We have been looking for a Messiah. He will be our savior to keep us pure, separate from the impure foreign infidels and their collaborators. We thought we found our savior in John and were baptized into his group. We had the sense we were emerging from this world’s darkness to find a light for our eyes. We were feeling secure. But recently John sent us looking for the Nazarene. We are to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
We went looking for Jesus as John ordered and what we see has us feeling even less secure. We knew what we had with John. With Jesus we are not so sure. We see someone who is not carving out a sect and does not require a ritual, like baptism, for admission. We see a man who is literally in touch with anybody, everybody, pure and impure. We 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.” He isn’t a conventional leader telling others what to do. Instead, he listens and draws forth the deeper longings of our souls. He tends not to answer questions but instead asks his own. We are feeling uncertain as to what to do next. Shall we return to our righteous and more secure life with John? Shall we instead learn from someone who sees humanity in a new light? We feel we are on the cusp of a change. We sense we are on the edge of a brighter light; awake, aware, and we are trying to really see.
“In a dark time, the eye begins to see, I meet my shadow in the deepening shade … What is madness but nobility of soul At odds with circumstance? My shadow pinned against a sweating wall. That place among the rocks—is it a cave, Or winding path? The edge is what I have.” (In A Dark Time – Theodore Roethke)
Prayer: Spirit of Light, strengthen us to see across the dark edges of our world.
Question: What is it I need to see, really see, that I have not been willing to see before?
December 11, 2016 Gospel Matthew 11:2-11 Third Sunday of Advent