Wednesday in the Third Week of Advent, December 15, 2021

Luke 7:18b-23

At that time, John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” When the men came to the Lord, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind. And Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

John the Baptist prepared the people for the coming of the Lord.  Once the Lord arrived, John sent his own disciples to him.  Many, such as Andrew and the sons of Zebedee, went to Jesus and became his disciples.  John himself said, “He must increase and I must decrease.”  Some lingered on with John.  Even after John’s imprisonment by Herod, there were those who adhered to him and continued his work.  John sent two of those who had stuck with him to Jesus and had them ask him a question.  It was a question to which John had long known the answer, but he wanted these disciples of his to hear it for themselves so that they might follow Jesus now: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”  In other words, Are you the Redeemer?  We should note that John is careful not to use the loaded term “messiah”.

“At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind.”  St. Matthew provides some context here.  Jesus was not only preaching throughout the land, but performing very many miracles, and in this way he surpassed what John had done.  “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard.”  The Lord does not give them a one-word answer to repeat to John, but allows them some freedom in answering him.  By doing this, he lets the messengers see for themselves and give their own answer.  Jesus does not tell them that they must now follow him, but lets them come to that conclusion on their own.  “The blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  His reply brings to mind a passage from the Song of Songs: “For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.  The fig tree has put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell” (Song of Songs 2, 11-13).  It is a time of rebirth for all creation, signified by these healings and the raising of the dead.  “The poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  The “good news” is the Gospel, or the “announcement” of God that his kingdom has drawn near to men.  This is made known even to the destitute, and so to all people.  No one is left out.

“And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”  More literally, Blessed  is he who is not caused to stumble in me.  That is, caused to stumble in their faith because the Lord came as a Galilean from a tiny town and hat he did not conform to anyone’s expectations for the Messiah.  We can also understand this as pertaining to the human nature which the Lord assumed in his Incarnation.  There were many early Christians and would-be Christians who could not understand how God could do this since mortal flesh and infinite divinity do not go together and are (they thought) opposed to each other.  These people believed that Jesus was God, and merely appeared as a man.  

We do not know what happened with these two witnesses.  They had all the evidence of Jesus as the Savior of the world that they needed to follow him, but they may have stayed with John.  We must all depart from what is comfortable for us and not let the familiar draw us back so that we might go out and follow Jesus.