Recognize Him

Saturday of the Second Week in Advent

In those days, like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal, he reduced them to straits; By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire. How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Sirach 48:1-4

“Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.”  Matthew 17:10-12

Piety

Blessed is he who shall have seen you and who falls asleep in your friendship.  Sirach 48:11

Study

Amazing what a small change in punctuation can do to affect the meaning of a sentence. Consider these two options from the first reading:

How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!

How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds?

The first is presented in the readings as an exclamation of the wondrous witness Elijah brought forth to celebrate the coming of the Lord.  Despite that power and majesty, the people did not listen to Elijah any more than later generations listened to John the Baptist or his more famous cousin and indicted co-conspirator from Nazareth.

If we but ask the question and are open to listening to the answer, it might give us pause to consider the season in which we are journeying. 

How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds?

How awesome are you, John, in your wondrous deeds?

How awesome are you, Jesus, in your wondrous deeds?

Today’s Gospel comes right after the mystery of the Transfiguration.  The core messages there include 1) the closeness we are invited to have with the Lord and 2) the invitation to listen to him.  He comes to us even if we do not know when or where.  If we pay attention, we will realize the wondrous deeds he performs and asks us to perform in His holy name.

After such an event, the disciples are understandably trying to put it into some context with their prior understanding. While many times Jesus is subtle and mysterious when speaking about his fate, in this instance, he pulls no punches and tells them flat out that he will suffer just as John suffered. People did as they pleased with no recognition of who walked among them – Moses, Elijah, John or Jesus.

Action

Despite the miracle of listening that his three closest friends just experienced, Jesus remains resigned to the fact that his story has the same kind of ending as his cousins:  John’s story ends in the tragedy of unjust capital punishment just like his will end.  If Jesus will endure to those ends to get us to wake up and “listen to him,” how far will we go this Advent to recognize him and get close to him?

What small change can we go through to turn our question marks into exclamation marks?

What small change can we go through to turn our question marks into exclamation marks!