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FROM A READING FOR DEC. 15, THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
'Do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged....As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.' - James 5:9-10

One problem we face during Advent is that many of the liturgical readings we employ give the impression that something is still to come which is already here, or at least should be here.

When, for instance, on Sunday we hear Isaiah comforting his people (Is 35:1-6a,10) with the assurance that Yahweh is coming "with vindication, with divine recompense to save you," we can easily forget that Jesus, as Yahweh, has already come to save us. What the prophet hoped for, we supposedly have.

If that's the case, then how come the eyes of all the blind aren't opened or the ears of the deaf cleared? Why aren't the lame leaping like stags or the tongues of the mute singing? Obviously, many of our doctors are overworked with appointments and our hospitals are overflowing with patients. Shouldn't Jesus have already taken care of these blind, deaf, lame, mute and sick people? After all, He arrived more than 2,000 years ago.

It appears from Sunday's gospel (Matthew 11:2-11) that John the Baptizer had the same problem. "When in prison he heard of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with the question, 'Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?'"

What He'd done
Jesus answers by ticking off some of His accomplishments: "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."

In other words, "I'm fulfilling the messianic hopes of prophets like Isaiah. Haven't you noticed?"

The risen Jesus doesn't seem to be working the same miracles today. Maybe that's why Matthew's Jesus adds the haunting sentence, "Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me." We presume a lot of people in the evangelist's community were taking offense. Jesus simply wasn't meeting all their needs.

That might be where the last line of the Gospel passage comes in. After answering John's question, Jesus assures the crowd, "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."

As Matthew's Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount, we're the "salt of the earth" and the "city built on the mountaintop." We're important folk. We're the people to whom He's entrusted His ministry; we're "other Christs." If stupendous things aren't happening today, it's our fault. We're not giving ourselves completely over to the message He taught and lived.

What we're to do<
As the author of the letter of James reminds his community (James 5:7-10), we spend our time "complaining about one another" instead of meeting one another's needs. We refuse to follow Isaiah's command to "strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak," and take care of those "whose hearts are frightened." We expect God to do what God has commissioned us to do.

Years ago, some of my high school students, reacting to my lament that practically no one puts Jesus at the center of his or her Christmas preparations, gifted me with a homemade chapel banner sporting a picture of Santa Claus, accompanied by one of the lines I mentioned above from Sunday's Gospel: "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we wait for another?"

If we really believe Jesus, not Santa, has come and is at the heart of this season, we should be zeroing in giving others ourselves instead of things.[[In-content Ad]]

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