Understanding the Word

By Br. John R. Barker, OFM

Despite the promises of glorious restoration given through earlier  prophets, decades after the Exile, Jerusalem and Judah remained  small and poor. Isaiah’s answer to the question “Why isn’t God  doing anything?” has two aspects. The first answer is to be patient  and trust, with a hopeful confidence that what God has promised  will be done. The second aspect is captured by the phrase “wrapped  me in a mantle of justice.” The people must also take responsibility  for the problems that led to the Exile in the first place, especially  widespread injustice, which seems to have continued after the Exile.  Trust in God’s fidelity had to be combined with resolve to mend their  ways and live within God’s will. 

Saint Paul concludes his First Letter to the Thessalonians by  encouraging a people that has struggled to make sense of the apparent  delay in the return of Christ. It is difficult to maintain religious fervor  and faith under such circumstances, and the tendency was to grow  doubtful or negligent. But the Thessalonians should rejoice and keep  up their prayer, especially thanksgiving. Attend to the gifts that God  has given, Paul says, but do not be naïve: everything must be tested  for its goodness. The letter ends with a prayer that God will preserve  the Thessalonians during this difficult time, keeping them holy and  blameless. God is faithful. The promises given in Christ will come  to pass.

As in last week’s Gospel, John the Baptist announces that he is  preparing the way for one greater than himself. In response to a  challenge from the priests and Levites, who want to know what role  John believes he plays in the expected coming of the Messiah, he  assures them that he is not the Messiah, nor Elijah (see Malachi  3:23–24), nor “the Prophet” promised by Moses (Deuteronomy  18:15), understood by some Jews in the first century to be a  messianic figure. By what authority, then, does he baptize, if he has  no messianic pretensions? John affirms that he has no authority; his  role is simply “to testify to the light” coming into the world. 

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