Dear Parish Family,
In the First Reading, the prophet Isaiah predicts that when the Messiah comes, he will make the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute speak, and the lame walk and leap. The extra-biblical sources refer to a heightened sense of expectation of the coming of the Messiah at the time of the appearance of John the Baptist. There were many groups preparing in various ways to welcome the Messiah. There were armed resistant groups like the Sicari and Zealots who prepared themselves for rebellion that would over throw the Romans. While other groups prepared for a spiritual renewal like Essene monks and the widely spread ‘Anavim Yaweh’ (the poor of Yahweh). We meet two of these later group in the persons of Simeon and Anna who came to the Temple daily in the hope of meeting the Messiah who will make his appearance in the Temple. So now we can understand why in the Gospel Reading, John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask Jesus whether Jesus is the One the Israelites have been waiting for. Jesus says they should tell John that He has done all these things that the prophets predicted.

The miracle list for the Messiah was a big one. Many other people had come before John the Baptist and Jesus claiming to be Messiah. It was only Jesus who could fulfill the prophetic list of miracles and added an extraordinary one of raising people from the dead. And so a person who does what Jesus did clearly has the power of God. For that reason, he is to be admired, loved, and feared. So why does Jesus finish his list of miraculous deeds by saying “Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me?” Offense? Offense at what?!

The people of Israel over the years came to acknowledge God as the ‘Transcendent Other’, whose name even they feared to utter. They kept their distance from God as a sign of awe, fear and their unworthiness to see or hear his voice. Somehow over time, fear became stronger than love, servile obedience more than reverence. In the person of Jesus they are meeting the God in flesh and blood, ‘in everything like themselves’ and hence their expectations will have to be radically different. Jesus is not unknowable, and he is not something abstract like the God who is pure Spirit. He is a particular person, and he has a face. True, he is God incarnate, and his face is human. But, still, his face is the face of God. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father, Jesus tells Philip (John 14:9).

So we can know God, and we can see God’s face in the face of Jesus. God is present to us as a person in the person of Christ. And God in the person of Christ is always with us (Mt 28:20)! We can know him and face him every day. We are further more blessed, as we can become one with Him at every Eucharist. Blessed is the one who takes no offense at this, rather be ever grateful for the grace of being intimate with God in very human ways.

  Fr. Thomas Kunnel C.O.