Isaiah 35:3-7
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you.”
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
Luke 7:18-30
18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
24 After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 25 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is the one about whom it is written:
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
29 (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)
Paul wrote: "Is it possible that I, an Israelite, descended from Abraham through the tribe of Benjamin, could agree that God had rejected this people?" He then likens the Gentile Christians (us) to a wild branch grafted to a tree that is Israel.
"Remember," he says, "it is the root that supports you."
Remember. But we forgot. We took a Jewish prophet like Isaiah and decided he could only be talking about Jesus. And with all those clear prophecies, how could the Jews have missed the Messiah? And Christians got into a habit of drawing old/new comparisons: the old way of the Jews being empty and sour, all in contrast to our shining selves.
Advent makes us face this. Our generation must do so with the Holocaust as witness. We can love Isaiah as a Jewish prophet talking to Jews, still. Vatican II taught that the writings of the prophets have their own value, entirely apart from the New Testament. And John Paul II has affirmed--along with the apostle Paul--that God's covenant with the Jews is a living reality.
What then of these Advent readings from Isaiah? Try reading Isaiah in light of what the Vatican Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews wrote: "Attentive to the same God who has spoken, hanging on the same word, we Jews and Christians have to witness to one same memory and one common hope to the one who is master of history. We must also accept our responsibility to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah by working together for social justice."
To prepare the world for the coming of whom? And how?
--Gabe Huck
BENEDICTUS ANTIPHON: All flesh shall see the salvation of God.
BENEDICTUS
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
who shepherds the people and sets them free.
God raises from David's house
a child with power to save.
Through the holy prophets
God promised in ages past
to save us from enemy hands,
from the grip of all who hate us.
The Lord favored our ancestors
recalling the sacred covenant,
the pledge to our ancestor Abraham,
to free us from our enemies,
so we might worship without fear
and be holy and just all our days.
And you, child, will be called
Prophet of the Most High,
for you will come to prepare
a pathway for the Lord
by teaching the people salvation
through forgiveness of their sin.
Out of God's deepest mercy
a dawn will come from on hight,
light for those shadowed by death,
a guide for our feet on the way to peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Our Father....
Eternal light, you want all creation to live in harmony. Grace us with the instruments of good works and the desire to use them to build your kingdom among us. We pray this through Christ and in the Spirit. Amen.
May God bless us and keep us. May God smile upon us and be gracious to us. May God look upon us kindly, and give us peace. Amen.
Let us bless God/and give thanks.
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