Sunday Scripture Readings

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third sunday of advent,

december 16

Isaiah 35:1-6, 10; Psalm 146;

James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 OUR GOOD NEWS: John the Baptist - greatest and least in the Kingdom. "The desert and the parched land will exult ... they will bloom with abundant flowers." Isaiah described Israel's final, future deliverance into freedom from exile in terms of, and even superior to, their ancestors' journey out of Egyptian slavery and into the Promised Land. God would personally take charge, leading the exiles on a shortcut through uninhabitable desert recreated as a new Garden of Eden. Transformed nature would provide the background for God's "glory" and "splendor," a visible manifestation of his presence and power. "Strengthen the hands that are feeble ... say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!" Isaiah announced good news to the anxious and fearful - including us - who suffer oppression and are crushed with hopelessness. Cheer up! Our Savior-God is on the way! Literally, "he comes with vengeance" (rather than "vindication"), directed not against anyone in punishment but for his people, bringing freedom and the triumph of goodness. Every unpleasantness will be swallowed up in rapturous delight, every handicap healed. The "blind, deaf, lame and mute," normally excluded from temple worship by reason of their defects, will dance and sing before the Lord in his honor. Those who had known only affliction and oppression will join in a magnificent religious procession celebrating God's coming Kingdom. There, in a fairy-tale-come-true, all sorrow disappears and God's people live happily ever after. "They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee." Today's Gospel describes how Isaiah's vision of Israel's glorious future is fulfilled unexpectedly. Our attention is directed toward John the Baptist, confused in his expectation of a Messiah. Jesus replies with characteristic gentle firmness to John's pained doubt. Point by point, he fulfilled Isaiah's Messianic prophecy (first reading): "the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear." Moreover, by curing lepers and raising the dead, Jesus performed two works commonly judged exceeding the usual miraculous powers. But the climax of his Messianic mission came last: "The poor have the Good News preached to them." Having challenged John to revise his Messianic expectations, Jesus then confronted "the crowds" who misunderstood the Baptist's true mission. No "reed swaying in the wind" he - a vacillating crowd-pleaser playing to their selfish hopes and prejudices. No self-indulgent cleric "dressed in fancy clothes" and enjoying high-level political connections. Jesus publicly acknowledged John's exalted status as a Final-Age prophet, but top billing in the Old Testament dispensation pales in comparison to the lowest of those privileged to enter God's Kingdom.