Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Antonio Pernia SVD – Divine Word Mission Institute, Tagaytay City
Saturday 2nd Week of Advent
One strong objection, raised by the Jews, to the claim that Jesus was the Messiah came from a text in the book of the prophet Malachi (Mal 3:23), according to which the coming of the Messiah would be preceded by the return of the prophet Elijah.
Jesus accepts the Jews’ reading of this text but responds that Elijah had already come in the person of John the Baptist – truly the Messiah’s precursor. But just as the precursor was not recognized and accepted by the Jews, he too would not be recognized and accepted as the Messiah.
One of the Advent guides for our preparation for Christmas is John the Baptist. The Gospels present him as an ascetic figure, wearing “clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Mt 3:4). He brings a message of repentance and conversion – evoking the fiery image of Elijah in the first reading. What emerges is the sense of radicality and urgency.
The Messiah’s birth is no ordinary event. It is the turning point of history – bridging the divide between heaven and earth, between the Divine and the human, between God and the human being. It therefore demands an urgent response from people. “Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Mt 3:10).
Our preparation for Christmas, therefore, cannot just be a superficial exercise of saying more prayers, fasting from favorite food, or attending the Simbang Gabi. It must mean a radical re-orientation of our lives – from concern for the self to concern for others, from indifference to solidarity with the poor and the marginalized, from selfishness to generosity, from self-keeping to self-giving.
Only then will we truly recognize and accept Jesus to be the promised Messiah and our celebration of Christmas be truly Christ-centered.
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