Sack Cloth is So In These Days
Dec 10: Saturday of the Second Week of Advent
Advent is a less austere time than Lent, but there’s still a certain amount of somberness as we wait for the birth of Christ. So it makes sense today that we’re thinking about Elijah and John the Baptist, who were both known for their asceticism.
Reading I
Sir 48:1-4, 9-11
In those days, like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits; By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire. How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Whose glory is equal to yours? You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses. You were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob. Blessed is he who shall have seen you and who falls asleep in your friendship.
Sirach is one of the longest books of wisdom. It’s mostly advice to Jews on how to maintain their faith. Ironically, it’s a deuterocanonical book, so a lot of Jewish/Christian traditions don’t preserve it in their canon.
Anyway, this is a great example, emphasizing the greatness of Elijah. He is rightly remembered as one of the great prophets. But to Christians, he’s also noted as a precurses to John the Baptist, because their messages and presentations are so similar. (The kids playing dirges yesterday, remember?)
Responsorial Psalm
80:2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
From your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
Take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
May your help be with the man of your right hand,
with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
This Psalm was written after a military defeat, and calls for spiritual renewal (as Elijah and John the Baptist did). We need God all the time, but it’s when we’re at our lowest points that we most readily recognize that fact.
Alleluia
Lk 3:4, 6
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
All flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is quoting John the Baptist, quoting Isaiah. Wheels within wheels.1
Gospel
Mt 17:9a, 10-13
As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; 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.
For context, they were coming down the mountain after the Transfiguration. There’s a reason why Elijah was on their minds.
It was written in Malachi2 that Elijah would come before the Messiah. The funny thing about a lot of Messianic prophesies is that many seemed contradictory or unlikely at the time of Jesus. But in retrospect, we can see all of the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus.
This is an instance of Jesus explaining it explicitly; His cousin John is the new Elijah, who was executed for telling the truth, and Jesus says the same will happen to him.
Imagine you’ve been reading all these prophesies your entire life, you’ve concluded that this rabbi from Nazareth is the one they’re talking about, and you suddenly realize that means he’s got to die. That’s gotta be rough.
But that’s why I think the Psalm today was important. It’s not all hugs and rainbows forever. There’s going to be down times, difficult times, even death. But Jesus helps us get through them, which is why we’re looking forward to his second coming, and celebrating the first.