(Homily for the 2nd 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, He convokes all, and as the Word convokes, it brings
changes and transformation, here John the Baptist’s call for conversion finds
its in-depth meaning for our Advent. The Word (Rhema) that convokes 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, for John was the Voice to the Word. Is God’s Word moving us today? Does
His Word propel us to begin a journey of conversion and repentance? 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. There was 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
(that’s the movement). 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. But also to lay emphasis on the
fact that Jesus was historical figure. 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 marvelous 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 comes to
the aid of our weakness. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!! Amen!!!
(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)
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