THE Gospel of Matthew says: When Jesus had finished giving his twelve disciples these instructions, he went on from there to teach and to proclaim his message in their towns. When John the Baptist in prison heard about the activities of Christ, he sent a message by his disciples, asking him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus answered them, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and good news is reaching the poor; and how fortunate is the one who does not take offence at me!”
On a personal note: Jesus has sent the first missionaries: for Matthew it is the time to show how the kingdom comes – the coming of which they have proclaimed. The visit of the disciples of John will help us to understand what Jesus brings and what cannot be expected of him.
The paragraph which follows in 11:25 will show in its way that what is all-important in the kingdom is the person of Jesus himself.
Good news is reaching the poor… (v. 5). Jesus message includes a preferential love of God for the poor and for those who share with them in their poverty. The Gospel is not for them also, but for them first.
Good news is reaching the poor (v.5). the text is to be read together with Luke 1:52, 4:18, 6:20, 10:23.
It would be wrong to interpret the text as thinking that God only asks of us to catechize less instructed people, or those of lower condition in life. In the time of Jesus the Pharisees already thought their duty was to teach simple and uneducated people; Jesus instead sent his apostles, poor among the poor, to enable them to discover the presence of working of God the Father. The concrete life of the rural and urban poor is the context in which fundamental experiences occur that will renew the world and the spiritual life of everyone.
Verse 6. See another way of translating this sentence in Luke 7:23.
Verse 11. No one greater than John the Baptist has come forward. This verse refers to a prophet or to the political leader.
Verse 12. This sentence could be also translated: “The kingdom is advancing forcefully”. The kingdom of God is the moving force that makes history progress, taking advantage of both gentle and violent changes in human life. The believers are called to participate actively in the constant transformation. Death and resurrection are at work among us and all over the world.
Today is the Feastday of John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church. He is the patron saint of the Calced Carmelites. I am proud to say that I am one of his followers.
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