The parched land will bloom
December 15, 2019
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Is 35:1-6, 10
The parched land will bloom
Ps 146:6-10
The Lord sets captives free
Jas 5:7-10
As the patient farmer waits for rain
Mt 11:2-11
Tell John what you hear and see
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/ 121519.cfm
[swpm_protected]
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke share two stories about John the Baptist that do not appear in Mark. That would make them part of the “Q-Source” — the other document besides Mark’s Gospel that these two evangelists used in common. The first of these episodes was last Sunday’s Gospel reading. The second is today’s.
Last week we saw John preaching about the crisis to come. His prevailing imagery was that of defoliation, cutting down trees as a symbol of the sharp turning of events. It was a time for deciding. And chopping down trees provides an image of “de-cision,” cutting away the past and putting it behind. We also saw that Matthew, though he shows Jesus picking up on John’s rhetoric, also modifies it with language of healing and deferred time of crisis.
Today we have the follow-up. John has been arrested, and sends messengers from prison to ask Jesus if he is the one to come, or should they look for another. While things started out as John expected, the different turn Jesus takes raises questions. We can almost hear John asking “Where is the axe? Where is the judgment, the call to decision?” Jesus responds by quoting Scripture. The Bible footnotes tell us these are passages from the book of Isaiah (Is 26:19; 29:18-19; 35:5-6; 61:1). The most pertinent of these provides our first reading for today.
Isaiah 35 is not that long, 10 verses, and most of them appears in the today’s selection. It can be read as a poem, written as part of the Second Isaiah collection, in which we have an imaginative account of Israel’s God rescuing them from exile in Babylon. The poem moves in two parts — the Lord crossing the desert to free them like an Entebbe raid, and then returning with the captives in tow (35:1-6, 7-10). And each part has three elements — nature imagery of a desert springing into life (vv. 1-2, 7), the crossing itself (3-4, 8-9), and the report of a people restored (5-6, 10). The nature imagery pictures a greeting of the desert in the form of a route directly across the wasteland, rather than taking the long way around by the famous Fertile Crescent. It suggests the urgency of the situation.
One imagines a greenbelt like a linear oasis across the desert. In the new-found restoration by this greening of arid land, we are given an image of a people restored. They had lost hope, like a barren land. But now new hope arrives. The pictures of restored health in vv. 5-6 are highlighted in the liturgy reading for today.
Second-Isaiah favors this metaphor of a direct route across the desert. He uses it elsewhere, as in the passage depicting God announcing the return (Isa 40:3-5). The Gospels make use of this passage in their account of the beginning of Jesus’ public life. There John is described as “A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths’” Matt 3:3).
So these accounts of renewed foliage answer John’s question in today’s Gospel. John’s signature image is that of chopping down trees, turning forests into deserts. Now Jesus answers with the contrasting image of turning deserts into forests. In his own work in the villages of Galilee, he has been healing those in need of it. And with that, he has been reviving the health of the villages themselves. The land is being renewed, the restoration is in progress. And once the Messiah comes, bringing the Kingdom of God, the return from exile is finally complete. But Jesus’ idea of the Kingdom is quite different from what they were expecting.
For reflection: Matthew’s account of John and Jesus is a drama in itself.
Father Beck is professor emeritus of religious studies at Loras College, Dubuque.
[/swpm_protected]
[swpm_login_form]
