Word to the Wise
Friday, December 13, 2019 - 2nd Week of Advent - Fri
[Isa 48:17-19 and Matt 11:16-19]"To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.' " [Matthew]
DECEMBER 13 ST. LUCY virgin and martyr
How many times have we heard the expression, "Don't get your hopes up!" That expression runs counter to the spirit of Advent, a time of hope and expectation! The messages from Isaiah continually offer us hope of deliverance and the gospel scriptures point to Jesus as the one who is the fulfillment of that hope. Yet, today's gospel passage reminds us that hope has to be tempered by reality. Both John the Baptist and Jesus were disappointments for some folks who were hoping for a Messiah that would do away with the Roman soldiers and restore the monarchy of David. That kind of hope resulted in two uprisings against the Romans who crushed both and completely destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. The reality that was hard to accept was the fact that a carpenter from Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, was (and is) the Messiah!
Those who hope for political deliverance or theocracy, even when these seem to promise no more poverty, war, illness, man-made environmental damage or corporate greed - things we all hope will disappear - will be placing their confidence in false gods. What Jesus preaches to us is that if we live according to his teachings, we will share our goods, we will cease warfare, we will live healthier lives and avoid destroying for profit the planet that God has given us to live on. The promise of the Messiah is not "pie in the sky by and by." We must accept responsibility for the promise now and put skin on the fulfillment just God did in becoming human and living among us. AMEN