December 15^th  2013. Third Sunday of Advent.

Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11

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

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL                          Matthew 11:2-11

John in his prison had heard what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask him, 'Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?' Jesus answered, 'Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me'.
As the messengers were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John: 'What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Oh no, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: he is the one of whom scripture says: Look, I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare your way before you.

'I tell you solemnly, of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.’

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

Kieran’s summary . . . John the Baptist is perplexed by the actions of Jesus. John himself had focused on preaching penitence and austerity. But Jesus seems absorbed in healing people’s infirmities. John must open himself to the fact that the Lord’s solutions to our problems is radically different to our own solutions! And we must be ready to leave our own projects aside too and accept the way of Jesus in our lives. What does Jesus do? He heals the blind, the lame, the lepers, raises the dead and preaches the Good News to the poor. I too am blind and cannot see God’s way in my life. I too am deaf and do not listen to the message of salvation. I am a leper and live in isolation from others. I am lame and unable to walk in the way of conversion. I am dead and in need of the transforming power of the Good news. Sometimes we think that if we change the material conditions of our lives then everything will be rosy. The ideologies that led to such bloodshed in the last century all sought to transform the condition of humanity by changing the structural conditions of life. We too have our structural projects, our ten step plan to sort ourselves out, but what we really need is the transforming power of the Lord! We need to open our eyes and see the action of God in our lives. We need to develop the capacity to listen to the Good News. We need to learn to walk in the way of conversion, be purified of our isolation from the Christian community, have the condition of death within us removed by the Lord. John was no reed swaying in the wind. He was a man of integrity who did not bow to the expectations of others. He was not dressed in finery – his beauty did not depend on his external image. If John was beautiful, then Jesus is even more so! His death on the Cross is the most attractive spectacle of history! The love of God fully revealed to us!

John is perplexed in the face of the actions of Jesus. The Lord always reveals himself in ways that go against our expectations.

The third Sunday of Advent is dedicated to the theme of joy. John the Baptist is in prison and approaching the end of his mission. He will shortly become a martyr for the truth. However the final part of his mission also involves the act of publicly asking Jesus who he really is and thus bringing him to the very centre of the stage. So John sends his disciples to enquire of Jesus if he really is the Christ. As we shall see, there are two aspects to this question: on the one hand it is a simple question formulated in words; but on the other hand it is an act of submission before the acts of Jesus which speak louder than any words. If the Lord is to come into our lives, then we must set aside our own ways of doing things and follow his way. Even John the Baptist had his own way of doing things, his own preoccupations and emphases. He too must submit before the acts of Jesus that show him an even better way. The preaching of John the Baptist, we remember, was of a very austere sort. He called for penitence, justice and uprightness. But Jesus always manifests himself to be different to what we expect him to be. How many times we pray to God, asking him to intervene in our lives, but then he acts by means of something that we had discarded or considered unimportant! The providence of God touches our existence in ways that are often very surprising to us. John is a bit perplexed in the face of the actions of Jesus. Jesus seems less concerned with moral demands than with healing people and transforming their lives. So John must open himself to the fact that the Christ is different to what he expected, and he must now permit Jesus to come to the forefront.

The work of Jesus is a work of transformation of our lives from within

What kind of person is this Christ that John has prepared the way for?  This is how Jesus describes his own mission: “The blind see, lepers are cleansed, the dumb hear, the lame walk, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor.” In other words, the Gospel is a work of transformation of people’s lives. That is why we call this Sunday the Sunday of joy! The Messiah is not someone who lines everybody up, demands obedience and punishes the guilty. Instead he is someone who takes the person from his condition of incompletion. What is a blind person? Someone who cannot perceive things as they are. What is a leper? Someone who is in need of purification. In the Old Testament the leper was someone who had to live in isolation. Only purification could permit him to live in the company of others. The deaf are those who cannot receive what others say to them. All of these conditions refer to a kind of  death in which the human being exists. Each one of us has challenges and difficulties in our lives. And we also have a plan of action with which to deal with these difficulties. The Messiah is someone who deals with these difficulties in way that we do not expect, in a way that utterly overturns our plans. He brings healing to our lives. We think that we need to change certain arrangements in our lives, but in reality we need to be healed. We are blind and do not see what God wishes to do with us. We are lame and do not know how to walk in the ways of conversion. We are lepers and exist in a state of isolation from the Christian community. We are deaf and are unable to listen. All of us have a condition of death within us. We are the poor to whom the real Good News is preached.

No change in the material conditions of our lives can bring the transformation that Christ brings

John the Baptist was preparing the way for something even greater than he expected, something that changes people from within. We try to solve our problems by adjusting the material conditions of our lives. All of the great ideologies that led to such terrible bloodshed in the last century are systems that sought to transform the condition of man by structural changes. We can give the human being an amazing political system, a beautiful home and a great job; but if he remains a leper, deaf, blind, lame and dead inside, then that person will destroy everything. The human being must be purified from within. As Pope Francis said at the end of World Youth Day in Brazil, the world can be changed, but it begins from me and from you. What the Lord wants is a transformation of our being. If our physical illness goes away, another one will come eventually. Not many people die in good health! The Good News carried by Jesus is that a more important wholeness is possible and this begins from within. I can acquire real vision; I can listen truly to the message of life; I can walk in the way of conversion; I can escape my isolation and death; and I can do all of this because I am a poor person to whom the Good News is announced. The “rich” do not listen to the Good News because those who are full of themselves and reliant on their own solutions are not open to the healing intervention of Jesus.

Jesus tells us who John is: A man of unswaying integrity whose beauty is not dependent on his external image

In the second part of the Gospel, Jesus asks, “What did you go out in the desert to see, a reed swaying in the wind? A man dressed in fine clothes?” In the first part of the Gospel, John seeks to understand Jesus. In this second part, Jesus tells us who John is, who this man is that has prepared the way for the transforming power of the Lord. John is no reed swaying in the wind, a man with no substance who follows every current that is popular. Neither is he someone dressed in fine clothes. Is it the case that we are attracted by those who are luxuriously dressed and well-presented? No. It is a curious feature of history that people of genuine holiness are immensely attractive and draw people to themselves. We are fascinated and struck by the Holy Father because he manifests the same radical beauty as his predecessors. We discern something admirable and genuine in them. Sometimes we are given the impression that the attractive people in the world are those who are willing to modify their way of doing things in the face of the latest trend. We are led to think that the people with the greatest beauty and most fashionable clothes are those that deserve the greatest attention. But these things only attract jealousy and feelings of intimidation. What is truly attractive is personal integrity. What draws people’s attention is fidelity to the Gospel. Young people are much more drawn by worthwhile challenging things than things that are frivolous. We must propose to them something even greater again. If John the Baptist was immensely attractive, then Jesus is even more compelling! His cross, his humiliation, becomes the spectacle towards which the attention of all of history is turned. The ultimate expression of God’s love for us, this is what is the most attractive of all!