Saturday of the 2nd Week of Advent

There are times our understanding of the right person for the task at hand may not necessarily be the right person to God. For example, we sometimes wonder why a priest is posted to a particular parish, especially where the priest seems less energetic than previous parish priests. Or perhaps some may wonder why a certain person was chosen to become the bishop, even though there seem to be other candidates who seem better qualified or experienced. But as we know, God's ways are not our ways, and he choices turn out to be for the better in the long run.

In today's Gospel, we come across another example of how our understanding of the right person differs from God. According to the scribes, members of a learned class in Jesus’ time, the prophet Elijah is the right person to prepare the coming of the Messiah. Elijah’s return to earth is the great sign that the expected Savior is coming as prophesied by another prophet named Malachi, who prophesied that the precursor of the Messiah is a terrible man preaching doom and destruction. John the Baptist came and announced the coming of the Messiah, somebody greater than him, but the scribes rejected John the Baptist, since he preached about baptism and personal conversion, not about the terror that will go with the day of the Lord. What the scribes failed to realise is that, as already mentioned, God's ways are not their ways, and in fact, John the Baptist was Elijah, who came to prepare the way for the Lord.

What can we learn from this? At the end of the day, we must realise that God has a plan and purpose for persons chosen. His choices may not jive with our choices, but His choices are best. Would we still doubt His choices, just like the scribes did, or would we trust in Him and let Him be our guide?