Year A | The third week of Advent A reflection from Pat Neuwelt – Preparing the way for Jesus Isaiah 35:1-6.10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 Normally when we prepare for something, we get busy ticking off the many tasks on our to-do lists. At this time of year, with not only Christmas but summer holidays approaching, the to-do list can become a bit overwhelming! The readings for the 3rd Sunday of Advent readings point us towards a very different understanding of preparation. In Matthew’s gospel story we learn that John-the-Baptist is in prison, where he’s having a crisis of faith. From the setting of a prison cell, it’s not surprising that he’s beginning to doubt whether he’s made a serious error of judgment regarding Jesus’ messianic status! So he sends his followers to ask Jesus for reassurance. Rather than judge John as ‘weak’, Jesus sends John’s followers back with stories of ‘the stirrings of the Spirit’ in the world (healing and new life), to encourage John in his struggle. And, remarkably, he then publicly proclaims his utmost respect and deep love for John as not only a Prophet, but as ‘the greatest among those ever born of women’. What happens next is highly significant. Just in case anyone had put John on a pedestal in their mind’s-eye, Jesus tells the people, “Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” In other words, in the eyes of God, no one is greater than another. So what does
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