2nd Sunday of Advent

I want to start with two quotes from St Paul’s letter to the Romans

“It is now the hour to wake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith.  The night is far spent and the day draws near”

This is the tone of our Advent; expectation of what draws near.  Christ is coming, we just don’t know when.

Paul then describes the coming Kingdom

“The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating & drinking, but justice, peace and joy that is given by the Holy Spirit”

Now, of course, the Kingdom when fulfilled, when all is all in God, will be beyond justice, peace & Joy it is certainly beyond my understanding, imagination & description. But Paul is talking about something more immediate. When we wait (in the grace of Christian hope) for kingdom of God to be fulfilled, we, in that very hope, bring something of what we hope for into this world, and this is what Paul tells us - the kingdom  is already imperfectly present.  It is made real by our faith, hope & love and it looks like - justice, peace & joy.

This is Advent; in hope we joyfully wait and prepare (for the night is far spent) for what is to come, and in hoping & preparing we already participate in what is to come. This is the mystery of Advent

We know Advent is more than a historical remembering or simply a new liturgical season, with its own color & ritual. Advent is a time of preparation, being shaken up with the truth that God really became man !  It is a deeper reflection the mystery of Jesus; it is a time of bright anticipation and giving thanks to the Lord, perhaps like the Virgin Mary’s own anticipation and thanksgiving. 

We as human beings are designed (physically & psychically) to look forward and no more so than at Advent.  It is a time we intently look beyond the ordinary.

This Advent looking is a funny thing, we look forward to the “future coming” of the Lord and we look back at the “already came” of his Incarnation which we celebrate at Christmas, and all the while we live “in the present” with Christ in the Holy Spirit. All three readings are facets of this supernatural  looking and hope.

“Arise, O Jerusalem stand upon the height and look towards the east,
Salvation like the sun coming from the East, like the dawn.”

These ecstatic words were spoken to those in the diaspora, those Jews separated from Israel in the writers own time.  These words are a part of a story that looked back to the earlier Babylonian exile.

 Baruch is telling them this is not how it will always be.  This exile is not permanent.  God has not abandoned you. Be glad and alert something new is coming. Baruch beautifully uses the image of Jerusalem also sharing the exile’s sorrow, hope & expectations.Baruch is telling them by telling Jerusalem

” take off your robe of mourning & misery”, look east to see your children returning. Baruch proclaims the truth of Salvation History - it is not over.  All exiles will return. God will bring his own back into his presence. All brokenness will be made whole.  Jerusalem would return to her splendor, for God is still at work in the world.

In the Gospel, Luke starts by naming some key government & temple officials.  He is setting up the “expectation of  the coming” within the tension between the kingdom of man (here & transitory) with  the Kingdom of God (coming and eternal).And then we have John, this solitary and austere man preaching in the wilderness.This section on John the Baptist comes between his father Zechariah’s prophesy about his son

“He will go before the Lord to prepare his way”

and John’s own words

“One mightier than I is coming and he will baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire”

So we already know a lot about John and his message. John the Baptist the last Old Testament prophet cries out to the people of Israel to make ready.His preaching  points to what is coming, but as John the Evangelist would remind us “He was not the light, but pointed to the light.  Still, the Baptist made dimly present by his preaching and baptizing  what was coming and he instilled that expectation in his followers. 

To be clear what this waiting expectedly means Luke has John the Baptist quote Isaiah

“Prepare the Way of the Lord, Make straight his paths, fill in the valleys, make low the hills, make rough ways smooth”

This is all work that needs to be done before hand.  It is preparatory, like preseason.  This is not sitting back and waiting.  This is taking stock and doing the necessary work. And this is where St Paul comes in with his promise of the Holy Spirit. “The one who has begun the good work in you will continue to complete it”

God’s good work starts with baptism and grows with the labors of life, of discipleship, and love.

This is part of the Advent message; God’s good work , the work of the Holy Spirit, is already present in our faith, hope and love and it will come to fruition at the coming of our lord. We are joyful exiles looking east.

The collective hope and expectation of the exiles in Babylon has become our own.

The repentance and making straight of John’s message, has become our own.

The truth that salvation is closer than when we first awoke is our own.

 And we are glad, this is not a worrying thing, but we do need to be prepared and Advent reminds us of that also.

 

This is the abundance of our Advent; the Joyful witness to the Incarnation, God made man and His kingdom made present in this world, our active hope which makes us strive for justice, peace and joy, it is our love for one another, it is our vigilant waiting, prepared like the wise virgins, ever alert and looking towards the eastern dawn for the coming splendor of Our Lord Jesus.  All of this is Advent. 

May this Advent rise like the dawn in each heart until its brightness lightens every dark place and its warmth comforts all in need.