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Third Sunday of Advent
December 15 2019
The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
they will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.
Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10.
R. (cf. Is 35:4) Lord, come and save us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD God keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Lord, come and save us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Lord, come and save us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations.
R. Lord, come and save us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Be patient, brothers and sisters,
until the coming of the Lord.
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
being patient with it
until it receives the early and the late rains.
You too must be patient.
Make your hearts firm,
because the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another,
that you may not be judged.
Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates.
Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters,
the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me."
As they were going off,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,
"What did you go out to the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine clothing?
Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.
Then why did you go out? To see a prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
What's the world coming to?
It's the oldest question there is, followed closely by 'Why us?' Chaos follows catastrophe down the course of ages. Today is different only for it's global extent, and the fact we know about it as it comes, step by menacing step. Some blindly hope, regardless; others are convinced we won't be saved this time, though hopefully some remnant will remain in the hills somewhere, enough to restart the human race. The Jews had an intense history of it, and the dogged hope someone would come to save the day. Lucky them - except for the fakes and frauds crowding the stage to claim the title. The latest came out of Nazareth of all places.
John knew all about the hope that bubbled away like an expectation on the boil. He had come to feel it in his bones after wandering out into the wild country looking for he knew not what. Over time he knew he had to stay there wondering, wondering..., and listening. As a kid he had seen the best and the worst they had to offer, his father a high priest and an honest devout man, fighting to survive and keep his integrity in the tangle of corruption that was the temple establishment. 'This can't go on,' he used to say, coming home after serving his turn, and John grew up with that unease his parents lived with.
He didn't know why, but at one point he found himself thinking it is time to go. A small start at first, then in no time at all there were crowds trekking out of the towns to listen to his threatening words of hope. They were so fed up with everything. So sick of being bullied, abused, drained of their vital energy, sick of the fear that ruled their world, sick to death of smart talk and empty promises and having to pay and pay and pay. They were more than willing to join John's new hope with the open-air ritual washing he offered as a cleansing for a new beginning.
There was something very different about his cousin Jeshua from Nazareth whom he hadn't seen in years. The man seemed to know something. There was a confidence about him, the openness of simple integrity, of truth that has nothing to hide, and yet you could sense a depth you'd never fathom. He hesitated to wash this one; it seems insulting. But Jeshua had insisted so he did it. Never saw him again, and had no hope now, in this prison, with nothing to do but wait for the day they'd kill him. Waiting is the hardest thing. So many thoughts and no escape. Was he right, or had he been deluded, wasting his life and adding to the pain of the people with his promises that had no outcome?
Desperately he asked some friends to go and put the question straight to Jeshua: Are you the one or do we have to look for somebody else? And they came back to say he'd referred them to Isaiah's prophecy, and that they'd seen fulfilled in front of their faces. Blind men seeing, the crippled walking: certainly something to think about. And a word of encouragement too: 'Good for you if you can have trust in me.' Now there's a promise!
*****
Sometimes, reading Catholica, you could get the feeling this is the first time it has all been questioned. People describe their frustration, even anger. They can't believe they've been let down so badly. Can't believe so much of it is myth, and worse - gobbledegook a lot of it. Can't believe they could have been so stupid as to be taken in, spending years in subservient obedience, actually putting their hopes in pious practices and rubbish prayers...
Are we the first to question, or the last to wake up? Whatever the reason, the fact is that through our lifetime and back through recent centuries questions have been frowned on, disapproved of. You could even be punished for having the effrontery to ask, to wonder, let alone to doubt.
But questioning is normal behaviour. Questioning is necessary, obligatory. The bible is an encyclopedia of questioning. We are right to question, as was John, as was Mary, Peter, Paul, Jeremiah, Isaiah, David, Moses, and Abraham himself. Jeshua too!
There are two basic lines of questioning. Wading through the accumulated treasures of history we have to ask what's real, what's essential, what's fundamental, and what can we just ignore? Eventually we reach the clear space where the other question becomes imperative: Is any of it real? On what grounds are these things claimed and presented as true?
*****
The answer is in this, that people have experienced an interruption in their lives, in one way or another urging them to change, to let go, to grow, to develop, to Go west to a land I will show you. People say they've been interrupted: 'We've been broken into!' It's always a surprise. It's always inexplicable. And leaves you confronted with a choice to be made. If hundreds, or thousands, have said Yes, let's go and see, there may be millions who have said, Not now; Not me; Not bloody likely - I'm busy making my fortune here and now.
Everything hinges on this that someone we call "god" keeps putting a finger in our pie, messing up somebody's life, and dropping enticing hopes as hard to grasp as fairies flitting in and out of sight.
Jeshua said John was the greatest. Why? One obvious interpretation is that he introduced the Messiah and so marks the watershed between old and new. Another might be that John felt that interruption and followed an urge that took him into the desert of loneliness and doubt and hard living, then brought him back to speak some truth to a self-deceiving world, for which they killed him. John was the greatest man ever born because he said a deeper, more real, more total, more effective YES to the disturbing voice of God.
And still his doubts never left him. Still he had questions and sought answers, which only came in more signs he had to choose, himself, to believe in.
*****
These old stories, untidy tattered tales from other times, lead some to want fresh stories in our language to direct our path into the future. But will new myth's fabricated in the current idiom be as illuminating as these old ones? Will they last as long? Will they be based on experiences that people report, or on the dreaming we deliberately do? Will they have a foundation in the real experience of people - real history, or will they be fiction?
And either way, will they make the answer to the first and ultimate question any easier: God has interrupted us; God has broken into our world to stir us from our settled homely ways because we need to be aware that there's an exploding future ahead for us. Perhaps the journey has just begun.
John was the greatest!
Where does this come from? What was Jeshua on about in saying his cousin was the greatest man ever born? It's too easy to say the intention is to show the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old, John being the last and greatest of the old-style prophets whose role was to introduce the definitive revelation of God in this anointed one, Jeshua, from the disreputable little hamlet of Nazareth.
The issue here is one that comes up again and again in the gospels, especially in John's reflections in the fourth gospel. The question: On what authority? It is a very good question. Basic in fact. We have the right to see your credentials. We cannot, in all honesty, accept you without proof of your legitimacy. Without papers, or at least someone to vouch for you, we must consider you a self-appointed upstart. It is a question that lies at the core of much of today's unease ;and questioning of institutional christianity, a question just below the surface in Catholica's relentless agitation. Is there authority behind it all? Does the judaeo-christian tradition rest on a divine initiative or has ti simply been dreamed up by people? Is anyone's opinion as good as the next? Is there any point in asking the question?
The requirement of proven credentials is standard practice and always has been. When John sent messengers from his prison cell to ask Jeshua, 'Are you the one?' it was not just for curiosity about his cousin. He wanted proof. And the proof that Jeshua gave him in referring him to the signs the prophet Isaiah had spoken of would have been enough for John.
But then, what of John himself? He too claimed to be a prophet with a divine commission to speak out, to call the people and the leadership to order, and his credibility was also questioned. Does he depend on Jeshua to speak for him, saying 'He's the greatest'? I think perhaps there's more to it than that. John seems to have forged his own credentials, living rough and preaching hard in the rugged tradition of prophets. He was so impressive that the whole of Judea went out to hear him, although the authorities reserved their decision as was proper, but they could not ignore him. He was too powerful, too forceful a preacher, threatening God's punishment soon to come, confronting the poor and the powerful alike with a boldness as only someone who has nothing to lose can afford to show.
No weak stemmed reed bending this way or that in the winds of popularity; he was no windbag. as we would say. Neither was he a pretentious 'authority figure' relying on his fine clothes and ego to assert a right to criticise. Just personal integrity. That's all John had. He had followed a call over years, in the desert, alone, with all the second thoughts that plagued his loneliness. Slowly he came to understand the sorry condition of his people, to feel he had to speak out, but the risk of ridicule and the real fear of reprisals held him back. He doubted himself: how could he convince anyone else. They will laugh at me; they'll throw me in prison; they'll stone me to death. Most problematic of all, they will ask for my credentials and I have no vision to recount, no official sending by someone ... On what authority?
The fact that he did what he did, and no deceit, no secrets, no hidden life of ease, no financial gain was uncovered became his sole credential. The usual attempts to discredit him failed. In the end he stood for integrity, and his own integrity was his certificate of authentication. It was open for the world to inspect and verify, and he was found to be up to the challenge.
Jesus stood on the same ground. When they questioned his authenticity he referred them to the 'works of my Father':
"If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works themselves, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” (Jn 10:32-33 Note that the 'works of the Father' is much wider than 'wonders' or as we say 'miracles'. The work of the Father is to liberate [save] people from whatever it is that holds them down as for example disease of body or mind as well as endemic social discrimination and oppression of the weak by the powerful.)
Paul too, like John, had to stand on his own conviction and prove himself to the apostles in Jerusalem. It seems he was never fully accepted, but as he once wrote: 'The Spirit will not be chained.' As Paul later showed the exclusivity of living under the law was no claim to God's favour, so John, even more brutally criticised the culture which put membership by circumcision above personal commitment and integrity: 'God can raise up children of Abraham from these stones!' In other words, being of Abraham's brood is not so special as to be a ticket to automatic approval. The real question is: Do you measure up - in yourself?
We are taught that the way Jeshua sent the apostles out on mission to the surrounding towns and villages shows the standard requirement of 'being sent', or official authentication. You have to be sent by someone with authority, but that will count for nothing if your hearers cannot see your own conviction motivating you. More so than ever today when the church is discredited around the world. Even when you can expect your listener to be interested to hear about christianity from a member of the church, perhaps because they'd like to know the other side after hearing all this sickening negative stuff, in the end what they will be impressed by, or not impressed, is how they see it in you personally. "But how does it work for you - for yourself, personally?" they will ask.
In that same missioning Jeshua instructed his apostles to carry nothing, no props, no back-up materials, no fancy gimmicks. No uniforms: just sandals, and a staff as is practical for walking along rough mountain tracks. You're on your own now. You have the power of God's word, but if you can't speak that word convincingly, nothing you might take with you will make up the difference.
If you want to interest someone in the Jesus Way they will only be impressed insofar as they can see it works for you. In fact using props turns out to be a distraction you can hide behind. It takes the hearer's interest away from the essential questions. The Jehovah's Witnesses who knocked on our door yesterday only intended to invite us to their annual convention in their local meeting place. Unfortunately, when I showed some little interest, the man pulled out his phone and brought up a propaganda video - images of happy witnesses around the world - or was it a parade of international fashions? I had to step back eventually, for him to turn it off.
The real message of these readings today is that you can only share your self. God is enfleshed in you, as in me, and in every person alive and dead. What is lacking is recognition. We are asleep. Wake up to the fullness of life! That is what Jeshua is about: a herald, a wake-up call, a sign, an actual incarnation of God in our hands - Immanuel. If your personal integrity demands that you move on from the immature stage of being church-dependent to operating on your own convictions, on your own integrity, then follow that path.
If the church does rise out of the ashes it will be worth nothing except insofar as it is an assembly of people who freely chose to come together for love, with love, in love, and so be a sign to the world that these Christians do actually live by the law of love and are free people.
There is a toughness about the Judaean-Christian tradition more exacting than rationalism has ever dared conceive. This may come as a surprise since the fashion over four centuries has been to rubbish religion for being soft-headed and soft-hearted. To make a religious or spiritual commitment is demanding in ways that reason hardly knows - ways that affect not just your thinking but your whole behaviour and most basic attitudes, your personal approach to life itself.
We are not talking about commandments and rules, nor about doctrines and rituals, but about the most basic issue of all: "On what authority...?"
Abraham may have been a softie or he may have been so fed up with life he didn't care, but the story goes that he felt a call to migrate to new country to the West and he went. Just like that. He felt he was going to father a new clan, a new tribe even, but no child came and he took desperate measures, sleeping with his slave girl on his wife's insistence so he'd have a son. Then, as sometimes happens today after years of cripplingly expensive IVF, Sarah became pregnant herself and Isaac was born. On the threshold of manhood Isaac comes within an inch of being a victim of age-old rituals of child sacrifice, but conscience kicks in at the last moment and Abraham decides a sheep would be more fitting. If that did not satisfy the god, then too bad. He would no longer twist himself inside out in fearful subservience. The more so that Isaac was the sign of his god's faithfulness; the promise would be fulfilled, Abraham would be a father whose descendants would stretch down ages of time. On that mountain Abraham had proven himself before the gods: he would not worship contrary to nature. He would be true to himself and in that, be true to his God.
We could follow this line down through the centuries, noting that at every turn the crucial question is "On what authority?" Every prophet is challenged. Every 'king' or leader critically assessed and debunked or praised. No-one escapes the judgement of history. It's within that tradition that John demands of Jesus: "Where are your credentials? Are you the one we're waiting for? Was I right or was I kidding myself down in the river when I thought I perceived the Spirit in you? Give me proof."
Jesus takes his cousin seriously. No honeyed words to smooth his troubled mind in the lonely silence of the prison cell. Just facts. "Tell him the blind see and the deaf hear... He will know the significance of that ancient sign fulfilled, and he can make up his own mind, take it or leave it."
I wonder was it enough for John? Jeshua had faith in him that went a little further than the popular perception which might have seen only the superficial camel's hair blanket he wore and his spartan diet. He referred them to another word in the scriptures where it said someone would come to tell them the Anointed One was on his way. Always testimony corroborated either by another witness or by an earlier promise. "Didn't I say I would...?" This is no accident; it is the expected outcome." Exactly the same test is used in proving scientific theories: the test has to be repeated. We are all familiar with the court system that requires a second witness to corroborate the first.
But there is a difference with religion and spirituality. Mostly in science and legal procedures it is about something or someone else that proof is required. Here it is about my own conviction as to the direction my life should take; about my deepest self-assessment; self-esteem itself.
What am I? There are different ways I can investigate that: if I take the path of the spiritual I will be asking am I just the self I have made myself to be? Will it be ended, dead and buried and fittingly forgotten, and that's all there is to me? Or am I a deep pool of mystery reflecting the Mystery that is beyond? I know the surface intercourse of talk and busy transit back and forth all over. But when I'm at home inside myself and sense the depth of be-ing, can I trust this sense of being in communion with the Deep?
Revelation says Yes.
That's as far as we can go by ourselves: Gnose auton! Know yourself. Respect the other for fairness' sake.
Then God speaks. The MOST fundamental, the very first foundation of the Jewish/Christian and Muslim traditions is that God speaks to us. If we do not start here we are not even on the train. let alone the right train. It is by an initiative coming from beyond, an intrusion breaking into our realm, that the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. Seeing this is the very first awakening.
Every morning, now that there's no need to be up and on my way to work, I have this little struggle to stay asleep or at least to stay in that pleasant half-awake, half-dream world of warm blankets. It takes a choice every single morning to open my eyes and see. To wake up. To grow up. To respond this day of life and all the unexpected it will bring. Every morning I choose to say Yes, and open myself to the gifts awaiting me. In every moment I will hear the Great Mystery, like a father, saying, "You are mine. I have made you. I love you. I will have you within me for endless ever."
No reed waving in the wind, but a seer: a man who could see more than he could express in words or the people around could possibly comprehend. The greatest seer ever to see for he saw the one anointed of the Spirit in the flesh.
John's version of the gospel places the Baptiser in the first lines of the introduction, his necessary place. "There was a man sent by God, his name was John. He was not the One but was sent to announce the One, which he did: the Word enfleshed, become one of us, like us but filled with grace and truth - unlike us who are starving hungry for grace and truth, or so full of ourselves that we don't give a fig about what's real.
What is real?
That the Mystery Beyond and Within is not darkly hidden but is self-revealing. In our terms, it is real that historically there is a line of awareness among real men and women threaded through the ages. Take hold of that thread and draw it out and it does not break. It is as real as any historical sequence of true witness. Every step is corroborated by another, another step before or after, another person to authenticate what really is the truth.
John's gospel has the pharisees challenging Jesus: By what authority do you do these things? Jesus was up to the challenge and welcomed it, as every witness must welcome the question that tests his authenticity.
The Agnostic's Handbook
It could be called 'Agnosticism 101'. You can own your own Library of Agnostic Literature for a few dollars or access it in a dozen formats on the Web. For those with a taste for this stuff it's quite a read, a bumpy, roller-coaster ride through tangles of mythical history and historical myth. And it's not a Disney fabrication. It is a genuine antique where you can touch and taste the experience of early civilisations in the clash of ages between Agnostics and the rest. Some of the books were best-sellers in their day; others are as interesting as a copy of the White Pages Phone Book 1970, so it's better to dip in here and there rather than attempt to read from A to Z. Heroes there are aplenty, and anti-heroes, major villans, tyrants and traitors, and on every page the pervasive smell of evil. Nothing is sacred. No one is uncontaminated by doubt. The masses repeatedly slide into the valley of indifference. Champions of Truth stand like mighty rocks against the river's rushing flow until each in the end is swept away to oblivion as the snow-melt of time's mountains sends spring floods rushing down the ravines to the timeless deep. Agnostics will have a ball.
In today's episode a man called John is acknowledged as the finest person ever born. But he too doubts. The book opens with John telling the crowds who flocked to hear his raspy voice ripping into the leaders of the time that his was only the warm-up act.