Wednesday of Week 3 of Advent – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 7:19-23

The disciples of John the Baptist had seen many of the wonderful things that Jesus was doing and came back to tell John about them. John then told two of his disciples to go and ask Jesus if he was the one who was to come, or whether they should continue to look for someone else.

It is not clear in today’s Gospel whether John really wanted to know the answer to this question, or whether it was primarily for his disciples’ benefit. It is reasonable to suppose that some of John’s disciples may not have felt too happy to see their leader being eclipsed by an unknown newcomer. And we know from John’s Gospel that some of the Baptist’s disciples actually transferred their allegiance from him to Jesus (John 1:35 ff).

The question they are told to ask Jesus is: “Are you he who is to come or shall we look for another?” This seems to refer to the return of that fiery reforming prophet, Elijah. This was to happen “before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day” (Mal 3:23). As so often happens in the Gospel, the answer comes indirectly. When John’s disciples reached Jesus, they actually saw him curing many people of their diseases, plagues and evil spirits, and giving sight to people who could not see. Then Jesus says to them:

Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:
the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up,
the poor have good news preached
to them.

And that is a perfectly clear and unambiguous answer to their question. Why? Because in a well-known Messianic prophecy Isaiah long ago had said:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound… (Isa 61:1-2)

Elsewhere Isaiah had also said:

The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy (Isa 35).

All these signs of the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah, are clearly being realised in Jesus. In fact, at the beginning of his public life, in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus had read this passage and then announced that it was being realised before their very eyes. He could not have given a stronger indication of his identity. The answer then is clearly, “Yes. Jesus is the One who is to come” because all these things are happening before their very eyes.

We should also notice what are the signs of the Messiah’s presence. It is not in any manifestation of political power and domination or the destruction of traditional enemies, nor is it found in a complex set of doctrinal beliefs. Instead, it is found in the healing of people who are sick, weak, or have other disabilities, and the restoring of them to wholeness in their individual and social lives and in their relationship with God.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the One who comes, let us remember that the work of Jesus to liberate those who are lame, deaf, blind, poor, ostracised – in every sense of those words – still needs to be done and that it is the responsibility of each one of us to make our own contribution. And let us pray to be liberated from our failures to see, hear, speak, or act – failures that prevent us from making that contribution to the building of the Kingdom.

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Wednesday of Week 3 of Advent – First Reading

Commentary on Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-26

We return again today to the Book of Consolation of Second Isaiah (chaps 40-55). The reading is part of a statement made by Yahweh to King Cyrus of Persia. Cyrus, by his defeat of Babylon where the Israelites were being kept in exile, is seen as an instrument of God to liberate his people. In fact, he is the only non-Israelite who is called the ‘anointed one of God’, titles normally confined to Israelite kings like David. It is the title given also to Jesus (Hebrew: Messiah, Greek: Christos meaning “Anointed”). It is an indication of the way in which the exiles saw Cyrus as their saviour. History tells us that Cyrus was seen as a “father” to his people, and from the Bible, we see that the first thing he did after the conquest of Babylon, was to restore freedom to all those living there in exile (see Ezra 1:1).

Apart from me all is nothing, I am the Lord, unrivalled.

Cyrus – and the people of Israel – are being reminded that the ultimate power comes not from a conquering king, even one seen by some as a god, but from the One God. This power extends from the rising of the sun to its setting in the west, in other words, embraces the whole earth (words we use in the Third Eucharistic Prayer).

I form the light and create darkness

Everything ultimately comes from God, whether it is seen by us at the time as good or bad. The history of Israel is a story of light and darkness, as is the history of mankind throughout the centuries.

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness…

These Words form one of the beautiful hymns we sing during the Advent season (Rorate, coeli desuper… “Drop down dew, you heavens, from above…”). It is an expression of abundance, and is a poetic way of describing the liberation and ‘saving justice’ that is to come to the exiled Israelites through Cyrus, but ultimately from God himself. By inserting the words ‘Upright One’ and ‘Saviour’, St Jerome has the prophecy point directly to Christ – as we do at this Advent time.

Let the earth open that salvation may spring up

This is a direct reference to what the Persian king, as the agent of Yahweh, is going to bring about – delivery for God’s people and a situation where peace and justice prevail. God’s work, and humanity’s cooperation, are joined in a unique endeavour of bringing us to the goal of all we do for the world.

Cyrus is only a forerunner of the real Saviour who will break into our world, a Jew born of Jews, truly one of us and yet sharing the very being of God. And, as Cyrus carried out the work of God, so we too are called to do the work that Jesus initiated. Justice and Salvation still need to be brought to huge numbers of people in our world. This is the building of the Kingdom, and among its chief agents are those who form the Body of the Risen Christ.

To put the work of Cyrus in context, the passage ends by speaking of the uniqueness of our God.

There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Saviour

And the call goes out to the whole world:

Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth!…To me, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear.

These last words will be repeated by Paul in his Letter to the Romans (14:11) and in his Letter to the Philippians (2:10) where he applies it to the Lordship of Jesus.

Taking this beautiful passage as a whole, we are asked to see in Cyrus the work of God being fulfilled in the world by people who do not even know him. This has always been the case, and Christ continues to act through people who do not believe in him and may even reject him. The Church is not by any means the whole of the Kingdom’s reality, but its sacrament and visible sign.

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