Third Sunday of Advent, December 15, 2019
5:1-6a, 10; Jas 5:7-10; Mt 11:2-11
Longview

In today’s first reading the prophet Isaiah tells Jewish exiles in Babylon that they will return home, and when they do, things will be better.  After all their suffering, they “will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy.”  This passage has generally been understood as a Messianic prophecy; good things will happen when the Messiah comes.

Through centuries of foreign oppression after the exile, many Jews expected the imminent arrival of the Messiah.  Some people thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah, or Jesus, or some other preacher or rebel against Roman rule.  John knew that he wasn’t the Messiah, and he told people to get ready for the Messiah, so he sent from prison to ask if Jesus was the one. 

But why did the Baptist even ask that question?  Jesus was probably a disciple of John, so John would have known him.  And surely he had heard about what Jesus did.  That’s why he sent his disciples to him.  Then why did he have to ask if Jesus was the one?  Shouldn’t he already have known?  Actually, Jesus seems to be answering a different question: not “Are you the Messiah?” but “What is the role of the Messiah?”  How will you know the Messiah when he comes?

In Jesus’ day, there were many expectations of the Messiah.  The word “Messiah” means the anointed one; the Messiah would be king.  When the Gospel was written, Herod was king.  Many people expected that the Messiah would replace Herod, throw out the oppressors, and make Israel great again.  But Jesus was not a rebel or a military type.  Some people probably expected an easy life, the end to their problems, streets paved with gold.  Others may have looked for punishment to strike the wicked.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah’s prophecy from today’s first reading that promises God will strengthen and heal:

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….

Jesus points to specifics from Isaiah’s prophecy that he has fulfilled.  “The eyes of the blind will be opened”—check!  “The ears of the deaf be cleared”—check!  “Then will the lame leap like a stag”—check!  “Then the tongue of the mute will sing”—check!  Jesus seems to be saying, “The role of the Messiah is to heal, and that’s what I have been doing.”  Christ came to heal, but his main thrust was spiritual healing, for souls and communities and nations and the whole world.  God still wants to heal us, and we need healing so badly.

Recently I heard about Rev. Becca Stevens, an episcopal priest, on the PBS News Hour.  Rev. Stevens created Thistle Farms, an organization that serves women who have survived addiction, prostitution, trafficking, homelessness, prison—losers and sinners in need of healing.  Its motto is, “Love is the most powerful force in the world, because love has the power to heal.”  Thistle Farms offers two-year stays of unconditional love, a safe place to live, and support while healing. No judgment, no reproof.  And it works.  75% of their graduates over the past 20 years are sober, employed, and living successfully on their own.  What an inspiring story! 

We all need healing.  We all carry spiritual wounds and scars.  Our children struggle and divorce.  Our families suffer from divisions and feuds.  Our church is mired in scandal.  Our nation seems to become ever more polarized, with increasing bitterness and rancor.  Isaiah tells us:

Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God….

God wants to heal us and our families, our churches, and our nation.  Christ came to heal.  Let us accept God’s compassionate healing touch, and pass it on.