Word to the Wise
Saturday, December 15, 2018 - 2nd Week of Advent - Sat
[Sir 48:1-4, 9-11 and Matt 17:9a, 10-13]As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, "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." Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. [Matthew]
In the Gospel According to Matthew, this conversation takes place immediately after the profound experience of the "transfiguration," in which Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus. One of the later arguments against Jesus involved the prophecy of Malachi 3:23, which is reflected in the later book of Sirach in our first scripture for today. The argument was that Elijah had not yet come, so Jesus could not have been the promised Messiah. Jesus replies that Elijah has already come in the person of John the Baptist and was martyred by the very people who were expecting him. Jesus would suffer the same fate as Messiah.
The old admonition, "Don't shoot the messenger!" is not always observed. There is a shadow lurking in the corners of the Advent and Christmas celebrations. The Magi would learn in a dream not to trust Herod, and the slaughter of the innocents was a foretelling of what would happen to both John the Baptist and Jesus.
Our secular celebration of Christmas doesn't shoot the messenger, it simply ignores the message in favor of non-religious symbols. The reason for the season is lost, unless one worships at the altar of the economy. All the more reason then we who believe in what Advent and Christmas truly mean should "put skin on it" and become Elijah and John the Baptist for our own times. AMEN