Reflection
Coming down the mountain after the Transfiguration, Jesus’ words must have felt heavy to the disciples: “Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased.” It was only then that the disciples understood that He was speaking of John the Baptist, the one sent ahead of Him, the one who prepared the way for His coming, and the one who was not listened to and instead, silenced. Jesus linked John’s fate to his own. The one who prepared the way and the one who is the way, the truth, and the light both faced rejections and death from the hands of the people who would not listen.
Advent is often described as a season of waiting. We wait for Christ’s coming in history, mystery, and glory. But this Gospel reminds me that Advent is not only about waiting but about recognizing and listening. God is already speaking. God is already sending “John the Baptists” into my life: the person who challenges me to change or calls me out when I fall short, the situation that unsettles me, the quiet nudge in prayer that I keep postponing, the cry of someone who is suffering that I don’t want to hear because it might ask something of me.
Like the people of John’s time, I can say I want Christ, yet resist the path that leads to Him. I can celebrate Advent on the surface while closing my ears to the uncomfortable truth-telling that love often requires. John’s whole mission was to make straight the way of the Lord, but many chose not to walk that way. This Gospel leads me to ask: Do I genuinely want Christ to come into my life, or do I only want the comfort of saying that I’m waiting for Him?
And yet, there is deep hope for us. John the Baptist was rejected, but Christ the Messiah still came. Human rejection did not cancel God’s faithfulness. Even where prophets are ignored, God’s desire to be with us does not fade. Advent, then, is not only my small effort to reach for God but also the season where I wake up to how persistently God is already reaching for me, waiting for me to listen. It can be through Scripture, through the Church, through the cry of the poor and the marginalized, through the inner stirrings of my own conscience. So, in this Advent season, let us pray for Christ to open our ears where we have grown deaf, soften our hearts where we have grown hard, and give us the courage not only to wait for Jesus but to truly listen to Him and recognize His presence among us.
Regina Gong, PhD
Associate Dean for Student Success and Strategic Initiatives, Copley Library