Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - Catching a Fisherman
Catching a Fisherman
When Peter went fishing that evening, he could never have imagined that his life was going to be changed forever. Though he had toiled the whole night (Lk 5:5), he had nothing but an empty net to show. Perhaps Peter was not a person who got disappointed fast. He could clean his net. There will be another night, another try, and with better luck a good catch. It can be safely assumed that Peter did not mind lending his boat to the teacher who had become famous as one who taught with authority. Did he know Jesus already? C. Bernard Ruffin in his book The Twelve: The Lives of the Apostles after Calvary,gives us to understand that this was not Peter’s first meeting with Jesus. He says to the effect that the first meeting between the two took place the way we find it explained in Jn 1: 42. But then in the first chapter of John we have no words attributed to Peter; whereas in the gospel passage we are reflecting on we hear Peter speaking twice.
It does not matter if we can accept the conclusion arrived at by Ruffin. It does not matter whether Peter had known Jesus already. On that day Peter would have, in all probability, lent his boat to anyone for some time because he did not immediately need it.
We do not know if Peter paid any attention to what Jesus told the people while sitting in the boat a little away from the shore. But he did pay heed to the suggestion of the carpenter from Nazareth: “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” There was power and authority in the suggestion. Or was it a command? The net was to be let down for a catch and not for another try. Peter did not protest saying, “I’ve already washed the net clean”. What he said was, “If you say so, I will let down the nets.” Of course, before expressing his acquiescence he let the Lord know of his disappointment: “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.”
What we can know from the gospel account is that Peter was a wise man. He already knew the difference between luck and providence. He knew that the huge catch could not be explained away as a chance event. His simple reason told him that one who had power over rivers and seas and the creatures in them had to be Lord. And God’s generosity to any human has to be a great event. As one who notices the faintest stain on a pure white background, in a flash Peter put his soul before the Lord. And then he could not but sink to his knees. The words he uttered were but a cry that rose from his heart: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This response (I don’t think, it was a reaction) is indeed reminiscent of Isaiah’s response (Is. 6:5).
Awareness of sin can lead either to positive action or to negative withdrawal. Many do experience a feeling of unworthiness; but all do not respond in a positive way. Some avoid sacraments, some stop going to Church. Some allow their hearts to be further hardened. But there are also many who sink to their knees in the confessional.
What is interesting is the way Jesus responded. His action is just like that of the father in the parable of the prodigal son. In the parable, the father seems not to have heard the confession of his once wayward son. He just gave instructions for his life from that moment on (Lk. 15: 22-24). Now Jesus too did not say anything directly regarding Peter’s confession. He told him what he wanted from that moment on: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” First the Lord took Peter’s boat. Then he took Peter himself. He had come for him!
We know what happened then. Before Peter was the biggest catch of his life. It was a fortune for him, who till then was so ordinary. We do not know if Peter threw a glance at his net that was on the breaking point. We do not know if he looked again at his boat. He just followed the Lord. Years later, St Paul expressed the feeling of Peter and every disciple (including Paul himself) who followed the Lord without counting the cost: “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8).
What St Luke wants to say is that all of us are called just as Peter was. We have to identify ourselves with this great apostle. Peter was so ordinary, not rich, not that successful even as a fisherman. He succeeds only when he obeys Jesus. Obeying the Lord can be very rewarding. That is the way to success in Christian life.
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - Rejection at Nazareth
Rejection at Nazareth
It is strange that the Jesus’ first visit, and the only visit recorded in the gospels, to the place “where he had been brought up” should have ended the way it did. Is it in any way strange that the very first public appearance of Jesus of which Luke speaks should have presented Jesus as a failed evangelist? Knowing that the author of the third gospel was a disciple of St Paul (who had plenty to suffer for the gospel) and considering that he also has written the Acts, a record of the early Church’s struggles (among other things), we can say that the account is placed before us with a special purpose. St Luke wants to tell us that Jesus who was no stranger to any of our experiences had also felt rejection and even failure in the very task he wanted to carry out – bringing good news to the poor. Was he not anointed precisely for that (cf. Lk. 4:18)?
The people were not hostile to Jesus in the beginning. His fame had preceded him. They had heard reports of what he had done at Capernaum. Perhaps there were great expectations. No wonder, therefore, the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. His townsfolk considered what he said as “gracious words” (Lk 4:22), meaning ‘words of salvation’ which could come only from the mouth of the Lord (Dt. 8:3). Still, it seems that something went wrong. Going by the gospel account it appears that within a few moments, from the time our Lord began speaking, the mood of the audience and the atmosphere in the synagogue underwent a tremendous change. Christ’s remarks appear to have further ruffled a few feathers. Is it possible that the expectations of the people smacked of possessiveness and Jesus did not desire to encourage the same? Such an instance of possessiveness is evident in Mk 1:35ff. The main problem was that this attitude could result in regarding our Lord as some sort of magic performer.
Christ’s recalling of the deeds of Elijah (verse 25) and Elisha (verse 27) must have been a reassertion of his resolve to proclaim good news to the poor. No one was to be excluded. The people of Nazareth surely knew that the widow of Zarephath and the leper Naaman were non-Israelites. It is an indication that salvation is open to all. Therefore the message of salvation has to be preached to all. At times one’s own people can come in the way of the proclamation as it was evidenced at Nazareth.
The placing of the incident at Nazareth where Luke has placed it in his “orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us” (1:1) is significant. It is aimed at encouraging all who are involved in spreading the good news. Many have to suffer either for preaching the gospel or for believing in the gospel. Though Jesus began with what looks like failure, he will be ultimately victorious (chapter 24 of Luke). Luke himself knew many disciples of Christ who had joyfully borne the cross in the service of the gospel. He has recorded the opposition Paul and Barnabas had to face from the Jews (Acts 13: 44ff). Paul has spoken about the affliction he and his companions experienced in Asia. It was so severe that they were unbearably crushed and they despaired of life itself (2 Cor 1:8). A more elaborate description of Paul’s sufferings can be found in the 11thchapter of 2 Corinthians.
Considering the above we can say that the gospel depicting the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth is intended to be a message of encouragement to all.
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - Baptism of the Lord
A Short Reflection on the
Baptism of Jesus
There may be a tendency in many of us to think that Baptism of Jesus is just an incident in the life of the Lord. We may also think that we can understand the event well. On meditating on the Baptism of Jesus we will understand that this is an event that draws us more and more or deeper and deeper into the mystery of redemption.
We can begin with the assertion that is common to us: Jesus received Baptism in the river Jordan from John the Baptist. John’s baptism was different from the usual religious ablutions. It was a baptism that was not to be repeated. It was the external expression of the interior conversion and so it marked the beginning of a new life. St Mark tells us that people from the whole Judean country side and all the people of Jerusalem were baptised “confessing their sins” (Mk 1:5).
We can take the above information together with the one contained in Mk 1:9 and say that Jesus was an outsider in two respects. He was an outsider in relation to the provenance of the people gathered around John. Was he the only “odd man out” in this respect? One cannot be absolutely sure. Jesus was also an outsider in comparison to the spiritual fibre of those who came for baptism. He was tested in every way as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4: 15 cf. also Jn 8:46). The same cannot be said about the people. They had to confess their sins. And they had sins to confess.
That Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and joined a multitude of a different area and took the plunge of baptism in the Jordan speaks of certain deliberateness regarding the entire event. Surely, he went to the Jordan because it was there where the sinners had congregated. Had he not come to seek and save the lost ones? He who had taken his place among the homeless when he was born was taking his place among sinners on that eventful day.
As he did not have any sin to confess, what did Jesus do while going into the watery tomb? Luke says that he was praying (3:21). What must have been the content of Christ’s prayer? The evangelist does not say that. But considering the whole of Christ mystery we can, I suppose, make an intelligent guess about the same. There must have been two elements in his prayer. It must have been, first of all, the moment of his surrender to the Father’s will. At the time of annunciation Mary had uttered her fiat, saying, “let it be”. His baptism must have been the moment Jesus uttered his own fiat. Secondly, before going under the water, he must have glanced at the people that had thronged there and there must have been a prayer for them too in his heart. May be he said, “Father, forgive them”. Calvary might not have been the only place where Jesus pleaded for our forgiveness. Calvary was the place where our Lord showed that even the cross man made for him could not prevent him from praying for our forgiveness. Pleading for sinners was, so to say, in his blood!
The Baptism of Jesus was, I think, the sacramental enacting of Gethsemane and Calvary, analogical to what happened at the Last Supper. His emerging from Jordan along with the divine acclamation, “You are my Son, the beloved,” would find its fulfilment on the day of Resurrection. No wonder, St John Chrysostom once said: “Going down into the water and emerging again are the image of descent into hell and Resurrection.”
Baptism of Jesus, in a way, brought to completion the ministry of John. He had not only prepared a people for the coming of the Messiah, but also, at least not knowing fully, got the Lord ready to begin his mission. It is a mission that finds its fulfilment in the Paschal Mystery. No wonder Jesus himself would refer to his redemptive deeds as Baptism (Mk 10:38).
Let me conclude with what St John has said: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:1-2)
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - Epiphany
Solemnity of Epiphany
Today’s gospel begins with the information that wise men came from the East to Jerusalem looking for the child who has been born king of the Jews. Despite the depiction of the visitors as kings in the crib sets, the appellation wise men fit them best. They were indeed wise. Wisdom is more than intelligence. Intelligence can be and is used either for good or for bad; whereas wisdom seeks the good alone. May be it can be said that it is when God breathes into intelligence that wisdom comes alive. No wonder, the book of Proverbs teaches us that the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth we obtain knowledge and understanding (2:6). Such knowledge must have prompted King Solomon’s prayer we find in the first book of Kings (3: 6-9).
The wise men, it appears, believed that “the heavens are telling the glory of the Lord” (cf. Ps 19:1). Long before St Paul presented the cosmological argument in germinal form for the existence of God (Rom 1: 19-20), the author of the book of Wisdom exhorted all to look beyond the visible world and ponder on its maker (Wis. 13: 1-9). Those who fail to do it are indeed foolish by nature (Wis. 13: 1ff.).
At the time of Jesus’ birth the expectations of the birth of an extra ordinary personage was very high both in the gentile world and among the Jews. What we learn in the Gospel is that the wise men saw an extra ordinary star. It had risen in the East. Being wise, they wondered, maybe in the way Moses had wondered about the burning bush. They may not have been satisfied with the casual dismissal of the phenomenon as done by the ordinary people. They understood that an extraordinary sign could surely point to an extraordinary occurrence. This could be the announcement of the birth of the long awaited extraordinary person – the King of the Jews*, as they called him (Mt. 2:2). This title will not be taken away from the Lord even at the time of his death!
The wise men of today’s gospel are the first individuals in the New Testament who dared abandon their homes, their family and friends, their native land and the security they enjoyed to set out on a journey which, they hoped, would bring them to their king – all because they allowed a star to speak to them. Surely, they were not the only people who gazed into the sky in that all important night. Others also saw; but did not perceive.
As they traversed the vast terrain between the orient and Jerusalem – Bethlehem, they allowed themselves to be led by providence and their personal beliefs. The providence was manifest in the form of the star. It guided them. It appears that the star was ‘born’ just for them – to lead them to a humble cave! St John Chrysostom says to the effect that this star was extraordinary. It must have done its task of guidance at day time too. There was some power behind it endowed with reason. When the wise men moved, it moved. When they stopped it stood – as the need required it. It was like the pillar of cloud of the exodus fame, which halted and roused up the Jews as and when needed.
It is clear that during their journey the wise men heeded to their prior knowledge (prejudice) too. Being people possessing vast knowledge, perhaps they knew that Jerusalem was David’s capital. Hence the halt at the palace of Herod. The stop was providential. It shook Herod, who had claimed to be the redeemer of the Jewish kingdom. Within a gap of three years, Herod had executed three of his sons (Alexander and Aristobulus in 7 B.C and Antiaper in 4 B.C.) because he considered them threats to his throne. The stop at Jerusalem had also woken up the chief priests and scribes from their religious slumber. But none of them thought of looking for the babe. None of them adored him. The wise men from the East will ever remain symbols of those who constantly seek their redeemer. Let us strive to be in their company!
*After the wise men, the title King of the Jews was used by the Gentile Pilate during the trial of Jesus. This was the title used in the inscription on the cross. So Pope Benedict surmised that the mystery of the cross , inseparably linked with Jesus’ Kingship, was already present at Christ’s birth. (cf. Jesus of Nazareth)
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - Holy Family
Holy Family
A Short Reflection
What can be considered as the greatest quality of family life is expressed in the concluding verse of today’s gospel: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and years, and in divine and human favour” (Lk.2:52). Family essentially promotes growth (and hence life) and anything that is against growth goes against the grain of the family.
The gospel of the day speaks about a problem that the ‘first family’ (forgive the American expression) of the Church had to face. The only child of the family was missing, evidently lost in the crowd at Jerusalem. It is not that surprising. According to Joachim Jeremias, during the Passover celebrations a large number of pilgrims (85,000 to 1,25,000) used to join about the 25,000 residents of the town. It is reckoned that there used to be one person in every 35 square metres of the area. One, especially a child, could be lost there. But then as Epictetus says to the effect, it is not the problems that are bothersome but the way you look at them! What we can surmise from the gospel is that Mary and Joseph did not blame each other. What we learn is that together they looked for their missing boy. They searched for Jesus till they found him. It must have been the three longest days of their lives – days of pain and anxiety.
For the moment I shall not ponder on the dialogue that took place between Mary and Jesus in the Temple. What I think is that even this incident must have contributed to the growth of Jesus as a human being. Luke affirms that he grew in years, in wisdom (I have adjusted the order a bit) and inhuman and divine favour. By ‘in years’ I take that Jesus grew physically; because every winter and summer of our lives leaves their imprints on our bodies. He grew in wisdom. Wisdom is more than knowledge. It involves the right use of knowledge. Already at 12 Jesus showed an astounding maturity and grasp of things. He could sit among the teachers Torah in the Temple. He was the centre of attention as he listened and asked questions. (Listening is a sign of maturity and asking good questions is a sign of intelligence.) Jesus grew in human favour. It implies that he was loved and respected by people. It is definitely because he loved and respected others. (We will do well to remember that he was obedient to his parents. Cf. 2:51) Jesus also grew in divine favour. As a child he must have learned to pray sitting in the lap of Mary, who must have told him about surrendering oneself to the divine will. Mary did know a thing or two about it.
It is certain that through their loving and sacred presence, Mary and Joseph contributed much to the all round development of Jesus. In a family life of one member is intertwined with the lives of other members. It is where important moral and spiritual values are learned and foundation for one’s future happiness is laid.
The holy family of Nazareth was like all our families except sin. Family life is indeed like a bed of roses – ratio of thorns may be more! There may be much pain – physical, mental and emotional. There will be stress, struggle, fear and worry. There can be the ever extant financial problems. (In this regard, Mary and Joseph could find no solace in a Son who, even in his public life, never worked a miracle that resulted in his own physical comfort.) There can be accidents, sickness, and even death! Tradition says that Joseph had died in the arms of Jesus and Mary even before the former had begun his public ministry.
From what happened on Calvary we know that Mary was a woman of faith. Her faith must have surpassed that of Abraham. Even the most brutal death of her only Son could not break her. One who has something to look forward to is never broken. What Mary clung on to was her faith mingled knowledge that the promises of God would be fulfilled. That is the lesson for all our families. God did not insulate the holy family from the problems and struggles of this world just because his Son was born into it. He allowed Joseph and Mary lead the kind of lives they did not only to prepare Jesus for the public ministry but also to present the holy family as an example for every family and every one of us.
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - Contemplating the Crib
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril
Contemplating the Crib
A Short Reflection on Christmas
On this Christmas day once again we will be standing in a church, before a crib. And the crib is a twofold reminder. It reminds us about the manner of Christ’s birth. It also reminds us about the failure of the humans to receive their Saviour. This would not have happened if the people whom Joseph had approached had observed the rule of hospitality so dearly held by the Jews: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Dt 10:19).
The notion of hospitality comes in because it is possible that Joseph had not gone to any inn (pandokheion Lk 10:34) which is some kind of public lodging place, but rather to the house of a relative (after all, Bethlehem was his ancestral town), where he sought place in the guest room – kataluma (Lk 2:7 and 22:11). It is significant that Jesus was given the guest room by a stranger for the Passover celebration but was denied the same by his own when he was to be born. Hence John’s statement in 1:11 (“He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him) can be taken both in a narrow sense and in a broad sense.
I think, it was in Utopia I found the remark, “He who does not have a grave will be covered by the sky”. Jesus would not be denied a grave; but even before he was born he was denied an abode. He who is ‘shown the door’ is free to look everywhere else. That is exactly what happened. He who chose the manner of his sacrificial death must have willed to be born in this way – in a shelter for animals and warmed by the breath of the beasts. He was neither confined to a house, nor ensconced in a guest room. His place of birth was ‘open’ to all – be they humble shepherds or Truth seeking wise men. May be this is how he had ‘planned’ it – to be where the poor and the homeless could be. This kind of situation set him free to roam where sowers sowed seeds, where farmers watched in helplessness weeds growing with wheat, where fisher folk separated good fish and bad catch, where people with virulent skin diseases groaned out in desperation, where harlots wished for another chance for amendment, and where sinners longed for an understanding look. He was there where all these were, offering them peace, hope, joy and salvation. So much so that a condemned man left to die on a gibbet could dare hope to possess God’s own kingdom.
As Thomas Merton has put it, “Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room.”
One who does not understand this, will be content with appreciating the decorations of the crib while paying scant attention to the babe who has rendered a special significance to it. And it is when our gaze is diverted from the Holy Babe that we become oblivious of the plight of the marginalised in the society. I do not know what precisely prompted Tagore, but what he has said in Gitanjali does make sense:
“Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil.” Christmas is the time we are invited to look beyond the crib and see the Lord in our own surroundings; especially, as Merton puts it, “in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst.” Wish you a very merry Christmas!
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - Third Sunday of Advent
The Way to Jesus
Short Reflection on Third Sunday of Advent: Cycle C – Lk 3: 10-18.
This Sunday too we continue with our reflection on the ministry of John the Baptist. Evidently he symbolises another nudge from God to the sinful humanity. It is another proof that God will not abandon his sinful children. Many years earlier Prophet Isaiah had said: “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’” (Is 30:21). Now it was the turn of John to tell where the mankind had to ‘walk’.
Today’s gospel begins with the question: “What should we do?” A similar question was once posed by a rich young man (a rich ruler, according to Luke). Whenever such a question is asked, the inquirer knows that something different from the ordinary way of life has to be done. The crowd of today’s gospel too knew that some difference had to be wrought in their lives. John’s answer shows that at least for once the mob was right. And the answer itself sounds like the recipe for a good life worthy of Jesus; because it anticipated, and at least in a minor way prepared the throng for the parable of judgment (Mt 25: 31ff.) and the beatitudes (Mt 5: 3ff.). “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise” (Lk 3:11). This advice of John can be read together with the words of Jesus: “I was naked and you gave me clothing” (Mt 25:36a) and “I was hungry and you gave me food” (Mt 25: 35a). The exhortation to the tax collectors and soldiers (Lk. 3:12-14) jells well with the assurance of Jesus: “Blessed are the peace makers ...” (Mt 5:9). I think in this line, because peacemakers do not wait till destruction of harmony takes place; on the contrary they do their bit to prevent injustice so that peace may prevail.
The parable of judgment and the beatitudes tell us what we are supposed to do to be with Jesus. John the Baptist told the people what they had to do to welcome the Lord. There seems to be no difference between the way Jesus wanted his followers to live and the manner in which John wanted the people to conduct themselves. Perhaps John would not have been satisfied merely by preaching and baptising people. Did he seek some sign to show that the conversion that the people underwent was not just a passing phenomenon? It is not plainly so said in the New Testament. But an indication to that effect can be seen in the Acts of the Apostles.
During his missionary journey St Paul met a group of disciples at Ephesus, who had received John’s baptism but were not baptised in the name of Jesus nor had heard about the Holy Spirit (Acts 19: 1-7). Paul instructed them and baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus (19:5). The fact that it was a group (community) of disciples may indicate that John visualised a people (an assembly) duly prepared to welcome the Messiah. That they were found in a distant place shows that the influence of the Baptist was quite widespread.
John must have been very different from all others that they wondered if he was not the expected Messiah. But he said that the Messiah was greater than him on three grounds: 1) He will baptise (immerse) you in Holy Spirit and fire. 2) He will gather wheat (what is good )into his burn. 3) He will burn chaff in a fire that will never go out. The second and third reasons show Messiah in the role of a judge who cannot make any mistake. It sounds like the preview of the parable of the judgment where we find a clean and radical separation of the sheep and goats! No wonder, Luke considers the activity of John as proclamation of good news, in the line of Jesus. Amen to that! After all he has shown us the way to Jesus.
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - Second Sunday of Advent
When God Speaks
Short reflection, Second Sunday of Advent, Year C - 06.12.2015.
Today’s Gospel presents the second snapshot of John taken by Luke. In the first scene of the life of the Baptist we found him in a hill country, in the town of Judah, in the house of Zechariah (cf. Lk. 1: 39-40). That scene also introduced us to the extraordinary events that surrounded the birth of John.
In today’s gospel we have another scene. John is far removed from his home. He is in the desert. There the word of God came to John. It simply means that God spoke to him. What did God say to John? In the Holy Bible we are told that it was the duty of the prophets to proclaim what God wanted them to say. For example, Jeremiah was told: “you must go to all whom I send you and say whatever I command you” (Jer. 1:7).
Hence we come back to the question: What did God say to John? This can be surmised from what he said and did. From the fourth gospel we know that God told John how to recognize the Messiah. “I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom the Spirit descend and remain is the one ... And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God’” (Jn 1:33-34).
After experiencing rejection at Nazareth, Jesus had wryly remarked: “no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown” (Lk 4:24). But John had no such problem. Even when he realised that the one on whom the Spirit had descended belonged to his own family; John had no difficulty in surrendering to him. He rejoiced as a friend of the bridegroom rejoices, just at the sound of the bridegroom. Hence he would exclaim: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3: 29-30). May be, this can be considered as the Baptist’s own nunc dimittis.
From what unfolded it becomes clear that the clue to recognize the Messiah was not the only message that John got in the desert. He was also told to baptize. John knew that it was not to be another ritual. By baptism what God wanted was to call his people back. And that is precisely what John did. He who had withdrawn into the desert to seek God-experience is sent back by God to the very same people, whom he had left behind. From that moment John was on the move. He went into all the region around the Jordan, telling all who were willing to listen to get ready to welcome the Messiah. Baptism of repentance was to be the external manifestation of a changed life. This spiritual preparation must have contributed to the way ordinary people looked on Christ and, on hearing his teaching and seeing his works wondered if he could indeed be the Messiah.
It all began with a spiritual urge that took John to the wilderness, where he listened to the word of God and came back accepting totally the mission that was given to him. When God speaks, things come to be. It was so in the beginning, it was so 2000 years ago, and it is so today. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Is 55: 10-11).
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril - First Sunday of Advent
Reflection by Rev. Fr. George Kolleril
First Sunday of Advent
The God Who Comes
The Holy Season of Advent reminds us that “He has visited his people and redeemed them”. He redeemed them because they were in need of redemption. The second book of the Bible does not speak about any prayer addressed to God by the people when they were oppressed. It was purely a divine initiative. “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their task masters. Indeed I know their sufferings, and I have come to deliver them ....”
It is this deliverance that became the defining moment in the history of Israel. This deliverance would be recalled again and again on umpteen occasions. It is this deliverance that made the people believe in the coming of the Messiah. A little less than 1300 years later St John would eloquently speak about the subject of the Apostolic Church’s proclamation: “what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, ... we have seen it and testify to it ...”
The personal experience of the people of Israel was rather similar to that of St John. They indeed felt the closeness of their God especially on those occasions that they called out to him (Dt. 4:7). They had heard him speak out of fire and still remained alive (Dt.4:33). Their God had taken them out from the midst of another nation “by trials, by signs and wonders, ...by terrifying displays of power (Dt. 4: 34). No other nation could boast of such God experience. It is this God experience that enabled the Israelites hope for such a divine redemption that went beyond the bounds of this world. It was this experience that gave confidence to Israel to believe in and therefore to expect the coming of a Messiah.
In comparison to the experience of the people of Israel, the birth of Christ was not, in physical terms, an earth shaking event. The sight of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes did not present a singular sight either. But by the time he ‘left ‘ Jesus had left a message based on his life and proved by his death, that has not stopped shaking up the world that rejected him. This message is to be the blueprint of every human life. To the extent we follow it, the Kingdom of God will be realised in the world.
His message is simple: Love one another as he has loved us, be the salt of the earth, light of the world and be like leaven in the dough. This is a call to bring about a transformation around us by being changed into him. Our sincere attempt to do it will be the proof we offer to the world that Jesus is born. He came unto his own when they suffered. He came unto his own when they sinned. Now he seeks to come unto his own through our instrumentality. He is indeed the Lord who comes. Let us wait for him because he will come again.