💖 HOMILY - DECEMBER 14 💖

First Reading - Isaiah 45:6-25

Gospel - Luke 7:19-23

There are situations when we are entangled in faith-crisis and doubts. How do we resolve such situations in our lives. We are encouraged by the readings of today to overcome our faith-crisis in our lives and grow in our faith and trust in God.

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks about the supremacy of God. He asserts the supremacy of God in the background of return of Israel from the exile. The prophet underscores two points: firstly, God is one and supremely powerful; secondly, He is the source of everything - creation, salvation, and victory. The invitation of the prophet is to demand faith and trust from the people.

In the gospel, John the Baptist sends a few of his disciples to Jesus to clarify whether he was truly the fiery Messiah which he had previously described and announced for. Jesus encourages John the Baptist to cast away the popular expectations about the Messiah and simply accept Jesus’ healing and preaching ministry as the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah.

John knew that Jesus was the Christ and, as a prisoner, he wanted his disciples to follow Jesus as their new master. Jesus quoted the prophecy from the Book of Isaiah to help them understand the purpose of his mission. 

However, John began to doubt Jesus’ identity as the promised Messiah because Jesus was not adapting himself as the messiah he himself was expecting; a messiah ready to judge the world. The silent healing, preaching, saving, and empowering ministry of Jesus was a surprise to John and to those who expected a fire-and-brimstone Messiah. Nor did Jesus conform to popular Jewish beliefs about a wealthy, warrior-politician Messiah who would bring political, social, and economic deliverance to Israel. Instead, Jesus pronounced blessings on the poor in spirit, the meek, and peacemakers. Jesus called the disciples to love their enemies. Furthermore, Jesus moved away from Jerusalem, the home of the Temple and the center of religious authority and began preaching and healing in Galilee among the common people. John had proclaimed the power of the coming Messiah to bring in a new age, and instead, he found himself imprisoned in the dungeon of Herod’s prison fortress at Machaerus, southeast of the Dead Sea, wondering why the expected Messiah was not setting him free as Isaiah had predicted.

Dear friends, we need to learn how to survive a Faith-crisis. If John the Baptist, even after having had a direct encounter with Jesus, the Messiah, could come to the point of questioning, doubt and re-orientation of his faith, then so we. In order to rekindle our drooping faith experience, it's important to clarify and resolve our queries and doubts like John the Baptist. We can also learn how to resolve our faith-crisis from John, the Baptist; it's by approaching Jesus, the right person in order to raise our faith experience. John did it, he sent his disciples to clarify and consequently found the answer that he needed to overcome his preconceived ideas about the Messiah. If we approach Jesus with our doubts and queries, we are also assured to recieve an answer from him.

Let's make every effort to resolve our faith-crisis that can hinder us to grow in our faith journey. Let's lift them to Jesus in prayer, and certainly he will answer our prayers.