Word to the Wise
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - 1st Week of Advent - Wed
[Isa 25:6-10a and Matt 15:29-37]On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.....The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces....[Isaiah] Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he healed them. [Matt]
The season of Advent is a season of promise and fulfillment. The prophecy of Isaiah and other prophets presents the promise, and the gospels (especially Matthew and Luke) present the fulfillment. Matthew is especially attentive to noting how the actions of Jesus "fulfill" what was said in the prophets. Today we see an example of this in the "messianic banquet" vision of Isaiah and the actions of Jesus who goes up on the mountain and sits down (the action of an authoritative teacher, as he did for the Sermon on the Mount) and there he does two things. He heals all the sick that are brought to him and he feeds the multitudes. All of this takes place on "the mountain," a biblically symbolic place of encounter with God. Thus Jesus is presented as the fulfillment of God's promise in Isaiah.
I find particularly moving the image of God wiping away every tear. Despite the warm and sentimental images that appear on TV screens in this season, there are many tears as well. The sick, the unemployed, the victims of war and violence, the hungry and homeless present us with their tears in this season. Family divisions are magnified or a loved one is lost in death in the past year and is no longer "there." All of us baptized into Christ have the commission to "wipe away the tears." Can we "put skin on" the fulfillment of God's promise? Can we wipe away the Advent tears to make way for the Christmas joy? AMEN