Advent Reflections

Isaiah tells of a time when nature will blossom, a time when the deaf will hear, and the blind will see. The lowly will find joy in God. Life will have a positive slant. The tyrants and arrogant will have had their time and that time is over. It is now the time for the poor, the lowly, the blind, the deaf, the lame. We begin the Advent season each year with these same readings. We yearn for the time Isaiah foretells. As we begin each Advent season, we see ways that the poor are still with us. People are blind and deaf to hearing the word of God. We look around at the world today. We see disease, we see people out of jobs, we see so much that could be different. We lament. When God? When will your time come? When God? When will your reign be manifest in our broken world?

Jesus talks to us today about a faith that is manifested in action. The Word of God expressed in the law of God is a source of salvation when it is put into practice. In the Semitic world, one of the pillars of authentic wisdom were not the statements proclaimed but the living practice of those statements. The practice of the will of God is therefore the coherence between the letter that is read and the practice that is lived.

When I read this scripture, I am usually focused on the healing miracles and the miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes. So, I was a little surprised when the words that caught my attention were Jesus’ gentle, loving words, “…I do not want to send them away hungry.” After the miraculous healing of all those who were brought to him – the blind, the lame, the mute and others, Jesus noticed that the people had run out of food and he wanted to be sure their very basic human need for something to eat before a long journey was met.

I love how so many of our scripture readings start during the season of Advent. We get phrases like the one we have today, “On that day.” It shows us that we’re pointing towards something. Isaiah gives us this beautiful prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, about the Root and the Stump of Jesse — about how he will judge with justice, how he will be a friend to the poor and the down-trodden. We also get the incredible vision of peace — the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the goat, the calf, the young lion and the child. Enemies in a sense will become friends. It’s a great vision for what is hoped for.

" Come with Me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. " Come after Me. Come with Me. Come and see. These are different Scripture translations of Jesus' invitation to Andrew and the other Apostles. His promise is to transform their lives and make them a new kind of person.