Gospel: December 14, 2024
December 14, 2024 (Saturday)
2nd Week of Advent
Psalter: Week 2 / (White)
St. John of the Cross, priest & doctor
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 80: 2ac & 3b, 15-16, 18-19
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
1st Reading: Sirach 48: 1-4, 9-11
Gospel: Matthew 17: 9a, 10-13
And as they came down the mountain, the disciples asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus answered, “So it is: first comes Elijah; and he will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come; and they did not recognize him; and they treated him as they pleased. And they will also make the Son of Man suffer.”
Then the disciples understood that Jesus was referring to John the Baptist.
Reflection:
“They did not recognize him.”
Today’s Gospel narrates that as Jesus and his disciples were going down from the mountain where Jesus transfigured, the disciples asked Jesus about the return of Elijah. We may remember that Elijah was one of the great prophets in the Old Testament. Elijah was carried to the heavens by a flaming chariot in the sight of his disciple Elisha (cf. 2 Kgs 2:11). Malachi also prophesied that Elijah would return prior to the advent of the day of the Lord (cf. Mal 3:23). In today’s pericope, Jesus told his disciples that Elijah had already come, and already carried out his mission to help restore relationships (cf. Mal 3:24; Lk 1:17). But the people failed to recognize him. The passage narrated that the disciples understood that Jesus was referring to John the Baptist as the Elijah they had expected to return. John the Baptist’s mission was to help restore relationships in order to prepare people, making them worthy in the coming day of the Lord. Is there still somebody with whom we must be reconciled? This is the time to be reconciled.
