Breaking the Word

Then the disciples asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He said in reply, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. (Mt 17:10-13)

 

 

Scriptures and their interpretations are continuously fulfilled. People do not recognize it and even the scribes do not know that the scripture is fulfilled. Scriptures speak about the return of the prophet Elijah and the coming of the Messiah. People who study the scripture so much and interpret it to the times are so much worried about the scripture and their expectation are so much overtaking them they fail to recognize the happenings just around then at the corner.

 

Both the prophet Elijah and the Messiah are to face suffering. The suffering is from the hands of the people who are waiting for them. Their expectation is different that they consider Elijah and Messiah to be different when they actually come. They fail to see that God’s ways are different from their own imaginations and expectations.

 

Arrival of Elijah and the Messiah are the signs of the arrival of the kingdom or beginning of the happenings of the end time. People were not able to see this and their ‘thought world’ did not fix this in the happenings. Jesus said that Elijah had come and he had prepared the way for the arrival of the Messiah. The kingdom of God has set its journey on. 

"To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is vindicated by her works." (Mt 11 :16-19)

 

 

The people of this generation are like playful children. They are playful and hence they are not responsible about anything that is happening around. Their concern is about singing and dancing and mourning. Certainly if they are children then this way of behaviour is okay. But the trouble is that they are the elders who play the role of children. This is to say that they are not mature and they do not, in any sense, reveal responsibility to what happens around. Instead of being mature and responsible these are playful.

 

Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy, writes about a son who is a glutton and drunkard and how he should be treated: "If a man has a stubborn and unruly son who will not listen to his father or mother, and will not obey them even though they chastise him,… 'This son of ours is a stubborn and unruly fellow who will not listen to us; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all his fellow citizens shall stone him to death. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel, on hearing of it, shall fear.(Deut 21: 18-21).

 

John the Baptist was a man of austerity and self-denial and he is considered as a possessed person. Jesus himself speaks of parties and is lavish with forgiveness and love. People consider him as a rebel son or a false prophet. Yes people do not like any challenge in any way.