Advent III-A: Is. 35:1-6a, 10; Jas. 5:7-10; Mt. 11:2-11

The theme of the third advent week is the joy associated with Christmas. We are joyful in our waiting for the coming of the lord. The readings assure us that his coming is very near. To benefit from this joy, we have to follow the example of John the Baptist. According to the gospel, while bearing pains of imprisonment, John sent his disciples to Jesus asking: ‘Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?’ John certainly knew who Jesus was. He himself bears witness to that: “I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ (Jn 1:33). So, it was for the sake of his disciples that John sent them to Jesus with the question. Jesus replied by telling him of the facts that confirm his presence as mentioned in Isaiah 35:5: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor.

If we remember last week’s gospel, John the Baptist called the Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers and told them that they could not expect salvation just because they were sons of Abraham. He told everyone that they needed to repent. He called people sinners. And yet they crowded around him.

John was in jail because he did what he had been doing all along, proclaim the truth regardless of the ramifications. He told Herod that it was not right that he should marry his brother’s wife. This was not a politically healthy statement. It ended up costing John his life.

When the disciples of John went back, Jesus spoke to the crowd. “What did you go out to the desert to see?” What attracted you to John. Was it because he said what was popular, what was trendy, what was politically correct? Was John a reed swayed by the wind, blowing one way one day, another way another day? Or was John a proclaimer of the truth? The people Jesus spoke to had admitted that they were mystified by John’s words because they were straight forward and true. John did not care about anything other than the truth. People were sick of a world where every fact could be bent a dozen ways to serve the interest of the speaker. They were sick of the Temple priests, and the Jewish religious parties, the Sadducees and Pharisees, using religion for their own gain. They just wanted the truth. It attracted them. John fascinated them because he was not afraid of the truth.

I believe that more than half the world is now disenchanted by the perversion of truth in all areas of life. Honest people are attracted to anyone who will stand for the truth, regardless of whether it is popular or not, whether it is convenient or not, whether it is politically correct or not. They just want the truth. They do not want a reed bent by the wind. They want a John the Baptist who will die rather than sway from the truth. I believe that we also go to Church because like those people who went out into the desert to hear John the Baptizer, we are attracted when truth is proclaimed as written in the Bible, not when it is interpolated/twisted.

The truth alone can set us free. This truth that sets us free is more than a concept. It is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We rejoice because the light of truth, the light of Christ has destroyed the darkness of sin. The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, light of truth. We rejoice because we have been drawn by the truth. We rejoice because Jesus Christ is the truth. He embodies the truth. And He and the truth are, as the Letter to the Hebrews states, “The same, yesterday, today and forever.”

In these last days before Christmas, let's stir up our own joyful hope, so that it can overflow to others in deeds and words. Let’s not be swayed by half truth when Jesus is calling us to full truth and fullness of life. I came that you may have life, and have it in fullness.

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas and the coming of God in our lives we need also to remind ourselves that we have been called to be the means of bringing Jesus into other people's lives. Jesus told John that he came to preach good news to the poor. Have we ever considered sharing the good news that we believe in? Some of our school kids took the message of Christ’s birth to some seniors and home bound this Friday. Let’s reflect, as adults, have we ever considered speaking about Christ and his arrival into this world and particularly in their lives? May this Christmas season give us the courage to share Christ and his gospel with others. Jesus said, blessed is he who takes no offense at me.