A homily for the third Sunday in Advent
There were problems in the early Christian community. The widows of the Greeks complained they weren’t getting the same amount of food as the widows of the Hebrews. And so the apostles say, let’s get deacons, and they can serve. Deacons were formed, instituted, because there was division to heal the division. And I think that’s the call of everyone is to heal the division.
In today’s gospel, the disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus and say, are you the one who we know for another? And Jesus says, report what you see, that the blind see the deaf hear the lame walk. And I think that’s what Christians do. Oftentimes the community, we don’t want to see each other’s viewpoint. There’s division. We don’t want to hear each other’s arguments or even listen.
We don’t want to walk the extra mile with our brother or sister, but we’re called to be one in Christ, to see the viewpoint, to hear the arguments. To walk the extra mile. Saint Teresa of Avila says, “look for Christ our Lord in everyone. And then you will have respect and reverence for all”. I think that’s the key to being Christlike.
Christ says blind, see deaf. Hear lame walk. And when we see Christ in one another, it’s the same thing. We hear one another. We walk with one another. We listen to one another.
