THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YR A
Isaiah 35:1-6a,10; Psalm 146;
James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
HOPEFUL PATIENCE FOR OUR ETERNAL REWARD
The community of James seems to have suffered a lot from the greed and evil of the rich at the time. He addresses those whose only occupation was the making of profit. Those who store up treasure for themselves at the back of the poor worker whom they do not even pay. Most of these have been Christian. Whenever a society promotes only profit making, it leads to the exploitation of the poor and the minority. James calls our attention to this and warns us against the oppression and cheating of the poor.
Oppression and injustice in the community can turn good people to become corrupted, vile and violent. James writes to his community to be faithful to their Christian hope for the heavenly reward. While the earthly wealth will corrode our hope and reward is eternal. These may bring us satisfaction but only God will give true fulfillment and security. For these reasons we continue to hope and hope that no matter how difficult things get we do not lose our faith, morals and sanity.
He encouraged us to be patient like the farmer. A farmer, after a lot of effort to prepare and cultivate the land, has to wait for the plant to grow. If he becomes impatient and implants, the crop will never reap the rewards of his labours. This is a hopeful patience trusting that the Lord shall surely reward our faithfulness. God might be late but he is always on time and his time is the best. May this patience save us from becoming corrupted with evil. Sometimes when we look at the way evil abounds around us, we are tempted to think that the only way to survive is also to adapt to evil. But we are not called to merely survive in this world, but to live. God will give us the necessary graces. If you have fallen to this corruption and sin because you have no option, it is not too late to come back to the Lord.
Another example of patience James offers is that of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord (James 5:10). What kind of patience did the prophets have? They continued to believe in God’s promises even when situations were difficult. Sometimes they are in the difficult situation as the people of God, but they believed that God’s promise of saving them will come to pass. This is the patience we are called to. In spite of the difficulties now, God will save his righteous people.
Secondly, while some of the prophecies came to pass, many of these prophets died without seeing the fulfillment of their prophecies. They spent their whole lives waiting for God to fulfill his promise but did not see it. Some of the prophesies were fulfilled when the prophets had died. Take for example, the prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, those who brought this promise did not live to see it. This is what James calls us to this Sunday. That there may not be any indication of the imminent coming of the Lord but we must not lose hope. The Lord may not come in our time but we cannot give up. The patience of the prophets recognizes the fact that the rewards of the coming end could be in our lifetime or in our death.
While the patience of the farmer assures us of reaping the harvest of our faithfulness, that of the prophets helps us to know that the reward may not come in this lifetime. We must not forget that our hope is not earthly for which moth can destroy but is heavenly and eternal because the Eternal God is the guarantor.
In a very cruel, uncertain, and difficult world, in a world that is eager to forget about God and his commands, it is easy to lose ourselves. But James’ words come to encourage us and give us hope. If only we can believe God a little more, if only we can have a hopeful patience, the Lord will certainly not fail us. Jesus will come for us with rewards for our faithfulness.
May the Lord watch over us with his grace as we carry on this pilgrimage of our lives.
God Bless You.
By Rev. Fr. Delight Carbonu
