A Call to Vigilance: Waiting for the Savior Who Comes!

(Homily for the 1^st Sunday of Advent Yr. B)

          Today marks the beginning of the liturgical period of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year. The word advent is from Latin root which means “future coming”, it connotes expectancy and hope. Hence, in our context, the time of advent is a time of great expectation for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ amongst men, unlike in the ancient Greece it meant the coming of their god. The coming of Jesus can be understood in three senses: First, is His “coming” more than 2,000 years ago (that is, his Incarnation, that which inaugurated the messianic time of Salvation). Second, is His final and glorious coming at the end of time (the Parousia), and third, between His first coming and the final coming there is the intermediary Advent, His immanent and continuous coming into our lives. The Christian life is an ongoing advent, a constant personal encounter with Jesus who has come, who is to come and who is already in our midst.

          Be that as it may, we may begin our reflection with some fundamental questions: between the first coming and the final coming what meaning has this our Advent? Secondly, if Christ is the One who always has to come, what then should be our attitude in view of His coming? In that bid, the readings of today are beaming with wonderful insights.

          The First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah brings us face to face with a God who is Father and with the reality of our own sinfulness before Him. Isaiah is one of the Advent prophets, because he lived at a time of great longing for the coming of the Messiah and the restoration of God’s People. He presents a time when the exiles have returned from Babylon, and inspired by the Deutro-Isaiah’s prophecies, they had high hopes. But concretely they discover that nothing seem to happen, they awaited restoration was not forthcoming. The people have begun to recognize that their exile was a consequence of their failure to live with integrity and in the ways of the Lord. Be that as it may, they burst into a lament of their situation: “Yahweh, can you restrain yourself at all this? Will you stay silent and afflict us beyond endurance?” (Is.64:11). In the midst of this reality that is still plunging them into despair, the prophet cried out to God for divine intervention: “Oh that you would come down, in your presence the mountains would quake” (Is. 64:2). As a matter of fact, at the heart of the spirituality of Advent is the human cry for divine intervention and manifestation. He acknowledges Israel's sinfulness and their need for 'the potter's hand' to refashion them into a faithful people they were meant to be. He uses the imagery of the potter and the clay, a significant reminder that we are in the hands of a God who loves us, ‘our Father and Redeemer’ (63:16b). We need this constant reminder that we are like clay in the Divine Potter’s hand, which goes a long way to revealing who and what we are before God (creatures, pardoned and redeemed sinners).

          The prophetic prayer of Isaiah in verse 1 is powerful, praying for God in his might to tear the heaven and come down, this prayerful call for divine manifestation alludes or is connected with the Marcan account of the Baptism of Jesus (Mk. 1:10), when the heavens were opened, and God spoke. Indeed, the opening up of heaven is a mark of great divine intervention and manifestation. And without doubts, that was what Isaiah was asking for. In the spirituality of Advent, heaven is opened for the earth, God opened heaven and sent His Beloved Son. Behold, it is indeed plausible to launch us into the period of Advent with this divine invocation of “open heaven”, the Advent cry “Oh that thou should rend the heaven and come down”. And too the invocation to God to ‘return’ (Is.63:17b) is typical of Advent spirituality.

          In the second reading we see the opening blessing and thanksgiving of the letter, but from all indications it does appear that this is not the first letter of St. Paul to this community, for he writes in 1Cor. 5:9: “In my letter I wrote to you that you should have nothing to do with people living immoral lives”, thus, indicating a previous letter. However, that is not our interest! The thanksgiving that opens the letter is of a captatio benevolentiae. Therein, Paul thanks God for the various gifts that were made visible in the Corinthian community, he talked of their speech and knowledge. But one thing fascinating in the passage is Paul’s attempt to set the charismatic gifts in an eschatological context. He reminded them that irrespective of their gifts, they are still awaiting for the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, St. Paul calls their attention for what lies ahead, for them not to be carried away by the gifts they had received. This reminder of St. Paul makes the second reading to dovetail into the message of Advent.

          The Gospel recounts the parable of the door keeper. Therein, Jesus announces to us the word at the heart of Advent “watch”, he says take heed and watch, it is an attention of not only the mind, but the heart and the whole life.  There is a danger of being asleep, the problem for some of us is not just to watch, but to wake up, because we are sleeping Christians, little wonder St. Paul warns, “brothers it is time to wake up from sleep” (Rm. 13:11). Mark’s account of this parable has some particular features, especially in comparison with the Lucan account (cf. Lk. 12:35-38). Some of the particularities of Mark includes the phrase: “a man going on a journey”, which was taken from the parable of the Talent. “Put his servants in charge, each with his work”, taken from the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants (cf. Mt. 24:45; Lk. 12:42). The parable then ends with an exhortation “watch then, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the first or the second or even in the third watch”.

          The passage begins with the imperative “Be on your guard” (v.33), “stay awake” (v.35), and “stay awake” (v.37). No one can calculate the precise kairotical moment (kairos) of the coming of the Lord, as such, from here springs the necessity for all to be awake for the eschatological moment that will mark the end of the world and the parusia of the glorious Christ. In that case, the “time” that is to come determines the reality of the present moment.

          In the context of the parable, the similitude therein is referred to the eschatological event of the parusia, which represents the full realization of the Kingdom. The servants that were given power, designate the disciples of Jesus. Here, while Mark speaks of the departure of the master who travelled abroad, Luke speaks of a nuptial banquet. In Mark’s account one discovers that verse (35) is replete with significance, for the master of the house is the Glorious Christ, the four chronological indications (evening, midnight, cockcrow or dawn) indicate the four broad division of the night in the Roman counting (from 6. pm to 6. am).

          In the last verse (37) we see how the teaching of Jesus Christ that was addressed to the four disciples, is now addressed to all the Christian community and to us today: “What I say to you, I say to all: stay awake”. In this passage, therefore, the imperative reminder “stay awake” is very much expressive, for it condenses the essential meaning of the Marcan eschatological discourse. Existentially, all our Christian life consists and is geared towards a vigilant wait for the coming of the Lord, which is certain because it is founded on the unwavering words of the Lord, faith on the resurrection and on the different apparitions of Christ.

          Above all, we are called to be sentries, in view of the return of the Son of Man. Most importantly, let us hearken to appropriate the threefold guidelines of Jesus to us: Take heed! Watch! Pray! “The one who attests these things says I am coming soon. Amen. Come Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). Come for we are in need of YOU! Come and dissipate the darkness shrouding our World!!!

(First Reading: Is. 63:16b-17; 64:1.3b-8; Second reading: I Cor. 1:3-9; Gospel: Mk. 13:33-37)

(Fada Vitus M.C. Unegbu)