THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT: THE GREAT SCANDAL

THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT YEAR A THE GREAT SCANDAL Matthew 11:2-11

Sometimes facing reality about one’s kin is hard. Like the great mystic, Thomas Merton, let us eavesdrop as that guilty bystander on the events that unfold. St Francis admonishes his followers about this type of greed, telling the story of those very unhappy siblings, complaining bitterly about how their parents had squandered their inheritance, “why did they need so much to live on?”

The narrative always follows the same pattern: I was the one that cared for them while they were alive; the others have plenty in any case, why should they get anything; this is the narrative of entitlement and exclusion; I’ve worked for it, I deserve it… they do not! And so joy is turned into sadness, light into darkness, and hope into despair.

Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God, fulfilling all the requirements of the Law in his life death, and resurrection. In this new age of the son of man, the Law is completed and a new and eternal covenant in the blood of Jesus is established with humanity. This is the new covenant of Mercy, forgiveness of sins, compassion, and Love… the Commandment to Love each other as Jesus loved his disciples.

All the burdens of our grievance, the experience of broken and exploitative love and mistrust, make it impossible for us to enter into that vulnerability of self-emptying Love. It is only through the sacramental grace born through water and fire and the Thanksgiving of the Eucharist that God gives us the new Way. This is the redemption that the law can never bring us.

Many however doubt the largess of such grace, both in Jesus' time and among us today. The very same narrative of those squabbling heirs that find it impossible to love, underlies the self-righteous entitlement of those who consider themselves worthy so that others must be excluded.

Even for that great saint and Prophet, St John the Baptist, the incredible largess proclaimed by the kingdom of God, was a difficult thing to bear, and so doubt crept into his mind. Had he been misled at the baptism of Jesus? Where was the brimstone and fire that would wipe out evil? At the baptism on the Jordan, John had first-hand experience confirming Jesus as the Christ, yet the incredible, wondrous and awesome news proclaimed by the Kingdom of God scandalised this great Prophet.

It is only once we have come to experience that great love of God manifested in Jesus and so many of the saints who followed the Way, that we also can rejoice and exult in such a wondrous proclamation for all of humanity and all of creation. This is the Good News we can trust!

Thank you for the earth, our mother, she who feeds us and sustains us; for her fruits, her grass, her flowers, for the mountains and the oceans. Praise for those who spread forgiveness, those who share your peace with others, bearing trials and sickness bravely.

Even sister death won’t harm them.

‘Praise be to you, O my Lord’ . For fire and water, Life is but a song of worship, and the reason for our singing is to praise you for the music, join the dance of all creation!