Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday), Year A | Dominica Tertia (III) Adventus, Anno A
11 December 2022 in the year of our Lord
Mt 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." |
Κατά Ματθαίον Ευαγγέλιον 11:2-11 2 Ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης ἀκούσας ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Χριστοῦ πέμψας διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ 3 εἶπεν αὐτῷ· σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν; 4 Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· πορευθέντες ἀπαγγείλατε Ἰωάννῃ ἃ ἀκούετε καὶ βλέπετε· 5 τυφλοὶ ἀναβλέπουσιν καὶ χωλοὶ περιπατοῦσιν, λεπροὶ καθαρίζονται καὶ κωφοὶ ἀκούουσιν, καὶ νεκροὶ ἐγείρονται καὶ πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται· 6 καὶ μακάριός ἐστιν ὃς ἐὰν μὴ σκανδαλισθῇ ἐν ἐμοί. 7 Τούτων δὲ πορευομένων ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγειν τοῖς ὄχλοις περὶ Ἰωάννου· τί ἐξήλθατε εἰς τὴν ἔρημον θεάσασθαι; κάλαμον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου σαλευόμενον; 8 ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθατε ἰδεῖν; ἄνθρωπον ἐν μαλακοῖς ἠμφιεσμένον; ἰδοὺ οἱ τὰ μαλακὰ φοροῦντες ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις τῶν βασιλέων εἰσίν. 9 ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθατε ἰδεῖν; προφήτην; ναὶ λέγω ὑμῖν, καὶ περισσότερον προφήτου. 10 οὗτός ἐστιν περὶ οὗ γέγραπται· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου ἔμπροσθέν σου. 11 Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν· οὐκ ἐγήγερται ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν μείζων Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ· ὁ δὲ μικρότερος ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν μείζων αὐτοῦ ἐστιν. |
Fr John Lankeit's homily :
Political correctness is ... antichrist.
How so?
Well...in a politically correct society, the highest “virtue” is to avoid offending anyone. This so-called virtue is so sacred to the proponents of political correctness that even the truth must be suppressed by law or by force, if necessary—if the truth might offend someone.
Now Jesus referred to himself this way:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life...” (Jn 14:6)
So, putting two and two together here...
If, in a politically correct society, the truth must often be suppressed in order to protect people, from being offended...
...and if Jesus is the truth...
...then Jesus must often be suppressed in order to prevent offending someone.
Thus, the suppression of the Truth—which is not a thing, but a Person—Jesus Christ—the suppression of the truth is, therefore, anti-Christ.
Jesus would not have fared very well in today’s society! For that matter, he didn’t fare very well in his own society, judging by the frequency with which he offended people in the Gospel...and the way things ended up for him on a famous Friday.
Let’s look at a few such instances of people taking offense at Jesus, staring in Matthew’s Gospel:
...Jesus [returned] to his own country [and] taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. (Mt 13:53-58)
Here we have the people Jesus grew up with—relatives and neighbors in his hometown—and they were offended at him. Why? Because of their unbelief—their weak or nonexistent faith.
Here’s another incident, in John’s Gospel, that occurred after Jesus told a large crowd that they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have eternal life (cf. Jn 6:53):
Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?... It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe... (Jn 6:60-61, 63-64)
Here again, it’s the people who do not believe in Jesus, or in his words, who are offended.
In the final incident we’ll consider—also from Matthew’s Gospel—Jesus had been working miracles and preaching by the Sea of Galilee when some scribes and Pharisees traveled from Jerusalem to confront him.
The Pharisees had just criticized Jesus about his and his disciples’ seeming indifference to the Jewish ceremonial laws of which they had appointed themselves guardians. Jesus, in response, revealed how the Pharisees manipulated those same laws for their personal benefit, and then went on to say:
Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”...Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Mt 15:7-9, 12-14)
Jesus exposed the Pharisees’ selfish maneuverings with the Jewish laws and showed how they inadvertently maneuvered themselves right out of a genuine relationship with the Lawgiver—God the Father.
And they were offended!
From these particular Gospel incidents, we see that those who were most easily offended by Jesus were those who held tightly to their own agendas and refused to accept Jesus’ teaching and example. Jesus faced fierce resistance from them...to the point of eventually being executed by his most obstinate opponents.
Bottom Line: The truth is offensive to sin.
That’s why we resist Jesus when he offers to heal us rather than just relieve our pain.
In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist—who may have had his own faith shaken by his imprisonment—sent his own disciples to Jesus to find out if Jesus really was who John initially believed him to be. Earlier in his own ministry of baptism at the Jordan River, John had confidently identified Jesus as the Messiah. Now, it seems, that he’s not so sure.
Let’s contrast his confidence then with his questioning now.
[John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (Jn 1:29-34)
In today’s Gospel—which describes a point in time later in John’s ministry—John is in prison, perhaps with his faith wavering. And this should not surprise us, if we consider our own faith.
When things are going well, it’s easy to be faithful to Jesus—provided we haven’t taken him for granted to the point of forgetting about him altogether.
But when we have to endure a severe trial, how easily our faith can falter!
As we recall from last Sunday’s Gospel, John had prophesied a fiery appearance of the Messiah—the Christ—who would usher in his Kingdom with a “shock and awe”. Up to that point, Jesus had worked miracles, healed the sick and preached a great deal. Maybe John had become discouraged because Jesus’ work was not as dramatic as John expected—although he—like anyone else—would certainly have been wowed by seeing Jesus walk on water!
In any event—knowing that John was well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures—what we, today, call the Old Testament—Jesus answered John by quoting from Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messiah. Let’s first consider the relevant verses from Isaiah in our 1st Reading today, words that John would have known well:
Say to the fearful of heart: Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened; Then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy. (Isa 35:4-6)
Now, let’s consider Jesus’ response to John’s question in light of this prophecy from Isaiah:
When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to him 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.” (Mt 11:2-6)
One of the things that we, as followers of Christ, must not be offended by is when Jesus’ methods and timing differ from ours.
Most, if not all of us, fall into this trap at some point:
Why doesn’t Jesus answer my prayers?
How could he let such a good person as my loved-one die?
Why, when I’m a good person who does what I’m supposed to do, do things get worse?
Why do bad people seem to have things so much easier than Christians?
So, it should not surprise us that John the Baptist later struggled to understand what he seemed to grasp so confidently at an earlier time in his ministry. Here it’s good for us to consider something else that God spoke through the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah:
...my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:8-9)
Jesus didn’t simply answer “yes” to John’s question, though he did answer in the affirmative, indirectly. He answered John by citing the Scriptural prophecies of Isaiah.
Jesus wanted to train John—as he wants to train us—to look at the fruits that his grace bears in our lives and to wait patiently for the ways and the timing—the perfect timing—of God, especially when it doesn’t meet our schedule or our expectations. So, Jesus said:
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. (Mt 11:2-5)
In some cases, Jesus meant this literally. Earlier in this same Gospel of Matthew, Jesus had, indeed, physically cured a leper (cf. Mt 8:1-4); healed two paralyzed people (cf. Mt 8:5-13; 9:1-8); raised the dead daughter of a distraught mother (cf. Mt 9:18-26); healed two blind men (cf. Mt 9:27-31); and restored speech to a mute man (Mt 9:32-34). Prior to all these miracles, Jesus had taught extensively about the Kingdom of his Father in the Sermon on the Mount.
But Jesus also came to cure spiritual blindness—the kind of blindness he had exposed in the Pharisees in the confrontation described earlier. But that cure required faith from the Pharisees—faith in Jesus that they refused to put in him. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had said:
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Mt 6:22-23)
The Pharisees were shrouded in the darkness of pride and unbelief, and Jesus came to cure them too! But they refused.
How many times, in our own lives, do we fail to even notice the countless ways God has been faithful and merciful to us, because our current trial is so dark and severe that all we want is relief?
Jesus didn’t come as a pain reliever!
Jesus came as a liberator from slavery to sin, as our Psalm today proclaims:
The LORD sets captives free. (Ps 146:7)
But his ways very often differ from our expectations. So, we must take seriously, the admonition of St. James in today’s 2nd Reading:
Be patient, therefore, brothers, 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...Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. (Jas 5:7-8, 10)
And here we circle back to John the Baptist—a prophet who spoke in the name of the Lord...who suffered hardship...and who had to be patient in order to receive the full benefits of the Messiah’s mission—not relief from current suffering...but liberation from slavery to sin.
Jesus said of John the Baptist:
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. (Mt 11:11)
Jesus was speaking in real-time about John. John was the greatest of all the prophets, but he was still susceptible to the doubts, frustration, and confusion that we experience when God doesn’t conform to our human expectations. In other words, John wasn’t a saint yet!
Now, he is! That’s why he’s called St. John the Baptist. Having patiently endured the trials God called him to endure, he is greater now, in the kingdom of heaven, than he ever was on earth, notwithstanding Jesus’ words of high praise of him while he was suffering in prison.
Jesus taught John to look for the fingerprints of God, in the here and now—in the midst of the struggle—and to resist the temptation to look for the conclusion too early. And he counsels us to do the same.
Jesus never said, “Come and follow me and I will take all your problems away.” Rather, he told his disciples during the Last Supper:
I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (Jn 16:33)
The disciples hadn’t seen this play out yet, because Jesus first had to suffer, die and be buried before he would rise from the dead and prove his words true. But they did eventually see it...in the manner and perfect timing of God...because Jesus promised they would.
We, on the other hand, have the benefit of the Resurrection...and yet our faith still waivers!
So, Jesus—just as he did with John—gives us constant encouragement through his Living Word in the Holy Scriptures—to trust that he has things under control, even when we don’t—and to entrust ourselves to his care, as John the Baptist—now St. John the Baptist—had to do.
The least of the saints in heaven is greater than the greatest person on earth, because the saints in heaven trusted—against the greatest of odds in so many cases—that Jesus meant what he said. And they were rewarded for their patience, faith and perseverance with eternal life!
And now we have all the Saints in Heaven—including St. John the Baptist—encouraging us to endure our trials, and to trust Jesus—because Jesus always keeps his promises.
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