Ecclesiasticus 48 : 1-4, 9-11 / Matthew 17 : 10-13 (2021 / 2024)
If there was one prophet in the Old Testament that we can say is really dramatic, it is surely the prophet Elijah.
And the 1st reading makes special mention of this dramatic prophet, and rightly so.
Elijah was a fire-and-brimstone prophet. He worked great and awful deeds like calling down famine upon the land, calling down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice he offered and putting the 450 false prophets by slitting their throats, just to mention a few.
But all that dramatic deeds were intended to turn the people back to God and for the restoration of Israel as the people of God.
But people can just be interested in the dramatic and the spectacular and not see the meaning and the message behind it.
We live in an age where people, Catholics included, are easily attracted by the dramatic and the spectacular and the extra-ordinary.
We may even expect the end times and the second coming of Christ to be kind of dramatic and spectacular, with awesome signs.
But as Jesus said in the gospel, Elijah came in the person of John the Baptist, and God came to visit His people in the Word made flesh.
But John the Baptist and Jesus were just too ordinary, and hence did not live up to the people's expectations.
The season of Advent prepares us to encounter God in the ordinary.
Amidst of the festive celebrations, let us quieten our hearts to hear the voice of God in the ordinary.
When Jesus first came to this world at the first Christmas, it was just another ordinary day.
When He comes to us today, it will also be in an ordinary way.