but I tell you that Elijah has already come,
and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.
So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands."
Then the disciples understood
that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
The first Sundays of Advent and many of the weekday readings celebrate the ministry of Saint John the Baptist. He is in many ways a dark figure, somewhat threatening. He seems to be the last of the Hebrew Prophets and the first of the Christian prophets; and a "bridge" between the two testaments. Each of the evangelists saw him as kind of Elijah, though they differed about exactly how he is like Elijah.
Clearly the prophecies in Malachi and Sirach that he would return presented a challenge to Jesus' ministry as the Messiah.
Apologists today say the Jews were looking for a "literal" return of Elijah, that he should return by the same vehicle in which he disappeared -- in a fiery, heavenly chariot with angelic horses (2 Kings 2:11)
I doubt that they were looking for a literal anything, or that the ancients might distinguish literal from symbolic. This seems to be a modern dichotomy alien to religious imagery. Today's fundamentalists with their modernist readings of the Scriptures claim "literal" readings of the scripture.
More precisely, Jewish expectation of Elijah and the Messiah rejected Jesus and his claim about John the Baptist. This is hardly surprising. Religious people, including Christians, rarely agree on the interpretation of any contemporary phenomenon. I'm sure there are many Christians and some Catholics who don't think Pope John Paul II or Mother Theresa should be recognized as saints. It would be absurd to expect that world-wide Jewry of the first century should have recognized Jesus.
It fell to Christian martyrs and apologists to demonstrate his claims by their universal testimony, as it does today. If every Christian were meek and mild as Jesus was, and eager to prove the faith by martyrdom, the whole world might welcome Jesus as Lord -- but neither is likely to happen in the foreseeable future.
That being said, we who attend the Church and hear the Gospel announced with its stories about John the Baptist, should make ourselves available to his challenge:
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” ’By prayer and fasting, by almsgiving and church attendance, we admit our sinful condition and permit God to make us worthy to receive the gift of Jesus.
Never mind what the Jews might say about Jesus or John the Baptist, the question is, "Are the corridors of my heart straight before the coming of the Lord?"
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.