Word to the Wise
Saturday, December 23, 2023 - December 23
[Mal 3:1-4, 23-24 and Luke 1:57-66]Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire...Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes...[Malachi] When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her..."What, then, will this child be?" For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. [Luke]
DECEMBER 23 COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS
The liturgical calendar compresses all of salvation history into a small time period - Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. The actual birthday celebration for John the Baptist was six months ago on June 24! The prophecy of Malachi that the early Christian community associated with him was hundreds of years earlier! What matters is not the calendar or the clock but the story and the characters! The "infancy narratives" in Matthew and Luke are not just about the births of John and Jesus but about their whole lives and the lives of all of us who bear witness to those stories. John the Baptist will play a role akin to an emcee at a banquet who introduces the guest of honor! All of us are gathered not to honor the emcee but the honoree!
If we "fast forward" on the liturgical calendar, we will find the adult John the Baptist preaching in vivid imagery just like Malachi the prophet in today's first scripture. John will deny that he is Elijah, but Jesus will say John can be considered the unrecognized Elijah promised in Malachi. [Matt. 17:12-13] The question of Elizabeth's neighbors, "What, then, will this child be?" receives an answer later on in the liturgical year. We have the benefit of a bigger picture to which we bear witness in this season as we focus more and more on the "little town of Bethlehem" and a couple looking for a place to stay! AMEN