GOSPEL POWER - DECEMBER 10, 2020 - 2ND WEEK OF ADVENT

Gospel: Mt 11:11-15 

Jesus said to the crowds, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears listen!”

REFLECTION

T he era of the prophets and the law, up to the time of John the Baptist, was an era of promises and hopeful expectations. John stood at the end of that era pointing to the arrival of the new era of fulfillment in the person of Jesus. But John did not live to see the inauguration of the Kingdom of heaven in this new era, for he was martyred at the very point where the old era encountered the new. Thus, he did not experience the dawning of the order of grace through the ministry, death and resurrection of the Messiah. The least in the Kingdom of heaven is said to be greater than John, not because of any personal merit, but for the simple reason of belonging to the era of fulfillment that John, the other prophets and holy people of the old era longed to see and experience but did not.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, help us to grow in the awareness and appreciation of the inestimable blessedness of belonging to your Kingdom. Amen.