Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
Jesus asks some rather pointed questions in the gospel reading today (Luke 7: 24-30) as he is addressing the crowds of people about John the Baptist. His words have a somewhat sarcastic “get real” tone to them: “What did you go out to the desert to see – a reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine garments?” Clearly he is making a point about the fact that they went out to see John the Baptist, but perhaps he was not what they expected.
Jesus goes on to identify John as the prophet that was written about in the scriptures. Biblical commentary tells us that Jesus is revealing his understanding of the relationship between he and John, and he identifies John as precisely the person that John envisioned Jesus to be: the Elijah who prepares the way for the day of the coming of the Lord.
So, the question comes to us: What do I go out to the desert to see? What am I looking for in Jesus? In God? What am I expecting to see? To find? If I am only looking for what I expect, then I may not see what God intends for me to see. If I’m only looking for what appeals to me, then I may be missing the truth.
As Jesus says to the crowds about John, the same can be said about Jesus: “Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces,” so he poses the question again, “Then what did you go out to see?” Jesus challenges their expectations.
What are our expectations of Jesus? Our God is not one who is born of earthly royalty in a palace, but one who is born of a poor, young virgin in a stable away from home. Our God became human, was born like us: vulnerable and dependent. One who suffered and suffers with us. One who will not abandon us.
As the first reading from Isaiah (54: 1-10) so beautifully tells us of God’s love, “Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you….” And as God welcomed back the returning exiles to Jerusalem, so will God always welcome us back, like a loving spouse: “with great tenderness I will take you back.”
Am I open to God being present to me in new ways this Advent? In ways outside of my expectations? Let us pray for our hearts to be open, for our ears to hear anew, and our eyes to see in a new light what Jesus wants to reveal about himself to us at his birth in our lives this Christmas.
Eileen Miller