Recognize Him

December 15, 2007

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

How awesome are you, ELIJAH! Whose glory is equal to yours? You were taken aloft in a whirlwind, in a chariot with fiery horses. You are destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to reestablish the tribes of Jacob. Blessed is he who shall have seen you before he dies. (Sirach 48:4, 9-11)

“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 17:11-12

Piety

Jesus, as we prepare for you to come back into the world, let us prepare for you also to come back into our lives. Help us to heed the message from John the Baptist and make way for your arrival. Let us offer to you our very lives and hopes this holiday season and ask as you return to bring us ears that we may truly hear, hearts and minds that are open to your calling, and hands that will be about your work on earth. Help us to repair our relationships with our sisters and brothers now and in the future. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/121507.shtml

We end this week, the halfway mark of Advent, much as we began it on Sunday. Then we reflected on John the Baptist, the voice crying out in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord, setting this right.

The prophet Ben Sirach reminds us of the prophecy that Elijah would come again to help people get their relationships and lives repaired and prepared for the coming of God. These prophecies were well known to the people living during the time of Christ’s coming and life on earth. According to Matthew, this expectation was fulfilled in the Baptist's ministry through both outward signs and the message John delivered.

Outwardly, people could readily see how the clothing worn by John the Baptist (“clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist”) reminded them of the austere dress of the prophet Elijah. Upon hearing John’s message, they also could connect what was said of Elijah: that he would come back “to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” (Malachai 3:23)

If they did not understand this as they experienced it and heard the message, then Jesus was there to shake them into awareness of the past and further prophecy of what was to come. “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 17:11-12

Action

Is Jesus shaking you? What is He saying to you? What message is he trying to get across to you during this Advent season? Is he trying to get you to take a break from the malls and commercialization of this holiday and remember that he is truly there? The Magi did not bring gift cards from Safeway to the Christ child. They offered items rich in symbolism for the newborn King.

So instead of wondering what we should get for Uncle Joe, perhaps we should be more like the Magi and be concerned about what we should offer up to Jesus. Or even better, what we should ask Jesus to provide for us?