Isaiah 40:1-11 / Matthew 18:12-14
The teachings of Jesus are indeed difficult to comprehend, to say the least.
If we were listening to what Jesus was saying in the gospel, and He asks us would that man not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of the stray, what would we say?
Obviously, we would say that man should not go.
In our human logical thinking, why would a man leave the ninety-nine sheep just to go search of a stray?
Any which way we see it would still not make sense to us.
But when we reflect about the ways of God, then we would also come to the same conclusion.
The ways of God do not make sense to our human mind.
The season of Advent makes us think about the ways of God, and how absurdly wonderful it is.
For one, why would God want to become man and take on the weakness of human flesh just to save sinners.
The mystery of the Incarnation is what Advent is preparing us to encounter, even if we don’t really understand it.
When we see that all the ways of God point to His unconditional love for us, then we will be ready to accept the difficult teachings of Jesus.