Jesus is in in our midst. Do we Christians get to recognize him? Do we give witness to him by the way we are, live and act? 

Priests, Levites and Pharisees grill John as if they were in court. And he does not hesitate to recognize simply that he is not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet.

It is enough for him to recognize, too, that he is “the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” Besides, he does not deem that he is fit to untie the strap of the sandal of the one who comes after him. Of the one who is in the crowds. But though he is in their midst, those religious leaders do not recognize him still.

We Christians, for our part, do not fail to believe Jesus’ promise to be with us at all times. But are not our concerns to store, to keep things as they are, and to stay safe an obstacle for us to recognize him? Do we not settle for just not doing what is bad and for doing no more than this? Is it enough for us to but read and hear and speak about him?

Yet to recognize him truly means, for sure, to be and live as he. It is to be and live poor. To deny ourselves so that we are at the beck and call of others, of those who are poor, above all. It is to love to the end, to give up our bodies and to shed our blood.

This is the only way, yes, that we Christians can witness to Jesus. Not to do it in this way will make us but a caricature of what it means to be a Christian (SV.EN XII:222). Others will spot us a mile off, and they will, then, take us for hypocrites; we will not help them to go near Jesus.

Lord Jesus, grant that we beam out the light that you are and that our voices call others to fix their gaze on you so that they may recognize you as the Messiah, and that our lives make known your love, your goodness, your joy, and your trust in the Father. 

17 December 2023
Third Sunday of Advent (B)
Is 61, 1-2a. 10-11; 1 Thes 5, 16-24; Jn 1, 6-8. 19-28