May you at the Eucharistic celebration of today’s Mass receive the grace that will enable you forget
The imminence of the second coming of the Lord and the need to prepare for it are recurring themes in the Advent season. Living in constant consciousness of this coming challenges one to cultivate the right attitude of preparedness. For all who wait for his coming with the right conduct, it will bring immense consolation. On the other hand, for those who choose to live as they want, without striving to set their lives right, it will come like a thief.
In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah paints a very consoling and heart-warming picture of the Lord’s coming: with power, he is coming to subdue all things and liberate his people; he brings prize of victory for his people and would tenderly feed and lead them to rest as a shepherd would his flock. But for this to happen the people are directed to act their deliverance even before they see its evidence. Some are told to prepare for the coming of their God by removing any obstacle that might prevent God’s approach so that the onlookers might enjoy it. The picture sketched here resembles that carefully repaired highway on which the victorious kings or generals travelled in triumphant procession on their return home. The people who had suffered so long are told here to prepare such a road, and upon its completion they will behold the glory of their triumphant God. There is an element of universalism here. Not only they, but all humankind, will see the glory of their God. This wondrous display will be the first proof that they have finally been delivered from their suffering. A second directive is given to people within Jerusalem itself. The city broken and depleted, is told to announce to the other vanquished cities of Judah the approach of this triumphant procession. The message they are to proclaim is not theirs; it is dictated to them. They are to be heralds of good news. They are to announce that the mighty victorious God is coming. This is the good news of deliverance, and the people are urged to believe that this message is true. In both cases of directives seen above, the people are directed to act their release even before they have tangible evidence of it. What they have is the word of the prophet, whose message employs verbs forms that suggest that future events are already accomplished in the present. The people’s faith in the word is itself the strongest evidence of their deliverance.
In this second reading, St. Peter takes up this same theme of the right manner of living that befits those waiting for the Lord’s coming. He insists that, despite what seems to many to be a very long delay, the Day of the Lord will indeed come. Paraphrasing Psalm 90, 4, he argues that what appears to be interminable to short-lived human beings is as nothing to God who is from eternity and who lives in eternity. Moreover, God is faithful and keeps the promise made to humankind. The promise referred to here, probably, has something to do with merciful forbearance. The author indicates that the Lord delays in coming precisely because of the promise of salvation to all. God’s goodness here is, giving enough time for all to come to repentance. Such a notion is found repeatedly in the Scriptures (eg., Exodus 34,6-7; Psalm 86,15; Romans 2,4; 9,22). Though delayed, the end time will surely come. Its timing, like that of a thief in the night, is unpredictable (cf. Matt 24, 43-44; Luke 12,39; 1 Thess5,2; Rev 3,3; 16,15. Therefore, Christians should not grow weary of waiting, nor become careless in their waiting. As God has been patient in the face of sinfulness, so they must also be patient in the face of God’s apparent delay. St. Peter takes up another theme that talks about the newness of things. First apocalyptic judgement will purge the world of sin, and then righteousness will dwell within the new heavens and earth. The only behaviour befitting such a transformation is a life of holiness and goodies, a life without spot or blemish. According to St. Peter such holiness actually hastens the Day of the Lord’s coming. Thus the best reply to any challenge to the Lords coming is a life of patient hope.
The need to prepare for the coming of the Lord with the right conduct also comes to light in today’s gospel. Attired like Elijah, John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Unlike the ritual washings of the Essenes of Qumran , another Jewish group that went out to the desert to await the promised one, John’s baptism is open to all, not merely to a select group. Everything is attire as the people of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem came out to him to be baptised. They made their way to him, and as they were baptised in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John got the attention of the crowds, but he quickly turned it away. He pointed out that one who is mightier than he. One who was coming after him. John was a messenger of God and he knew his role as an agent of God’s good news. He was not the long awaited one; he was the one who prepared the way. Though clearly idiosyncratic; in him there was no spirit of self-aggrandisement. He did not even consider himself worthy of performing a servant’s task for this mighty one that is coming. Rather, he taught that his own deeply spiritual baptism of water and repentance would be supplanted by the other’s baptism of the Spirit, effecting total transformation through the action power of God. John’s appearance, his message and his baptism all heralded the good news of salvation.
This time of Advent is a season of future, conversion and repentance. It is a time for the contrition of heart and a new beginning and transformation. God’s future comes through the wilderness into the broken city and inspires a broken hearted people. This is the meaning of contrite. The contrite heart is an emptied-out heart, a hope-filled heart. It is a heart that is unencumbered by the past and lives currently in the passing of time and fragility of being alive. The contrite broken heart can be filled only by what is promised in the future. In this readiness, the contrite heart is transformed into a new creation. Here again is the paradox of Advent. In the middle of wilderness God works the impossible in those whose hearts are ready for the surprise of hope. God shapes a community of compassion and praise, a community transformed into a future humanity, a community that know that only good things come from God’s future. Are you already a member of this community? If not, make effort to be one this Advent season. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye
pictures by chukwubike
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