On His Own Terms

Wed of Third Week of Advent (1: Isa 45:6-8,18,21-25 R: Ps 85:9-14 G: Lk 7:18-23 ) 

The coming of the Lord is a cosmic event. And it happens, as it did two thousands years ago, in a way that goes beyond our expectations.  Yes: He comes on His own terms. Am I willing to accept them? or do I continue to put Him under my own expectations? I have to be honest with myself: His coming is not as clear as I would like it to be.

I understand why John the Baptist sent the delegation to Jesus. He had been working so hard to prepare the way of the Lord, to preach the baptism of repentance, and now he hears that Jesus is nothing like he had imagined. What happened? Like I usually do, the first to question is not me but the other. The delegation brings up the question to Jesus: Are you the one? Jesus doesn't answer directly (what else is new! He never does) but He invites them to be more attentive, more "contemplative" and see what was happening around them: He is the One because new things are happening - people are experiencing the Messiah's presence. The coming of the Lord is not something that satisfies the mind or the intellectual curiosity but it is experienced in our lives.

How can I proclaim to the nations that He is coming? I wish i could tell everyone "look at what He has done for me, to me, through me... " but that makes me think: "Have I really let Him transform me as He wants?" Can people read the Gospel by the way I live? Hmmm... lots of more work needs to be done here. Once again, I sing: "O Come, O Come Immanuel..."

He comes! He comes on His own terms, using whatever and whomever He can to reach out to me, to us. Isaiah underlines this reality: His coming is something that involves both heaven and earth. It's interesting that at the time of the prophet, Cyrus a pagan emperor was called Messiah because he brought freedom to the Israelites. Am I opened to the work of God done "outside" of the box in which I comfortably place Him? Do I consider every kind of good work worthy of praise? or do I think that they are not as good because they are not done by "us?"

What happens to us when we open ourselves to the creativity of God? What happens when we open or eyes and start looking for His coming all around us? I believe that we will be able to live out a true aspect of Christianity: the believe that it is a religious based on revelation, on the fact that it is God who reveals Himself to us, and not a religion when we decide what God can or cannot do.

I enter into the Word today with opennes of mind and heart. I pray that I can let the Spirit to help me re-focus on Him-who-is-to-come and I pray that I can recognize His coming today in all the creative ways He decides to use.

He comes on His own terms; I say Yes to Him  and start again.