Is. 35:1-6a, 10 | Jas. 5:7-10 | Mt. 11:2-11
Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. — Matthew 1:11
In this Sunday’s reading from the Gospel According to Matthew, John the Baptist waits in expectation from his prison cell. He receives reports about Jesus and wonders, “Is this the guy we’ve been waiting for?”
For all the hype, Jesus is making straight forward things happen: “the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” (Mt. 11:5).
I imagine the incredulity of John the Baptist: “Is this it?”
As Maryknoll missioners, we commit ourselves to a life of justice and nonviolence among the poor. From the outside, it often looks like: “Is this it?”
In my village in El Salvador, we bury the dead. We share tamales and coffee. We pray in people’s homes. We embroider together and tell stories about the armed conflict. Is this it? For in my village, we also feel the effects of U.S. migration policy. Salvadorans in the United States call home, frightened and scapegoated by society. A boy who had recently been deported from the United States was shut out of the Salvadoran school system for arriving irregularly mid-year. A 12-year-old girl here won’t talk about what happened to her in Texas last year.
The hydra of forced migration is so monstrous, so multi-headed, that justice for migrants and refugees seems far off, unattainable.
But today’s readings offer hope.
Jesus points out that the kingdom of God is also built upon small things: healing our neighbors, touching the wounds of the migrant, accompanying the poor and vulnerable.
Jesus doesn’t absolve us from addressing structural injustices; rather, he frees us from becoming paralyzed by them: we become free to do something, for we cannot do everything, and do it with great love.
“Take as an example … the prophets,” says our second reading. The passage goes on, “Indeed we call blessed those who have persevered.” (James 5:10-11). They were career denouncers of structural injustice, yet prophets neither threw in the towel nor lived without hope.
Nowadays, I watch the Salvadoran girl deported from Texas begin to open up. “Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak,” Isaiah says. She participates more in catechesis class. I visit her home and her mother. We share coffee. I wonder: Is this it?
For me, here, now, in El Salvador, yes — this is how God invites me to address the wounds of forced migration. To do something, not everything, but something: to attend and to heal with great love and attention, to participate in Psalm 146:
The Lord God keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives bread to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free.
Maryknoll Lay Missioner Sarah Bueter, who joined the organization in 2023, serves in a variety of ministries based in La Ceiba, Chalatenango, a rural village belonging to St. Joseph’s parish. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she also holds a master of divinity degree.
Questions for Reflection
- Have you ever felt the “Is this it?” tension between small acts of mercy and big structural injustices in the world?
- What signs of hope for God’s saving power and justice do you see visible in your life or in the world that we can rejoice in?
Prayer
O God, open our eyes so that we may see the needs of others;
Open our ears that we may hear their cries;
Open our hearts that we may feel their anguish and their joy.
Let us not be afraid to defend the oppressed, the poor, the powerless,
because of the anger and might of the powerful.
Show us where love and hope and faith are needed,
and use us to bring them to those places.
Open our ears and eyes, our hearts and lives,
that we may in these coming days be able to do
some work of justice and peace for you. Amen.
— The Sabeel Center, Jerusalem
To read other Scripture reflections published by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, click here.
Featured image: A mural depicts village life at the entrance of the district of Santa Rita in
Chalatenango, El Salvador, in a photo taken Dec. 22, 2022. (Wikimedia Commons/El Salvador)
