A Homily - The Third Sunday of Advent (Year A)

 A Homily - The Third Sunday of Advent (Year A)

  

2022.12.11

  

First Reading - Isaiah 35:1-6, 10 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 145(146):6-10 ©

Second Reading - James 5:7-10 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Isaiah 61:1 (Luke 4:18)

The Gospel According to Matthew 11:2 - 11 ©

  

(NJB)

  

Listen to the prophet Isaiah is a prayer of hope. Listen and be mindful, do not mistake the poetry written here as the literal truth or the historical record of anything.

 This is a prayer from the school of Isaiah, it is a prayer for healing and restoration, it is a prayer for salvation: a state of being that God, the creator of the universe, that God intends for everyone …but not in this life.

 This prayer is not a promise concerning the expectations we should hold for our lives in this world. It is a prayer reflecting our hope for the next.

 The hope that is expressed here is the hope of divine deliverance, not from present peril but from the material condition altogether.

 There is a fundamental choice before us:

 We may choose to live our lives as if we believe in the things we hope for; the belief in what we hope for is an extension of trust in the divine, this mode of trust is the essence of faith, which is not a thing you can possess, nor a state of being, it is an action best expressed in the imperfect form…never complete in the present.

 In the next world we may witness the entirety of the created order lifted-up in the exultation of God; we may experience it like that, but this will not be a state of mindless adulation, it will not be a grand and endless glorification…that is not the way of the divine, whatever jubilation there will be, will have the form of thanksgiving and humility according to the simple—endless bounty of God’s love.

 I am with Isaiah when they express the hope that we will face our fears and watch them disappear; I am with those who teach us to have courage in the now, and patience in the present moment, being of service to one another.

 I am not with Isaiah when he petitions for vengeance in the hunt for retribution. Rather, I am with Jesus who took no enemies to himself, even from among his persecutors, who forgave those who hurt him, making that his final prayer…issued from the cross.

 This is a prayer for healing, for universal healing; take this prayer from Isaiah and seek in your own heart the will to heal everyone. Take up this prayer and in that moment you will experience world to come in the here and now.

 Now, listen to the psalmist who instructs us to praise God, creator of the universe, to praise God with words and song, God is the author of our salvation

 Praise God and leave aside the trust you give to princes and kings, and the other little lords of the church and the world. Listen to the psalmist and before wary of his words, knowing in your heart that God is not a king, and kings are not God.

 Consider the life of a human being, consider the many years that the human beings have walked the Earth; consider its brevity. Our window on life is but a spark in the night. We are born, we breathe for a time, then we are gone. Consider that the Earth itself will not survive the dying of our sun and that even our galaxy will vanish in the cold and dark.

 Consider these things and consider how happy are those whose help is God, the creator of the universe. Happy are those who assist God in the divine work of mercy and justice.

 Lift up the oppressed, wherever they are: feed the hungry, free the prisoner, teach the ignorant. Pray for your own faults to be forgiven, your own blindness lifted. Advocate for those who need an advocate, care for those who cannot care for themselves. Find those who are lost and bring them home.

 Be especially mindful of this:

 If we think of the second coming of Jesus as an actual return; we are mistaken. Jesus will not return in the flesh, because that is against nature, and like all human beings we each have but one life to live on this Earth.

 If we think of Jesus returning to Earth as God, of his coming to bring about the end of time, drawing down the curtain as if it was the closing of a play; we are mistaken. God will not intervene in the life cycle of our planet, of our solar system, of our galaxy or of the universe as a whole…God does not do that, the order of creation is absolutely free from divine coercion.

 This must be accepted and you must know that the apostle was wrong to engage in speculation of this nature.

 Be mindful of this error; it is not prophecy, do not repeat it.

 Take these words to heart: be patient, live a good and loving life; even in the midst of turmoil. When we fulfill the promise of the way, the way becomes the reality of our lives…even if only for a moment.

 Praise God, and pray for God’s servants wherever they are, knowing that when the will of God is done, the message is clear and the mission is pure.

 It sounds like this: love one another, as God loves you.

 Consider the Gospel for today:

 John came before Jesus; it is said that they were cousins, but the evidence for this claim is scant.

It is said that James, the apostle and bishop of Jerusalem was Jesus’ brother, but that claim has long been rejected by the Church. There is no way for us to know the veracity of these claims, and it does not matter.

 John came before Jesus; for a time the two of them worked as contemporaries, they were cousins who were both called to the same mission. It is said that they met at the river Jordan where John was carrying out his ministry of repentance and the baptism of restoration.

 John baptized Jesus when they had this meeting, the moment is presented in the Gospel for today as a passing of the torch from John to Jesus.

 There is no way for us to know if this event ever even happened, or if it did that John and Jesus viewed this encounter as such...but it does not matter, because the historical realities behind this narrative have been transcended by allegory and metaphor.

 John prepared the way for Jesus, just as the Gospel for today indicates. He was arrested shortly thereafter, and shortly after that he was murdered. 

 John and Jesus belonged to a movement, a movement of the people, the am haaretz, a movement for the people, a movement that called for justice, unity and salvation all people.

 They saw their work as something connected to the prophets like the School of Isaiah. They were reformers, they were people whose preaching synthesized the sacred texts, boiling the law and the commandments down to their essence, then returning them to the people in the simplest form.

 “Love God, with all your strength and all your heart, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

 That is the whole of the law, and all the words of the prophet were summarized therein.

 Many of John’s followers became followers of Jesus. The leaders in John’s group became leaders among Jesus’ disciples, but not all who had followed John came along, and it is to them that this gospel is pointed.

 It was written to remind all new Christians: first John, then Jesus.

 As a purely literary device this story builds upon a theme of the ancient Hebrews, derived from the patriarchal narratives wherein God’s favor falls to the younger son; for Able over Cain, for Isaac over Ishmael, for Jacob (Israel) over Esau, for Joseph over all of his brothers.

 Today’s gospel is in essence, a political screed. It is a message to the holdouts among John’s group, expressing love and pride in John’s work, while telling them in no uncertain terms that the way is with Jesus.

 This is the beginning of Church politics, and as with all such actions, it brought healing to some aspects of the divide while exasperating others.

 Such is the way of human beings.   

 Listen and be mindful.

  

First Reading - Isaiah 35:1-6, 10 ©

 God Himself is Coming to Save You

 Let the wilderness and the dry-lands exult, let the wasteland rejoice and bloom, let it bring forth flowers like the jonquil, let it rejoice and sing for joy.

 The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God.

 Strengthen all weary hands, steady all trembling knees and say to all faint hearts, ‘Courage! Do not be afraid.

 ‘Look, your God is coming, vengeance is coming, the retribution of God; he is coming to save you.’

 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy for those the Lord has ransomed shall return.

 They will come to Zion shouting for joy, everlasting joy on their faces; joy and gladness will go with them and sorrow and lament be ended.

  

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 145(146):6-10 ©

 Come, Lord, and save us.

 It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever,

  who is just to those who are oppressed.

It is he who gives bread to the hungry,

  the Lord, who sets prisoners free,

 Come, Lord, and save us.

 It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind,

  who raises up those who are bowed down,

the Lord, who protects the stranger

  and upholds the widow and orphan.

Come, Lord, and save us.

 It is the Lord who loves the just

  but thwarts the path of the wicked.

The Lord will reign for ever,

  Zion’s God, from age to age.

 Come, Lord, and save us.

 Alleluia!

 

 Second Reading - James 5:7-10 ©

 Do Not Lose Heart; the Lord's Coming Will Be Soon

 Be patient, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. Think of a farmer: how patiently he waits for the precious fruit of the ground until it has had the autumn rains and the spring rains! You too have to be patient; do not lose heart, because the Lord’s coming will be soon. Do not make complaints against one another, brothers, so as not to be brought to judgement yourselves; the Judge is already to be seen waiting at the gates. For your example, brothers, in submitting with patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

  

Gospel Acclamation – Isaiah 61:1 (Luke 4:18)

 Alleluia, alleluia!

 The spirit of the Lord has been given to me.

He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor.

 Alleluia!

  

The Gospel According to Matthew 11:2 - 11 ©

 'A Greater than John the Baptist Has Never Been Seen'

 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 the Good News is proclaimed to the poor; 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 Third Sunday of Advent (Year A)