December 16, 2009
Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this. Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other! Isaiah 45:8, 22
"Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me." Luke 7:22-23
Piety
Give us, Lord, eyes to see and ears to hear.
Give us, Lord, the courage always to seek the truth and to desire your revelation in prayer.
Give us, Lord, wisdom to walk with others, with those who have understood your ways and who seek to find your presence. (From The Carmelites.)
Study
The Advent messages of this week are building upon each other to create a consistent narrative. Monday, we encountered the Pharisees questioning the authority by which Jesus taught. Tuesday, we learned that performance must follow promise in the parable of the two sons both asked to work in the fields. Now today, we see Jesus in action. He is not a man of words but is seen as a man of action, love in action as he fulfills Isaiah’s vision of justice. Jesus connects with that vision in order to carry it out (with a major “new testament” difference).
The restoration of the order is proclaimed in the poetic vision of Isaiah: The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, To announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn; To place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit. They will be called oaks of justice, planted by the LORD to show his glory. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
When Jesus returns to his hometown after his 40-day exile in the desert, he unrolls the scripture and reads from this very passage. However, the version Jesus quotes that is passed along by St. Luke in his Good News leaves out the “day of vindication by our God.” Thus, the vision Jesus sets out to fulfill is a vision based only on love in action, not vengeance on enemies. However, after years of exile and slavery, many in the Jewish community still wanted to extract some level of revenge against the Roman occupiers or the Egyptians who enslaved them. They were caught up in their own agenda, not with the Lord’s.
John the Baptist knows that the Messiah is here because this is what he came to announce. John was calling for people to repent and change the direction in which they were looking for happiness. With the report that he got from the two disciples, John can know that his work is complete and the prophecy of Isaiah and John himself are fulfilled in the actions of Jesus.
Jesus is the safe haven just as Isaiah predicted. “Turn to me and be safe.” Those who turn to him are safe from disease and other illnesses both physical and social. This reinforces the readings earlier in Advent from Psalm 23 and the Gospel according to St. Matthew that the Lord is the source of our peace and rest.
Action
Decorating. Christmas cards. Parties. Shopping. Work. School. This season is one in which we could fill our lives with actions that are not connected to the vision of Christmas. It also is easy to be caught up in such a whirl of activity that we do not rest.
Our challenge is to turn to Jesus just as the blind turned to him to regain their sight, the lame turned to him to learn to walk again, the lepers turned to him to be cleansed, the deaf turned to him to restore their hearing, the dead turned to him to restore life, and the poor turned to him to hear the good news proclaimed to them.
Make the Lord the source of your peace and rest this season as we focus on his agenda, not our own.
