Isaiah 35:1-6, 10/ James 5:7-10/ Matthew 11:2-11
There used to be a complaint that they don’t make things like they used to.
It seems that in the past things are made to last a life-time, and maybe even longer than a life-time.
From machines to tools to toys, the things of the past were made of heavy durable material.
One example is the old “Singer” sewing machine from our mothers’ or grandmothers’ time.
Amazingly they still work, and no electricity is needed, but you would need the skill of hand and foot coordination.
But with the rise of industrialization and mass production, and with cheaper and less durable materials, things are made to just hold together till they have left the factory (or when the warranty expires).
And when they land into our hands and after a whole they malfunction and spoil and we bring it back to the shop or the agent, they will tell you that buying a new one would make more economical sense than repairing it (right?).
And so a culture is created, and it is called the “throw-away” culture.
So, when the TV is spoilt, just throw it away, the hi-fi set is spoilt, just throw it away, the computer is spoilt, just throw it away.
After all, with the abundance of cheap goods, why bother to repair something old when you can get something new and get it cheaply.
So, we have this “throw-away” culture. Oh, by the way, the statistics for 2012 states that a Singaporean throws away about 1400 kg of waste a year, and Singapore generates 7.3million tons of waste for 2012.
That’s a lot of waste and it seems that we love to throw away things.
But it may not just be spoilt things that we throw away.
The “throw-away” mentality may have also crept into the way we treat people.
If a person is not of any use to us, we may just “throw” that person out of our lives.
Because just as we use things, we may also “use” people. And when things are of no more use to us, we will also just “throw” them away.
Today’s gospel began with John the Baptist in prison.
Just last week, we heard of how he appeared in the wilderness and crowds came to him and they confessed their sins and were baptized by him.
His words were sharp, like an axe that was ready to cut down any tree that does not bear good fruit.
He spoke of the one who is to come, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
And the one who is to come has a winnowing fan in his hand to clear the threshing floor and gather the wheat, but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.
So John the Baptist spoke of Jesus as a fiery judge, a dispenser of wrath and no chance will be given to those who do not repent. But what he said Jesus would do somehow did not match with what Jesus actually did.
Instead of condemnation, Jesus showed compassion; instead of axing and chopping the sinners, Jesus was sitting and chatting with them.
In the darkness of his dungeon, John the Baptist would have felt that he was like something thrown away and of no use anymore.
And when he heard what Jesus was doing, he would be having a broken feeling. He was to prepare the way for the one to come. But could he have been wrong?
Hence, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the one to come.
The reply Jesus gave was not a “Yes” or “No”. Rather He told the disciples to tell John the Baptist what they heard and saw.
The “thrown away” and “broken” John the Baptist is presented to us on this 3rd Sunday of Advent to point out an important aspect.
Jesus healed the sick: the blind see again, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear.
But the one most in need of healing then was John the Baptist as he laid broken in his dungeon.
Anything that is broken is usually considered useless and thrown away.
If such was the case with John the Baptist, then it would be a sad ending. And that is not Good News. That is more like sad news.
In this modern age, a ceramic bowl that is broken is usually thrown away. It doesn’t make any sense to try to join the broken pieces back together.
There is this Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with lacquered resin mixed with powdered gold. It is called kintsugi.
Kintsugi may have originated in the 15th century when a Japanese shogun sent a broken Chinese tea bowl back to China for repairs.
When it was returned repaired with ugly metal staples, it prompted Japanese craftsmen to look for a more aesthetic means of repair.
With kintsugi, broken valuable pottery was repaired and rejoined and the cracked veins now have beautiful gold finishing.
Kintsugi means “to repair with gold”. But the important point in the art of kintsugi is that the broken piece is now more beautiful for having been broken.
John the Baptist in his awful dungeon may have been broken and disappointed.
But the news that his disciples brought back to him from Jesus was like the gold lacquer that rejoined his broken heart and made it more beautiful than before.
That is why we now call him St. John the Baptist.
As for us, the struggles and the tumbles of life have caused cracks and breaks in our hearts.
Where others would write us off and throw us away, Jesus wants to save us.
Jesus is the Divine Healer and as the Divine Craftsman, He heals our broken hearts with His golden love so that we become more beautiful for having been broken.
It does sound strange, “we become more beautiful for having been broken”, but that is the Good News.
And when we do not lose faith in Jesus, that is really Good News.
Because we know we won’t be thrown away.
Jesus is there to lead us and save us.