All Men Shall See His Salvation!

(Homily for the 2^nd Sunday of Advent Yr. C)

     At this second Sunday of Advent, meditating on the Word of God, I discovered two salient elements around which the message of today revolves and they are: Word and Movement. For the Word of God (Logos) comes to us in a descending manner, and in this movement of descending He convokes all, and as the Word convokes, it brings changes and transformation. The Word (Rhema) is not an ordinary word, for through the manifestation of the Word, all men shall see His salvation. In Christmas the Word became flesh, and already in the liturgy of Advent the Church wants us to meditate on the Word and its gradual internalization in our hearts. In the first reading, Prophet Baruch speaks of the sons of Israel in exile, who “were convoked from East to West by the word of the Holy One”, as such, they embarked on a journey of returning home, a movement towards their freedom. St Luke tells us that the Word of God was addressed to John, son of Zechariah in the desert, as evidenced in the Gospel, and John in turn addresses the word to the Jewish people, and the Jewish people embarked on a journey, but this time around, they are moving from the land of Israel to go and meet John the Baptist at the river Jordan, to hear the word. St. Paul in the second reading expresses his joy for the Philippians for their collaboration to the Gospel that is to the Word of God transformed into the Good News for the salvation of man.

     In the first reading (Bar. 5:1-9) Prophet Baruch in a poetic language imagines Jerusalem dressed in mourning cloth, like a mother who lost most of her children. He describes the return of the Jewish people from the terrible experience of the exile, in Babylon. Baruch intones a song to the city of Jerusalem, renewed and transformed by the mighty hand of God: “Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of God’s glory for evermore” (v.1). This is a message of hope, and this hope according to Prophet Baruch is founded on the prevision of the return of the people of Israel from exile and the prospective of a rehabilitated Jerusalem. The prophet foresees a new future for his people, a turn-around situation that only God can do, for it is only God that can save. “For God has decreed the flattening of each high mountain, of the everlasting hills, the filling of the valleys to make the ground level, so that Israel can walk safely in God’s glory” (v.7). They were ready to embark on a journey of homecoming; a movement towards their freedom. And there is indeed great joy, joy of returning home after that terrible experience. It does appear the Psalmist situates us well into the context of this joy thus: “What great deeds the Lord has worked for us! Indeed, we were glad” (Ps. 126:3).

     The prophet gives a joyful and consoling prophecy that the people of Israel, who were deported in Babylon would have come back to Jerusalem, through the work of God, for God has established  “to level the mountains”, on the condition that the people of Israel repent with all their heart to the Lord. Indeed, that liberation would have been nothing but a sign, a prefiguration of a more profound and radical liberation, the liberation from sin, which God would accomplish, not only for the people of Israel, but for the entire humanity. This is made possible with and through Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah whose presence John the Baptist announced.

     In all, it might interest us to know that the book of Baruch is one of the deuterocanonical writings of the Old Testament; or the so-called Apocrypha writings. This book pictures the situation of the Babylonian exile. The passage we read today is taken from the last part of the book. It comprises of two prophetic poems modelled on Deutero-Isaiah. Therein, we could see that the miracle of the return is pictured in series of supernatural events comparable to that of Isaiah 40. It therefore corresponds with the quotation of Isaiah 40 in the Gospel. On the other hand, the invitation: “Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height and look forward the east, and see your children gathered from west and east, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them” (v.5). As a matter of fact, this symbolism of salvation coming from the east like the dawn is very much embedded in the Church’s Advent tradition, and at the heart of Advent spirituality is the consciousness that God has remembered His people.

     The Gospel passage (Lk. 3:1-6) is from the third chapter and St. Luke begins with an introduction that exposes adequately the geographical, political and religious situations at the beginning of the prophetic mission of John the Baptist. There is precision on the time, place and the protagonists of the political and religious life of that historical period. What could have motivated Luke to begin the third chapter in that manner? The most evident motive could be the desire to emphasize the importance of the figure of John the Baptist, the Prophet who stands as a bridge between the Old and the New Testament; while he concludes the Old, he preannounces the New. In Luke’s parlance, the Judea of Pilate and the Galilee of Herod constitutes the land of the people of God, the tetrarchs of Philip, Ituraea and Trachonitis are instead Pagan regions, therefore, the message of John the Baptist is addressed to both Hebrews and Pagans, it extends to all, to every race and people. In the passage, the quotation from the prophecy of Isaiah has undergone a significant change, in the prophecy of Isaiah we read “All shall see the glory of God”, but St. Luke redacts it to “All flesh shall see the salvation of God” (v.6), all without distinction of colour, race or religion. With and through the birth of Jesus Christ we all have seen this salvation. And at this season and beyond, this Word of salvation resounds.

     In Advent, the Gospel on the second and third Sundays focuses yearly on the figure of John the Baptist. In his account, Luke connects the appearance of John the Baptist both to secular and salvation history. He presents John the Baptist with the Old Testament prophets. Indeed, from all indications Luke’s perspective of John the Baptist, differs from Mark’s. While Mark thought of John the Baptist as the beginning of the Gospel, the point at which salvation event began, Luke instead situates John the Baptist before the beginning of the salvation event. The Baptist in his person concludes the salvation history of the Old Testament; he stands as the head of the Old Testament prophets and points as they did to the coming of Christ.

     The contents of the preaching of John the Baptist was synthesized by the evangelist Luke with the following words: “He went through the whole Jordan area proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (v.3). Thus, he preached for a baptism that was a sign and expression of an interior conversion, with the forgiveness of sins. In fact, there is no remission of sins, without the desire to detach oneself from sin and to change one’s life. Today, John the Baptist gives us a programmatic statement thus: “prepare the way of the Lord” (Lk. 3:4). In his narrative, Luke reported of valleys being filled in, mountains being levelled, and rough places being smoothened. This could be a metaphorical description of what took place in the heart of the people. In the same vein, we are invited to fill in the valleys, to level the mountains and to smoothen the rough places in our life. In sum, all those things that do not allow us to become balanced and matured Christians are to be jettisoned.

     As suggestive of the encounter in this passage, once again the Jewish people are on the move, but this time around, they are moving from the land of Israel to go and meet John the Baptist at the river Jordan. John the Baptist was announcing the fulfilment of the Jewish hope for the Messiah. As we can see, in the first reading and the Gospel, the people are on the move for something better, in the first reading it was a move for freedom and return to their own land, while in the Gospel it was a move for the preparation of the coming of Christ, as they hearkened to the voice of John. The consciousness for something better, for a divine turn around spurred them on to embark on a journey. This season, brethren, we are invited to make a move, a move from our former ways to embrace the newness of life that the Child of Bethlehem offers. Advent therefore, is a wonderful time to start afresh, to begin anew, to start finding our root. Let us transform our hearts to a manger to receive Him.

     For St. Paul in the second reading (Phil 1:4-6.8-11), there is hope founded on the assurance that God will bring to completion, the marvellous work of cooperation in the spreading of the faith he has begun, “I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the day of Jesus Christ comes” (v.6). Therein, St. Paul uses the phrase the “day of Jesus Christ” (that is the Parousia), as the terminal point of Christian growth. And that phrase once again brings us close to the theme of Advent (His second coming).

    More than ever, in this season of preparation we need to re-echo the invitation to conversion, for we are all sinners, with the tendency of forming the habit of sin. This season, therefore, the word of God resounds in and through the Church. Today, there is an urgent and necessary need to resound this appeal for conversion, for we are gradually losing the conscience of the sense of sin. We cannot but affirm that conversion does not only mean detaching oneself from sin and from a moral conduct that does not conform to the will of God. It also signifies developing that life of grace, the supernatural life that is in us since our Baptism. And this comports as St. Paul delineated a continuous growth in the love of God and neighbour, an existential cooperation to the spread of the Good News.

     In this season more than ever, the Word of God re-awakens in us the sense of expectation, which is characteristic of Advent. Advent is a spiritual season that humanity expects God to act, because man cannot save himself, salvation comes from God. Advent has in store new graces for us. Advent means arrival or coming, in this context the coming of Jesus, not the coming of Santa Claus. At Advent and eventually Christmas, Jesus comes to us, we just need to make a room for Him in our heart. Are you ready to prepare an inn for Him in your heart? Is there space for Him or you are going to turn Him down like the inn-keepers? Jesus is the One we really need to long for, for he alone has answer(s) to our utmost human longings and questions. He knows what is in man (cf. Jn. 2:25). Only Jesus can fill our human existential emptiness, the psalmist demonstrated this in a glaring manner in some of the psalms thus:

 “Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you my God” (Ps. 42:1). “O God, you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for you like a dry, weary land without water” (Ps. 63:1-2). “In God alone is my soul at rest; my help comes from Him. He alone is my rock, my stronghold, my fortress: I stand firm” (Ps. 62:1-2). Advent is indeed, the season of grace that Christ fills our inner and deepest longings and yearnings. Advent is a season to yearn for Him who comes to save us; it is a season for our soul to thirst and our body to pine for Him, who is to come. He is our rock, for he has made us to raise our heads high for the nearness of our redemption (Lk. 21:28). His coming establishes us on a sure foundation (cf. 2Tm. 2:19), for we now stand firm. This inner and deeper longing, this yearning, this thirst and pinning cannot be fulfilled by the outward decorations, the tendency of consumerism, the beauty of the crib and the Christmas tree, but only by Christ, the Child of Bethlehem, who came to the aid of our weakness. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!! Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)