Please read the passage before the commentary.
What will the new and glorious age be like?
Isaiah saw it as a time when the desert would become a greenhouse, a time when fear would be banished, when the eyes of the blind would be opened, when the deaf would hear music, when pain and suffering would be abolished.
What did Jesus do in his public life? According to St Matthew, through Jesus, the blind regained their sight, the deaf heard sounds, the lame walked, lepers were cleansed, the dead came to new life, and the poor had the Gospel preached to them.
I can imagine John the Baptist in prison, puzzling over in his head whether Jesus were the one to come or not.
What answer do we experience when we ask John’s question or when we hear trhe words of Isaiah the prophet? Our Catholic folklore tells of flowers miraculously appearing where Jesus happens by. Our Sacred Scriptures tells of angels with shepherds, wise hmen with star. All of this giving testimony that, for them, Jesus is the one who was to come.
However, we experience many difficulties, pains and sufferings in this life. These challenge us to continue to believe in Jesus, even when the signs do not seem apparent What battles, what hardshoips, what anxieties have we had to face? In these, how have we expereinced the presence of the Lord, or how did it seem that we experienced an absence of the Lord?
John’s question comes back to us. Isaiah’s steadfastness challenges us. Are we to find Jesus in the wealth of things, mansions, smartphones, electric cars, or expensive Christmas gifts? Or are we more likely to find Jesus in our relationships with family, friends and fellow workers, and in the simplicity of our way of living? Our deserts will exult, our dry grasslands will Bloom.