isolation with respect to the Christian community, a certain inability to listen to that which we need to hear. In other words, death lives within me but, never fear, I am the poor man to whom the true Good News is announced! John the Baptist was preparing the way for something greater and more beautiful than he expected! Something that changes things from the inside.

Do we think we can change humanity by changing political structures? The only way man can be transformed is by becoming the poor man who listens to the Good News and is transformed from within by Jesus Christ.

We tend to look for changes on a material or structural level. The grand ideologies of the twentieth century that led to so much bloodshed tried to change humanity by creating new structures. But you can place a man in a wonderful structure, make him live in a beautiful house, and give him the perfect job, but if he remains blind, lame, deaf, afflicted by leprosy and dead within, then he will destroy everything. Humanity needs to be healed in a personal way. At the end of the prayer vigil at World Youth Day in Brazil, Pope Francis said that we must change the world and achieve many wonderful things, but this can only begin from me and you. The Lord always begins from the healing of our inner being. Maybe it is time we faced up to an unpleasant fact of life. If a particular material problem gets sorted out, other problems will come our way before long. If we get cured of one illness, another illness will arrive. Not many people die in good health! Sooner or later we will all come face to face with the limits of human existence. The Good News that Christ brings is that things have been transformed from the inside. There is no need to get rid of the illness or the tribulation. The Lord can open my eyes in a lasting way. He can teach me to listen, show me how to move forward. He can cure me of my isolation and raise me to life. All that I need to do is to be the poor man who embraces the Good News when it is preached to him. If I remain with the attitude of someone who thinks he is rich, then I will be unable to receive the Gospel. Someone who is full of himself cannot be disposed to listen and embrace the message.

Jesus now asks why John the Baptist drew such great crowds. It wasn’t because he adapted himself to the thinking of others, nor because of his fine appearance. What attracted people to John the Baptist was his integrity and utter fidelity to God. With Jesus the attraction is even greater. Paradoxically, the humiliation and self-annihilation of the cross has become the spectacle that draws all of humanity.

In the second part of this Gospel, Jesus asks, “What did you go out into the desert to see?” John the Baptist wished to understand who Jesus was, but here Jesus explains who John is. Who is this person whose mission it was to prepare us for the transformation that the Lord brings? The people had flocked to John in the desert, and what did they see? A reed shaking in the wind? In other words, did they find a person without substance who wavered at the slightest wind of doctrine? Did they go to admire someone dressed in great finery? Are we attracted by people who are of attractive external appearance? It is a curious thing but history shows us that it is people who have lived lives of penance and lived in a state of sanctity that have the most magnetic attraction for others. There is something beautiful in the human heart that resounds when it sees someone take God seriously. We are struck by Pope Francis and fascinated by him because he demonstrates a beauty and radicalness. The same was true of his predecessors. They had an inner beauty about them that was attractive to others. Do we think that we can draw other people if we waver like reeds in the wind? If we adapt ourselves to the ideas and behaviour of others? Do we think we can draw others by paying extra attention to our looks? By making ourselves more physically presentable? No! These emphases only draw disdain or jealousy. What is really attractive is integrity and obedience to the Gospel! What draws people powerfully is when a person shows himself to be the bearer of a serious and valid message. If we approach young people and try to entertain them with something light and frivolous, what result can we hope to have? But if we propose to them something valid and radical, then young people are drawn willingly. What we must propose is something that is greater yet than that which is born to woman. John drew a lot of followers, but Jesus even more. His cross and humiliation have become the spectacle towards which all of humanity is oriented, the unveiling of love to its very core.