2nd Sunday of Advent | A Time of Preparation
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December 8, 2017The word conversion comes from the Latin word convertere, meaning “to turn around.”
When was the last time you were driving somewhere and got lost on the way to your destination? Maybe you were following the directions, but they led to the wrong place. Or maybe you thought you could figure out how to get to your destination on your own, only to realize you didn’t quite know the way. We have all experienced needing to turn around, re- trace our steps, and start over. This is the crux of the Christian life: being willing to convert, to turn around, the areas of our life that need to be more aligned with God’s plan for our eternal happiness.
First Reading
Isaiah 40:1–5, 9–11
Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. The depth and magnitude of his prophecies and visions continue to amaze and interest God’s people. Isaiah’s name in Hebrew literally means “Yahweh is salvation,” which summarizes the message of the prophet of God. Isaiah’s prophetic ministry lasted for about forty years (740–700 B.C.), during a time of great political turmoil in Israel.
Isaiah’s prophecy gave hope to an exiled Israel for hundreds of years of suffering, in which the Jews waited for their deliverance and restoration. In their waiting they looked for the “voice in the wilderness” (see Matthew 40:3) that would announce that the time of God’s coming to deliver Israel had arrived. This voice is to herald “good news” (40:9), that is, the Gospel (thus Isaiah is often called the fifth Gospel) that the Lord God comes.
Isaiah’s revelation that God would restore his people and kingdom after the exile became the spark that enkindled Israel’s longing and for a redeeming Messiah. The sign that the time for God’s coming was imminent would be the “voice in the wilderness,” which we know was John the Baptist (Matthew 3). The restoration would be nothing less than the “coming of the Lord God.” Thus Isaiah declared the coming of Christ over seven hundred years before he came. In the context of Israel’s exile and hope, we can see why the message of the Apostles was called the “gospel(literally “good news”), for it was the good news of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. For us, Advent is the renewal of Israel’s waiting for the good news that Christ will come!
Second Reading
2 Peter 3:8–14
As mentioned before, Advent is a time for reflecting both on Christ’s coming in the Nativity and his coming at the end of time. St. Peter assures Christians that his coming isn’t late, but rather that he waits for the repentance of sinners. We should not, he warns, begin to act as though we need not be on guard or grow lax in our vigilance because “the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”
We may do well to read the whole of chapter 3 in which Peter prophesies the manner in which Jesus will return. God once destroyed the world by the water of the Flood in the time of Noah. After the New Covenant in Christ, the saving flood of Baptism has fulfilled the Old Testament image of the flood. The next manner of the world’s purification is to be by fire. We are reminded of the fire of Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation. We might speculate that the world, having already been baptized by the Flood, will be confirmed in spiritual adulthood and prepared for full membership in the Heavenly Church by the descent of fire.
In point of fact, the world never lacks for “scoffers . . . following their own passions” (3:3) who doubt our Lord’s return. In every age we are called to conduct ourselves in “holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the Second Coming of the day of God” (3:11–12). Yes, even trying to hasten the day! A genuine Christian doesn’t fear the second coming, but rather eagerly anticipates the arrival of the Savior.
Gospel Reading
Mark 1:1–8
Unlike the other Gospels, which begin with introductions or a genealogy, St. Mark immediately begins with the proclamation of John the Baptist. This proclamation perfectly fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah: “Prepare the way of the Lord!” This highlights how completely John the Baptist fulfills in himself all the expectations of ancient Israel.
St. Augustine teaches that John’s birth to elderly parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, represents the antiquity of Israel, while his leaping for joy in his mother’s womb at the Visitation of Mary suggests the newness of his coming prophetic proclamation. In his appearance and actions John sums up the whole of the Old Testament: his clothing is the same as that of Elijah, and the hides he wears also suggest the skins that Adam and Eve wore after being cast out of the Garden.
He calls Israel out into the desert for purification as did Moses, the mediator of the Old Law and, like Moses, he prepares the people to be led into the new Promised Land by the new Joshua (Yeshua = Jesus). His diet consists of locusts, which are symbolic of pestilence as one of the plagues of the Exodus and of the Apocalypse, and honey, which is the food of the Promised Land.
Despite the dignity of St. John the Baptist at having received the vocation of being the last of the Prophets and the first of the saints (after Mary, who is the Queen of Saints), his most prominent virtue is humility. “I am not fit to stoop and untie his sandal straps,” he says. If we are to prepare ourselves and others for the coming of the great King, then we should turn our attention to St. John the Baptist, the first herald of Christ.
DIGGING DEEPER:
A Change of HeartThe Greek word for repentance is metanoia. It literally means a “change of mind.” It is used all throughout the New Testament in the imperative tense, inviting us to “turn around.” In Mark 1:15, Jesus tells us, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, said, “These words constitute, in a way, a compendium of the whole Christian life.” If this is true, then repentance is absolutely essential to our lives as Christians. We must be willing to evaluate our lives, acknowledge where we have gone down the wrong path, and turn around. Our faith and encounters with Christ in the Liturgy and Scripture will naturally reveal the areas of our lives that need change. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
PRAYER:
Picture a desert—barren, dry, and hot. It’s not a place we would choose to spend a significant amount of time. So why does John the Baptist meet people in the desert? It is in the desert, in the place that we are most deprived of distraction and faced with our needs, that we are able to see that we need something more—someone more. It is in the desert that we are most apt to open our hearts to God—to repent. Reflect on the word “repentance.” What do you need to repent of in your own life? Where do you need to receive forgiveness in your life? Where do you need to grant forgiveness to another in your life?
RESOLUTION:
We pray each Sunday in the Our Father: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Make a firm resolution to extend forgiveness this week to someone you need to reconcile with. Allow the healing power of forgiveness to make straight a pathway in your heart for the Lord.
Reprinted from Opening the Word at Formed.org .
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