Father Koch: God fulfills his promise in unimaginable ways
December 8, 2022 at 7:55 p.m.
Any people who are oppressed look for a savior. The ancient Hebrews longed for freedom while under the yoke of the Egyptians. At various times when the Israelites were subjugated by more powerful nations, the people cried out to God for release from their oppression. During the exile, they longed to be restored to their land. At the time of Jesus, there was a strong desire to cast off the Roman hegemony and restore the glory of the past. John the Baptist preached the coming of the messianic kingdom, but even he seems unsure as to how that promise was being fulfilled.
The joy-filled Readings of the Third Sunday of Advent offer us a deep sense of hope. In the midst of impending destruction, Isaiah the prophet imagines a world of plenty and overflowing beauty. The deserts will be lush with vegetation, watered by the spring rains. All that is desolate will be made new, that which is destroyed will be restored, death itself will be powerless. It takes a great deal of hope to prophesy joy and restoration during a time of gloom and sadness. In our day, as we undergo our own time of uncertainty, afflicted by war, climate change, and political upheaval, all we hear are voices of gloom. It is as though all hope is lost and a time of total upheaval and turmoil awaits us before the end of the century.
While we always live with some apocalyptic fervor, the forces of the world prefer to propagate fear and uncertainty instead of hope and joy. While there is an inevitable period of tribulation, and each age of history has its transformative struggle, the coming of the Kingdom of God is the certain hope of the future. A worldview that rejects God and the coming of the kingdom can only foresee death and destruction.
John the Baptizer lived in hope at the coming of the Messiah, and spent his prophetic life preparing the Jewish people by preaching a period of repentance to ready themselves for that kingdom. Unfortunately, he found himself imprisoned and awaiting execution. There his hope had to remain strong and he needed to strengthen his disciples. John then sent some of his disciples to Jesus with the question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we await another.”
What is the meaning of the question? Clearly we can interpret this question in distinctly different ways. Some see in John one who doubts. Jesus is not the Messiah John expected. While John preached a strong message of repentance and conversion, Jesus’s message, while not dissimilar, was less empathic. Jesus captured his listeners with parables and aphorisms. Jesus engaged sinners, and even went to their homes to share a meal. Jesus offered clear instruction as to how to be a disciple and to prepare oneself for the coming of the Kingdom.
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John did not have the gift of physical healing. No one came to him to be cleansed of leprosy, or to have their sight or hearing restored. John performed nor exorcisms, nor did he raise anyone from the dead.
John preached the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus inaugurates the kingdom through his work. He first built his reputation as a healer. It is this that he emphasizes in his response to John’s disciples: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”
The Kingdom of God indeed is coming and coming with the power of God to overcome the sin of the world and the effects of sin in the world. Jesus connects his mission to a prophecy of Isaiah, the hope and promise of liberation and restoration.
Some interpret the question of John’s disciples as a sign to them of what John already knew, and that he sent them to Jesus so that they might become his disciples. We do not know, however, whatever became of them.
In our time we are called to recognize the mighty acts of God at work in the world, manifested first through the forgiveness of sins and overcoming the effect of sin in the world. Unless we are attuned to the power of the kingdom at work, as are inclined to miss it.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
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Any people who are oppressed look for a savior. The ancient Hebrews longed for freedom while under the yoke of the Egyptians. At various times when the Israelites were subjugated by more powerful nations, the people cried out to God for release from their oppression. During the exile, they longed to be restored to their land. At the time of Jesus, there was a strong desire to cast off the Roman hegemony and restore the glory of the past. John the Baptist preached the coming of the messianic kingdom, but even he seems unsure as to how that promise was being fulfilled.
The joy-filled Readings of the Third Sunday of Advent offer us a deep sense of hope. In the midst of impending destruction, Isaiah the prophet imagines a world of plenty and overflowing beauty. The deserts will be lush with vegetation, watered by the spring rains. All that is desolate will be made new, that which is destroyed will be restored, death itself will be powerless. It takes a great deal of hope to prophesy joy and restoration during a time of gloom and sadness. In our day, as we undergo our own time of uncertainty, afflicted by war, climate change, and political upheaval, all we hear are voices of gloom. It is as though all hope is lost and a time of total upheaval and turmoil awaits us before the end of the century.
While we always live with some apocalyptic fervor, the forces of the world prefer to propagate fear and uncertainty instead of hope and joy. While there is an inevitable period of tribulation, and each age of history has its transformative struggle, the coming of the Kingdom of God is the certain hope of the future. A worldview that rejects God and the coming of the kingdom can only foresee death and destruction.
John the Baptizer lived in hope at the coming of the Messiah, and spent his prophetic life preparing the Jewish people by preaching a period of repentance to ready themselves for that kingdom. Unfortunately, he found himself imprisoned and awaiting execution. There his hope had to remain strong and he needed to strengthen his disciples. John then sent some of his disciples to Jesus with the question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we await another.”
What is the meaning of the question? Clearly we can interpret this question in distinctly different ways. Some see in John one who doubts. Jesus is not the Messiah John expected. While John preached a strong message of repentance and conversion, Jesus’s message, while not dissimilar, was less empathic. Jesus captured his listeners with parables and aphorisms. Jesus engaged sinners, and even went to their homes to share a meal. Jesus offered clear instruction as to how to be a disciple and to prepare oneself for the coming of the Kingdom.
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John did not have the gift of physical healing. No one came to him to be cleansed of leprosy, or to have their sight or hearing restored. John performed nor exorcisms, nor did he raise anyone from the dead.
John preached the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus inaugurates the kingdom through his work. He first built his reputation as a healer. It is this that he emphasizes in his response to John’s disciples: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”
The Kingdom of God indeed is coming and coming with the power of God to overcome the sin of the world and the effects of sin in the world. Jesus connects his mission to a prophecy of Isaiah, the hope and promise of liberation and restoration.
Some interpret the question of John’s disciples as a sign to them of what John already knew, and that he sent them to Jesus so that they might become his disciples. We do not know, however, whatever became of them.
In our time we are called to recognize the mighty acts of God at work in the world, manifested first through the forgiveness of sins and overcoming the effect of sin in the world. Unless we are attuned to the power of the kingdom at work, as are inclined to miss it.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.