3rd Sunday of Advent – Year A (Matthew 11:2-11)

The Baptizer’s disciples ask Jesus if he is the one who is to come. Jesus replies that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. I am not blind, lame, a leper, deaf, dead or poor. Of course it is possible to spiritualize this list to make it applicable to everyone, but I think Jesus’ intentions were quite literal. So what, then, does the advent of the Christ have to do with me or, depending on your circumstances, you? For those of us outside these categories, Jesus asks only that we do not take offence at his preference for the outcast. It is to the homeless shelter, the AIDs clinic, the mental hospital and the welfare office that Christ comes. His advent is first of all for them and it is from the abundance of blessing and healing for them that we too find the free gift of grace. Blessed are those who do not take offence.