INTRODUCTION
The man who embarks on a journey away from home will always long to return home one day. Our home, our identity. The readings for this Second Sunday of Advent speak of homecoming. They turn our gaze on the absolute necessity of getting ready for Christ’s “Homecoming” into our hearts and lives by true repentance, reparation, prayer and the renewal of our lives. They refresh our memories about the first coming of Jesus 2000 years ago, instruct us about the daily coming of Jesus into our lives through the Eucharistic celebration, through the Scriptures and through the praying community, and exhort us to be ready for his future Second Coming as a definitive fulfillment of God’s saving plan for us all; a call to eternal life.
FIRST READING: Isaiah: 40:1-5, 9-11
The book of the prophet Isaiah is divided into three parts differentiated by their kronos and their messages:
1. First Isaiah (Isaiah chapters1-39): this contains series of oracles and warnings against the iniquities of the peoples.
2. Second Isaiah also known as deutro-Isaiah (Isaiah chapters 40-55): prophesies pronounced to the exiles of Babylon.
3. Third Isaiah also called trito-Isaiah (chapters 56-66): the return from exile and moments of restoration.
Today we read from the first chapter of the second Isaiah which contains the first pronouncement about the liberation of the people. It is situated in the context of the babylonian exile which began in 586 B.C when Nebuchadnezzar II king of Babylon invaded Jerusalem the capital of the southern kingdom, Judah. He destroyed the city, the temple and took away the inhabitants into captivity. It was at the heat of suffering in exile that the message of today was announced. The prophet Isaiah consoles the people, giving them the assurance of Yahweh that captivity will not be a close of their history, and that their 60 years of suffering will end soon. He assures them that they will be taken back to their homeland by the power of God. The hebrew nahamu translated as comfort is used in this context as a message that goes to the heart (al-leb) to heal the past wound caused by iniquity. Isaiah makes the people to understand that their return will be a second Exodus to be carried out by the hand of Yahweh their God as He did in the days of their fathers in Egypt. He instructs the people that their return will take the form of a solemn religious procession requiring them to pave the way for this procession. He insists that God is about to lead them to Jerusalem, the hill where their temple had stood. Therefore every other mountain and hill is an obstacle and must be leveled, and a highway must be created in the wilderness. Perceiving the nature of this glorious return the prophet immediately exclaimed with joy, “Here comes your God with power!” And he presents the tender picture of God leading the exiles as a shepherd cradles lambs.
This prophesy was finally fulfilled in the year 539 B.C when God used Cyrus the king of Persia to conquer Babylon and set the people free. That is to say the prophesy had an immediate fulfilment with the liberation of the Jews from captivity. But it equally anticipated the type of liberation that will be accomplished with the coming of Jesus. There is no other place in the whole of the scriptures in which the words of Isaiah about the “voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths,’” was fulfilled except with John the Baptist the precursor of Jesus Christ. Thus Isaiah foretold the shepherd identity of Jesus; a language which the evangelist John would later espouse in his Gospel (Jn 1:29; 10:1-18).The prophesy becomes an invitation to the new Israel (the people of the new covenant) to prepare to embrace the true and lasting liberation from the bondage of sin. It is because of this deeper meaning of the prophet’s words that this reading has been chosen for Advent.
SECOND READING: 2 Peter3:8-14
Biblical scholars situate this letter around 110-120 C.E (50 or 60 years after the apostles death). The letter was traditionally attributed to the Apostle Peter. However, today’s passage was a message destined to the Christians who were waiting for the parousia (the second return of the Lord).The apostle makes it clear that even with the first coming of Jesus the prophesy of Isaiah did not gain definitive meaning. Hence, the second coming of Jesus is meant to bring a complete fulfilment of the prophesy. And while the people wait for this imminent revelation, Peter warns them to be aware of the false teachers who have given up the expectation of Christ’s return (because of its long delay) and are now sowing seeds of discouragement to them. Evidently, as times and seasons come and go without fulfilling the aforesaid coming of the Lord, the Christians became objects of caricature and mockery in the hands of the pagans and their Jewish counterparts. Some Christians felt deceived and laughed at what they held for long as error and delusion. But today, Peter, filled with courage and conviction reaffirms that the Lord’s delay does not suggest that He will never come as He promised. The apostle takes their mind to the words of the Psalmist to remind them that God operates with a time different from men’s time: “one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day” (Psalm 90). He makes it clear that the risen Lord is eternal and infinite and so is not restricted or measured by time in fulfilling promises. He equally reminded them that what they consider as the Lord’s delay is a demonstration of the “patience of God ” with humankind and should not be taken for granted. For it is God’s plan that all should repent of their sins and renew their lives in order to merit the day of his appearing in glory.
The Church is aware of this promise and does not cease to profess it in her solemn liturgical gathering: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His Kingdom will have no end.” (Niceen Creed). We, then, are expected to wait, leading lives of holiness and godliness. We should be holy in conduct and devotion, being “eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.”
So, for the Christians today who explore and exploit the patience of God to live anyhow they want, the message of Peter is a great warning to repentance. While the world promises us its glory, it is only those whose hearts listen to the voice of the Lord that understand that everything is in a continuous flux, and that the glory of the world fades away. Let us keep our heritage (faith) tight and jealous so that we do not exchange it for loss. At least we are sure of one thing: “even when the world makes us to think like some of the early Christians that our faith in the parousia is null and void, at least we are sure that the end of our earthly life closes our history, our glory and our aspirations. Thus, we do not have extra time to change our lives. Let us aspire for change everyday, everytime and everywhere.”
Gospel: Mark 1: 1-8
While Matthew and Luke start their Gospels by giving us a brief account of the conception, birth, and early boyhood of Christ and John begins his Gospel by pointing to the eternal life of Christ as the Word of the Father, Mark opens his Gospel with the preparation for Christ’s public life, in which the chief actor is John the Baptist. Mark knew the text of Isaiah and did not hesitate to affirm to his audience that the wilderness voice announced by the prophet from of old is John whose mission is to announce the true liberation that only Jesus could carry out.
The angel Gabriel, who will appear to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus, first appeared to Zechariah, John’s father, to announce John’s birth (Luke 1:5-25). The story is reminiscent of the announcement of Isaac’s birth to Abraham and Sarah in that both couples were elderly, surprised, and somewhat doubtful. John’s mother, Elizabeth, was related to Mary, Jesus’ mother, and became pregnant with John six months before Mary became pregnant with Jesus (Luke 1:36).
John and Jesus were surely well acquainted, and must have played together as children. Being six months older may have given John some advantage in their earliest years, but he apparently recognized Jesus’ superiority even prior to their births (Luke 1:39-45).
John the wilderness prophet proclaims the “here-ness” of an event and person every Jew has been anticipating. “One more powerful than I,” John announces, “is to come after me….I have baptized you in water; He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” The essence of the Baptizer’s message is “repent and return to the ways of the Lord.” John preaches that the appropriate behavior for those preparing “the way of the Lord” is to be baptized “as they confess their sins.”
The bridge that connects the Old and the New Testament was already built by the last prophet of the old, Malachi who closed the last chapter of his prophesies with an introduction of a new prophet of the new covenant whose prophetic mission, identity and grandeur was likened to that of Elijah: “I send my messenger before you and he will prepare your road for you…look I shall send the prophet Elijah before the great and awesome Day of Yahweh comes” (Malachi 3:1.23). Malachi anticipates the mission of John the Baptist as one of purification. John instructs the Jews to fill in the valleys of prejudice, level the mountains of pride and straighten out the crooked paths of injustice. Preparing a way for God entails a deep-seated spiritual journey of removing all blockages and obstacles from our hearts which could keep Him away from coming closer to us. Although Mark attributes the prophecy to Isaiah, the text is a combination of Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3; … the prophecy of Deutero-Isaiah concerning the end of the Babylonian exile as we see in the first reading is therefore applied here to signify the coming of Jesus; John the Baptist is to prepare the way for him (New American Bible).
John the wilderness prophet succeeded in his ministry because his life was his message: he lived what he preached. He chose to discover God in the silence of the desert. There he heard clearly the voice of the Lord and made no mistakes in communicating what he heard. He lived in simplicity because he was after the essential thing. Thus putting on camel’s hair garment and leather belt and feeding on wild locusts and wild honey were just enough because he already adorned himself with the glory of God and ate the word of God.
His prophetic ministry attracted many who truly opted for change while others like the Pharisees and the Sadducees went to him by adventure.That is why the account of Matthew about the baptism scene will show how John denounced them as ‘Brood of vipers’ (Matt. 3:7).
This scene of baptism saw a crowd of the Israelites had not had a prophet for four hundred years. They came out in their numbers and remained captivated with the message of John because of his humble readiness to serve their promised Messiah: He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30). That is why John’s influence continued to live on after his death. When the apostle Paul went to Ephesus nearly 30 years later, he found a group of John’s disciples (Acts 19:1-7).
LIFE MESSAGES
1. WE MUST LIVE THE EXPECTATIONS OF ADVENT SEASON
We must truly take hard decisions in this advent in order to enjoy the fruit of Christmas season. It was the stubbornness and pride and self-centeredness of the old people of Israel that blinded them and kept them from recognizing Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah. The same stubborn pride, the same exaggerated sense of our own dignity, blinds the intellects of many of us today who not only fail to accept Christ and his good tidings, but also prevent others from accepting him. The mad rush for earthly possessions and pleasures, the casting-off of all the reasonable restraints and restrictions which are so necessary for the survival of human society, the rejection of all things spiritual in man’s make-up, the general incitement of the animal instincts in man – all these are signs of the rejection of Christ. Let us accept Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord during this Christmas season and remain, or become, true Christians in our daily conduct. Let us use these days of preparation for Christmas to ready ourselves for Christ’s daily coming and Second Coming, remembering that the Second Coming will occur for each one of us on the day of our death, or on the Day of the Lord, whichever comes first.
2. We NEED TO BECOME PREACHERS OF THE GOOD NEWS:
John’s message challenges us to consider whether we lead others to Jesus, or whether our actions are motivated by a need for attention and affirmation. John’s preaching reminds us also of our important task of announcing Christ to others through our lives at home and in the community. When we show real love, kindness, mercy and a spirit of forgiveness, we are announcing the truth that Christ is with us. Thus, our lives become a kind of Bible which others can read. John the Baptist invites us to turn this Advent season into a real spiritual homecoming by making the necessary preparations for the arrival of the Savior and his entrance into our lives. (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
SPIRITUAL EXHORTATION
The readings today mirror what our human conditions look like when we are away from “our root”, that is, when we depart from God. Every single moment we are not in peace with God, then we must be sure that we are in captivity. For some it lasts but a while because of their inner desire to return to the Lord, while others have lost the taste of the Lord because they have found comfort in the warm arms of the world. It Pampers them, cuddles them, caresses them and whispers a sweet melody of lullaby to their ears till they are lost in slumber of sin in the snuggle of its arms.
Who will redeem the man sleeping in sin? Who will wake him up to the dawn of the salvation of the Lord? Who will quake off and break the shackles around him so that he will regain his freedom?
A voice has been given to us today. It sounds strongly in the wilderness of our lives. To hear it, we must shut our ears from the voice of the world with its dictatorship of noise. It speaks at a devastating speed and volume in order to say nothing. It does not know how to be quiet. It rebels against a divine silence.
Advent calls us to rediscover our inner self through divine silence. There we will hear the voice that invites us to level the mountains and hills of our hearts. They are great obstacles that block our spiritual view. They must not maintain their height. They must be flattened so that the Lord can build himself in our hearts. This is a journey of rediscovering the “Eternal Beauty” (God) in the secret place of our hearts. It is a journey to freedom. The journey from slavery to freedom is one we need to travel in every moment. The Lord needs us back. He is no more far away. The cradle He needs to lay his New Born is in the Bethlehem of our heart.
(Fr. Lawrence Obilor SC)
PAX VOBIS!
