How many times in our lives do we reject the peace of Christ in our midst? As Jesus visits and weeps over the reluctance and spiritual blindness of Jerusalem (41), he often visits and sometimes laments over us, too.
Jesus comes to us in the clandestine disguises of those who need our love and attention. He comes to us as “the least of these” among us (Matthew 25:40). The thought often, however, is that those in need are far away, and at times that may be true. But the true Christ among us is the person who we look at next, our neighbor or family member that stands in front of our eyes. Through our flawed choices, we turn away and reject him. Jesus says to the people of Jerusalem, “[Y]ou did not recognize the time of your visitation” (44). If we look back, moreover, at Mary’s words of rejoice in “The Magnificat,” we see her sing about God’s redemptive visitation through Jesus, the child she will bear: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,/ for he has visited and brought redemption to his people” (Luke 1:68). Jesus is Emmanuel, “God is with us,” so let us embrace and welcome him in the people who we meet today. Amen.
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