3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT B
4 WAYS OF WAITING 3:
WAIT WITH WISDOM,
BRING OTHERS JOY
The difficult thing about waiting
is to seem useless, helpless, and inert. That is why waiting is such an ordeal
to many. In a world that values activities, achievements and performance, to
wait seems to stop your world and do nothing else but kill time.
However, the Bible shows us that
waiting time is an active time. There are things we have to put to a halt –
like the senses, activities, appointment. But there are faculties which remain
alive and active, like the mind, the heart, and the soul. And while waiting,
these faculties seek out guidance, direction and wisdom from the Lord.
The third way of waiting this
Advent is: WAITING WITH WISDOM.
In the gospel (Jn 1) we have a prime
example in John the Baptist. People may have thought he was wasting his time in
the desert, doing nothing, abandoning everything, and simply hiding from the
crowd. But actually, John was growing in wisdom as he stayed in the desert. He
confronted himself and grew in self-knowledge. He knew he who he was not: not
the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet.
He also knew in his heart that
the One he was waiting for has come and that he is in the midst of the people
who did not recognize him. John was filled with wisdom that he knew exactly his
mission – to give way to the greater One, to be humble before the Lord, to prepare
the people to discover the Light!
In the gospel of John (Jn 8),
Jesus also shows us how to wait with wisdom. When an adulterous woman was
brought to him for judgment, the Lord did not act on impulse. While the crowd
was seething with anger, Jesus stooped to the ground, writing in silence,
taking time to receive wisdom from the Father. When finally he spoke, he shamed
the hypocrites condemning the woman and he filled the woman with so much joy of
new life!
Like John in the desert, like the
Lord Jesus in his ministry, let us wait with wisdom. Wait before you speak or
act. Think before you click. Pray before you decide. Suspend your judgment
until you are fully certain. Act not out of impulse but from a heart
recollected and at peace with God. In this way, we will bring joy to the people
around us, the recipients of the wisdom we receive.
