GO AND TELL WHAT YOU HEAR AND SEE

“The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom. . . .
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God, . . he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared,
the lame leap like a stag, and the mute will sing.”  Isaiah 35: 1-10

“When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
‘Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?’” Matthew 11:2-3

This question is placed in the Gospel of Matthew at the beginning of Jesus’ formal ministry, and Matthew’s Gospel then ends with the Great Commission, “Go out to all nations, teaching them all that I have commanded you. . . . And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” So, what does Jesus’ answer to “Are you the one who is to come?” have to do with Jesus’ ministry and mission, and with His Great Commission that we go out to the world with what we learn from Him?  His answer to “Are you the one who is to come?” is:

“Go and tell what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” Matthew 11:4-5

Who are the ones alive today, – ourselves included – who are the physically, emotionally and spiritually blind, lame, unclean, deaf, poor, deadened – those with no one but Jesus’ disciples to bring God’s compassionate healing to them? Who are the ones in need of the love of God – God’s lifeblood flowing through “us” as it did through Jesus?

“GO AND TELL WHAT YOU HEAR AND SEE”

I think that others see, as I do, that all through the ages, from the beginning of humanity, we humans have let ourselves become distracted by the tangible realities of everyday life, and too often we have missed the “seeing” and “experiencing” that connect us to God and to each other. That’s why God became man. And that’s why Jesus established His Church. We needed Jesus to “save” us – once for all times. But then we also needed, and still need, a Church to keep gathering us in and sending us out.

In Fr. Tim’s words shared with us in his December 11, 2022, Bulletin Column:

“Jesus’ response to John’s disciples continues to be the answer His Church gives in each succeeding age:
“Look at what is being done—

• • • the moral and physical blindness that is being relieved;
    • the restoration to physical and spiritual mobility that is taking place;
    • the evidence
      • of society’s ‘lepers’ being healed and embraced;
      • of God’s Word penetrating the din that deafens so many;
      • of the emotionally and spiritually ‘dead’ being raised up in compassion; and
      • of the poor hearing the good news that they are beloved children of God,

“And they are receiving concrete reasons to believe it, through the charity and concern of Jesus’ followers.

All this serves to give hope that Messiah will certainly come, when all is made right, and God’s People are ‘crowned with everlasting joy’.”

ARE YOU THE ONE OR SHOULD WE WAIT FOR ANOTHER?

Were I, as a disciple of Jesus, to be asked, “Are you the one whom Jesus sent to heal us, the wounded, lost people of today?” how would I reply? How many times could I have helped, and did? And how many times was I too involved in something and failed to notice or reach out to a brother or sister in need? What can I do to be a better disciple of Jesus? Am I willing to promise to do this?

WE GO FORTH 

Let us pray and go forth with the Holy Spirit to help us be teaching and healing disciples, in need of Jesus and in need of His Church to keep gathering us in and sending us out.

Sister Loretta