Third Sunday of Advent

December 14, 2025

Matthew 11: 2 - 11

What is the difference in the image of John the Baptist that we get this Sunday in Matthew’s gospel as compared to the picture of John in last Sunday’s gospel?  Last Sunday John seems to be a very dynamic or vigorous man;  he is confident, tells it like it is, he is very assertive in preaching repentance because the judgment of God in near at hand.  Probably because John did tell it like it is, no matter the consequences or effects of what he said, John was put in prison for being so outspoken about the king.  Now, John is forced into being reflective rather than active.  Maybe he is disheartened, wondering if he had been right.  He seems to have recognized Jesus as the one whose sandal he is not worthy of carry.  Yet, John hesitates.  John had predicted a day of wrath when the ax would cut the root of the unrepentant.  But what does he hear about Jesus?  John has heard exactly what Jesus tells John’ disciple when they ask who Jesus is.

Jesus says:  “Go and tell John what you see and hear:  the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.  And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”  John had predicted change, even violent change;  those who repented and changed their lives would be saved.  The violent change that would occur in Jesus’ life is not quite what John or any Jew of that time would have expected, or maybe even wanted.

Jesus preached repentance through love;  the only violence was the violence that can come about when love is not understood.  It is the violence that can happen in some people when the blind gain sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them.  It is a violence against what we have come to expect as the way things are.  Jesus turned the values of the world, including the Jewish world, upside down.  He put first the lowly, the despised both poor and rich, the one who does not think of one’s own good but of the good of another.  Jesus’ only violence is that he wants each of us to change our hearts into his own heart where we do not judge the other, we put the other first, we are willing even to die for the other and for God.  In fact that is exactly what Jesus did do in the end, a long way down the rode from these questions put to him by John’s disciples. Jesus just was not the kind of Messiah that John, his disciple, or even Jesus own disciples were expecting.  The violent change was a love do great that it ended with death on a Cross.

Now, as you and I are in the middle of this Advent Season, we can ask:  What are my expectations?  Isn’t it true that sometime Jesus does not fit in with our expectations, when he does not fit into the nice neat mold we have for him?  Do we not find that more often than not, we are put to inconvenience, even ridicule by those around us, by what being a follower of Jesus asks of us?  What about looking out for an elderly parishioner when we don’t really have enough time or money ourselves?  What about taking a stand when we see injustice taking place in our community whether it be about race or economic standing?  What about giving our time or resources to help young people trying to find their way?  Could it be that we are to be the ones who are to be the answer to John the Baptist’s question?

  One Hasidic story tells of a pious Jew who asked his rabbi, “For about forty years I have opened the door for Elijah every Seder night, waiting for him to come, but he never does. What is the reason?” The rabbi answered, “In your neighborhood, there lives a very poor family with many children. Call on the man and propose to him that you and your family celebrate the next Passover at his house, and for this purpose provide him and his whole family with everything necessary for the eight days of Passover. Then on the Seder night Elijah will certainly come.” The man did as the rabbi told him, but after Passover he came back and claimed that again he had waited in vain to see Elijah. The rabbi answered, “I know very well that Elijah came on the Seder night to the house of your poor neighbor. But, of course, you could not see him.” And the rabbi held a mirror before the face of the man and said, “Look, this was Elijah’s face that night.”–  This leads me to the question John asked: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

In what remains of Advent, we are invited to begin again, to leave behind the familiar and venture out into the unknown.  Part of letting go of our preconceived ideas about who Jesus is and how he should work in our lives is listening to the Gospel and what it says to our heart.  Then we can really hear and open ourselves to new possibilities we have not considered before.  Let John the Baptist be our guide so that we can discover all over again the Jesus who is born into our hearts and world at Christmas.  We ask ourselves: Am I the one who is to come?

Fr. John Tran