The Gospel for Thursday of the second week of Lent is taken from Matthew 11:15. Jesus said to the crowds, amen. I say to you, among those born of woman, there has been none greater than John the Baptist. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent are taken by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come.

Whoever has ears ought to hear. John the Baptist is the one who makes clear the corruption in the way in which the temple is so designed that it can do nothing more than destroy. It cannot give life. And in emphasizing that, he draws people’s attention to what is coming. John the Baptist is the announcer. He is the proclaimer of a kingdom that he will not participate in the way each of us are called and invited to participate in it.

Please take a moment to reflect and then I will close with a prayer. Foreign. Father, there’s so many signs and wonders that point us to you. Help us to be receptive and open. Just as John the Baptist needed people to understand his message of the end of a system and the announcement of a new system, help us to proclaim the new kingdom over and over by our example, our enthusiasm, our trust, and we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.