Who Is Missing?

Third Week of Advent – Tuesday

Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 / Psalm 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-18, 19 and 23 / Matthew 21:28-32

Who Is Missing?

There are some things I read in the Bible that confound me. Pharaoh’s obstinance in the face of the ten plagues is one. The chief priests and leaders of the people failing to recognize the Messiah when he came is another. 

The chief priests assumed that certain people (e.g. tax collectors and prostitutes) were beyond the pail of righteousness. Yet in Jesus and John the Baptist they see these very people responding to God’s word and changing their lives. When the people respond, the chief priest and elders fail to see that God is at work. 

The reading from Zephaniah speaks of the humble and the lowly taking refuge in the name of the Lord, of their being impeccable in word and deed. It was just such people that Jesus and John were gathering in their ministries. It is just such people who were changing their lives in response. It makes me wonder what the chief priests thought their role was. Had they given up on the unrighteous?

It makes me pause and examine my own expectations of who I will see in Church next time I go. Do I expect that God is going to bring in a few people who haven’t been there before? How would he do that? Does he want to use me to draw them in? Who is missing in my parish community? 

·         Are there particular people you have given up on spiritually? In light of today’s readings, are you willing to reconsider?

·         Do you think you know better than God who belongs in Church? Consider who you exclude that God wants to include.