Sunday, 15 December 2019
3rd Sunday of Advent
1st Reading: Is 35:1–6a, 10
2nd Reading: Jas 5:7-10
Gospel: Mt 11:2–11
When John the Baptist heard in prison about the activities of Christ, he sent a message by his disciples, asking him: “Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus answered them, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life and good news is reaching the poor. And how fortunate is the one who does not take offense at me.”
As the messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “When you went out to the desert, what did you expect to see? A reed swept by the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? People who wear fine clothes live in palaces. What did you actually go out to see? A prophet? Yes, indeed, and even more than a prophet. He is the man of whom Scripture says: I send my messenger ahead of you to prepare the way before you.
I tell you this: no one greater than John the Baptist has come forward among the sons of women, and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
John the Baptist seemed to have very little actual knowledge about Jesus because in today’s Gospel he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?” Jesus on the other hand knew so much about John the Baptist. He knew him to be the man “of whom Scripture says: I send my messenger ahead of you to prepare the way before you.” Jesus knew that John the Baptist was his herald.
John the Baptist had some ideas of the Messiah, for whose coming he was preparing the people through Baptism in water. But he had to meet the person yet. Thus when he heard rumors about a miracle worker preaching in Galilee he sent his followers to check on his identity. Jesus did not give a straight answer when asked about his identity. Instead he enumerated the works of a Messiah as foretold by the prophet Isaiah. John the Baptist knew these as authentic credentials of a Messiah. With what joy John the Baptist must have welcomed this development when his followers reported back to him.
Today’s Gospel message sits well with the third Sunday of Advent’s theme of rejoicing symbolized by the pink candle of the Advent wreath we light today. True joy means not just knowing Jesus in theory but going out to meet him in the poor and the lowly. How far have we gone out of our way to meet him in “person”? – (Atty) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., D.M.