Dear Friends
3rd Sunday of Advent (December 15)

This week we once again meet John the Baptist, but now he has been imprisoned by Herod Antipas (the son of Herod the Great and the ruler of Galilee). In prison, John heard of the great works of Jesus and sent his disciples to Jesus with this question:
“Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
Jesus’ response is not a simple yes or no but instead, an invitation. He invites these disciples of John to look around to see if they can discern the answer to this question for themselves. And what does Jesus invite them to see? Not a grandiloquent monarch reigning from some regal precipice, but the simplicity and joy found in the blind who have regained their sight, the feeble now made strong, the outcast cleansed, the deaf who now hear, the dead who are raised, and the poor who have the good news proclaimed to them. In short, the climactic realization long ago foretold by the Prophet Isaiah, as found in today’s first reading.
Both the question posed by John’s disciples and the response offered by Jesus illustrate a profound sense of anticipation tempered by unexpected, unbridled joy—a joy we recall today on the Third Sunday of Advent.
However, we can also read the intention behind these disciples’ question in two, powerfully opposite ways:
“Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?”
We could frame our response positively: “Oh, please say yes!” Or framed negatively, we could respond: “Oh, how disappointing, we’re not impressed!” The first contains a fragile hope, the one-in-a-million chance that the promises offered by Jesus are not too good to be true. The second expresses a cynical disappointment tinged with a smug self-righteousness. Regardless of how one chooses to understand the question, the implication in both responses is that we simply do not fully know the answer to all of life’s questions—at least not yet! And this, I think, gets at the heart of this week’s Advent message: We simply do not know—yet!
 
Gun violence on our streets, an abuse crisis in our Church, hate crimes in our cities, increasing poverty and homelessness, climate change and violent storms, cancers, opioid addictions, drug-resistant bacteria, paralyzed governments, civil wars and protests around the world…Shall I go on? Where do we find our God?
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
Can the modern American Christian still say, “Oh, please Lord Jesus! Yes, be the one to whom we look to save us?” Or with the increasing number of “Nones” (people who have no religious affiliation), have many of our friends and families already answered the question, “Are you the one who is to come?” with a resounding, “We’re not the least bit impressed,” withdrawing from an active life of religious faith altogether?
Advent is a time filled with awe, wonder and yes, mystery. In a way, Advent is a counter-cultural paradox. In a world where we’re accustomed to Google answering “any” question in seconds, Advent beckons the patience of an increasingly impatient culture to look long and hard amidst personal, national and global hardships and ask:
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
There is a sublime, even tantalizing tension in the mystery of that question itself. I can only pray that I won’t succumb to the call of  a digitally masterful omnipotent universe and instead patiently wait, discerning around me the simplicity and joy found in the blind who will regain their sight, the feeble who will be made strong, the outcast who will now be accepted, the poor who will have the good news proclaimed to them, and the dead who will be raised on that last day.
Shall I look for another? I pray that I have the patience to say, “Lord I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, say but the word and I pray my soul can be healed.”