(Homily for the 2nd
Sunday of Advent Yr. B)
On
this second Sunday of the holy season of Advent the Liturgy of the word gives
us a programmatic statement “prepare the
way of the Lord”, and thus, the pivot around which revolves the word of God
is on the invitation “prepare”. And an in-depth perusal in the first reading
and the Gospel reveals that in the invitation to prepare, we are concretely
called to be voice of and to the Word. It is this mission of voice that
dovetails in the readings. Equally in the second reading we are invariably
called to be a voice to the reality of Christ’s second coming. In a nutshell, this
Sunday the steps to follow are: repent, prepare the way and make his path straight.
The First reading (Is.
40:1-5.9-11) presents
what I may call the most interesting part of the prophecies of Deutero-Isaiah.
In the context of this passage, one can see that in his prophecies this exilic
prophet was not directly thinking about Christ and his event, rather his
prophecy was on the Restoration of Israel from the Babylonian exile. However, his message envisaged the coming of the
Messiah. But at the tenth verse, he assured the people: “Behold, the Lord
God comes with might”. In his prophecy, Isaiah
envisaged this return from exile as a second exodus, where miracles similar to
the first exodus are repeated, in his words: “Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and
the rough places a plain” (v.4).
Besides, the exodus event is considered as an eschatological event, for it is
likened to the event of Christ in the New Testament. It is in this context that
we can understand profoundly the programmatic cry of John the Baptist in the
wilderness: “prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway
for our God”.
The passage opened with the Lord’s announcement: “console my people, console them” (v.1), he assured the Israelites in exile of the fulfilment of the
promise of the Messiah. This reveals
that God knows his people’s pains more than they do. The Prophet brings
comforting words to the suffering Israelite in exile in Babylon. God assured them that salvation will come,
for he loves and forgives his people. In the midst of their mourning and
insecurity, he reassured them that God has not abandoned them, that their period of slavery is over. Indeed, this passage summarizes the
theology of exile. It gives reasons why there was exile at all. Of course
it was not because of God’s lack of power, love and protection. Rather it was
in response to the people’s negligence of their faith in God. But in the long run, God intervenes and says
that their punishment is over, and truly, this is a Good News. The phrase “good
tidings” emanated originally from Hebrew, and it is the verb that later brought
forth the noun “gospel” (euangelion) in the New Testament.
The good tidings been referred to by the prophet is the impending Good News of Divine
intervention in the history of the chosen people, basically the return from
exile.
The passage of today’s Gospel (Mk. 1:1-8) presents the introductory
part of Mark’s Gospel, which sets the stage for Jesus’ ministry. In the second
Gospel, unlike in the first and the third, the
primary concern of the Evangelist is the person and figure of Jesus Christ,
his self-proclamation and the advent of the messianic time, long awaited by the
Jews. Little wonder, already from the beginning of his Gospel, Mark captures
the specific role played by the Baptist, that of, pointing to the person of
Jesus and his salvific mission. Mark expressed the fact that John the Baptist
was the forerunner of the Messiah, in fulfilment of the Old Testament
prophecies.
Today we read the beginning of a Good
News. The beginning of a good tiding, a Good News – that is Jesus himself; Mark
indeed captured it well when he said “The
beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. For Jesus is Good News personified. He
tells us about the unfolding identity of the man Jesus as “the Son of God”, which
is ultimately pronounced by a pagan soldier at the foot of the cross saying,
“He is truly the Son of God” (Mk. 15:39). The “One
mightier than I”, to say it with John the Baptist. Jesus is mighty and powerful not necessarily because he is Omnipotent,
but because he is All-loving, to the extent of giving his life.
In the periscope of today’s Gospel,
we encounter in the Word of God, one of the most popular and important figures
of Advent- John the Baptist. He inaugurated and launched the awareness for the
coming of Christ, the gospel and Christ’s event. In today’s gospel, St. Mark
talks about the “gospel of Jesus Christ”. This Marcan phrase, could be
considered from two dimensions: first, from the subjective dimension, therein, it means the gospel that Jesus
preached (cf. Mk. 1:14); second, it
could also be considered objectively,
as in the gospel about Jesus, the gospel preached about Christ. As a matter of
fact, the subjective consideration is historically more enriching. Indeed, it
is without doubt that the mission of Jesus was an offshoot from that of the
Baptist. We could therefore, opine that one is the continuation of the other,
if not for any other thing, for the themes that formed the very backbone of
their various missions. While John
insisted on judgment (pointing vehemently on repentance), Jesus was emphatic on Salvation. The
parable of the children in the Market square presented the difference in a more
glaring way (cf. Mt. 11:16-19).
John
the Baptist emerges here as the immediate precursor of Jesus. “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you ….Prepare
the way of the Lord, make straight his paths”.
Here the first reading forms the
background of the gospel. John the
Baptist's preparation for the coming of Jesus was not aesthetic or physical beautification. He calls for a spiritual preparation. And the people
responded to his call for conversion with the confession of their sins. John
further teaches us how to wait by what he wore and ate, and also by his Humility as a Voice, he is not
the Word, and he was very much aware of it. For a voice without the Word will only make empty noise. Interestingly,
we could say that the question Isaac asked his father Abraham in the book of
Genesis (22:7): “But where is the lamb?”, was answered by John the Baptist in the
gospel of John: “Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the
world” (1:29). He is the voice of the Lamb. The
preaching of John as a voice hinged on two aspects: ● His preaching of
repentance and baptism and the forgiveness of sins. ● His declaration of the
advent of One stronger than him, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
The passage latently underlines a
distinction between Jesus and John. John himself remarked that he is totally subordinate
to Jesus. He says: “One mightier than I”. The term “power” in biblical terms is
an attribute of God (cf. Dt. 10:17;
2Sam. 22:32; Jer. 39:18). The phrase “more powerful” is a pointer to the
mission of the One that comes after him.
In the second reading (2Pt. 3:8-14) a deep and wider
reflection brings to our consideration that from the context and tone of this
letter, it does appear the author had to grapple with false teachers of gnostic
conviction, who seemed not to believe in the second coming of Christ. The Gnostics
tend to lay much emphasis on the present reality, at the expense of the
eschatological event (the “already” and the “not yet” respectively). And in the
bid to respond to their disbelief on the second coming of Christ, the author
made reference to Psalm 90, to draw
home his point: “A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is
past, or as a watch in the night” (v.4).
Therein, while the author sought to
reaffirm the fact that God’s time is different from ours, he reinstated hope in
the Parousia. The uncertainty as
regards the time He will come, is a
spiritual motivational factor for holiness and good living. Be that as it
may, the Second reading is a reminder that as we await the Lord, whether he
comes early or not, we must not relapse into sin or take advantage of his delay
to do evil.
Here are still some veritable and plausible points emanating from the letter,
still valid for us today:
►We are called
as Christians to live as if the end is imminent, and can take place any moment.
As such, we have to adopt the value of watchfulness.
►We are reminded
always that our hope on the Parousia
should spur us on to lead a good and holy life.
►We have to come
to terms with the veracity that nothing can change the Christian faith in and
of the Second Coming of Christ.
Above all, the overriding theme that
dovetails into the readings of this second Sunday of Advent, is the mission of
the Baptist as Christ’s forerunner. Indeed, John the Baptist should and cannot
be considered as one of those personages of the past, for his relevance in the
church is still visible today. He continues
to interrogate every authentic Christian with his cry of repentance, and
the impending judgment. He continues to be the voice that cries in the desert. The whole Church needs to put her voice
together to that of John the Baptist in crying for repentance, for without
repentance, the Savior will not be known. For repentance, knowingly or unknowingly reawakens in us the consciousness
of our “createdness”. It helps us to realize and accept that we cannot save
ourselves, but God can, and He does, in and through His Son! We are called therefore to be a voice that
cries, a voice that expresses the Truth, the Good News, the Child of Bethlehem.
All the three readings speak about real life situations: for the Jews in
Babylon; for the early Christian community longing for the Second Coming of
Christ and being threatened by persecution for their faith; and for the people
of Jesus’ time who were listening to his precursor.
Are we willing today to go and listen
to John the Baptist at the riverside, the riverside of the Church, the
riverside of those suffering, the riverside of our hearts? Are we ready to accept the Christmas hopes that he expresses in the
name of God, asking us to change our way of life? On the other hand, we are
called to be prophets. Every generation, every people needs its prophetic
voices. However, at the beginning such voices may sound like a cry in the
wilderness. Though we risk being shut down, dejected and rejected, even in the
midst of these anomalies we are called
not to lose our prophetic role, bestowed on every Christian by virtue of
the Sacrament of Baptism. Our Christian prophetic
role does not allow us to keep silence and wash of our hands when things go
wrong; we cannot be spectators in the drama of life. We have two great role
models today to look upon: Isaiah and John the Baptist.
Brethren, today the message of
hope locates us from the prophecy of Isaiah saying that “slavery has ended
and sins are pardoned”. Mark starts his gospel with “the beginning”, which
means that the coming of Jesus is the beginning of a new era, new creation, the
end of slavery of sin and the beginning of salvation. Advent therefore, is a
time of preparation, not a conventional
thing (of the way the society does), it is the Waiting of the Mighty One. Advent
has to introduce us to the knowledge of the One who is to come, how far do we
know him? Come Lord Jesus, even though sometimes our human weaknesses do not
allow us to make adequate preparation for your coming, yet our heart aches for
You, Come Lord Jesus! Amen!
(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
No comments:
Post a Comment