Wait for the Desert to Bloom - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermons
Bishop Robert Barron
Wait for the Desert to Bloom
Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermons
Friends, today we come to the third Sunday of Advent, and the great image from Isaiah is that of the blooming desert. Many of us pass through desert times, dry periods of trial and training. But perhaps the Lord has drawn us into the desert to awaken a deeper sense of dependence upon him. We must be patient; and in this season of waiting, we look toward Christmas—the great blooming in the desert.
Friends, in today’s Gospel, John the Baptist asks if Jesus is "the one . . . or should we look for another?" When this inquiry is conveyed to Jesus, the Lord does not respond theoretically but rather by pointing to things that are happening.
"Go and tell John 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."
Was Jesus doing all of this in the literal sense? Yes! That he was a miracle worker and a healer was one of the most fundamental perceptions regarding Jesus. When God came among us in Christ, he effected the work of repairing his broken and hurting creation. He is not interested simply in souls but in bodies as well.
And so we hear indeed of the man born blind, of Bartimaeus, of the paralyzed man lowered down through the roof to Jesus, of the woman with the flow of blood, of the man who is deaf and dumb to whom Jesus says "Ephphatha!" (Be opened!). We hear of Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain.
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