1 December 2019 – 1st Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:8-14;
Matthew 24:32-44
What can be said about the season of Advent that has
not already been said? Some believe Advent is little more than a
count-down to Christmas. There is nothing wrong with properly
commemorating the Incarnation, the birth of the Messiah, with worship and enjoying
the season. What is wrong is the focus. We say ‘Jesus is the
reason for the season’, but do we live and worship and work and give of
ourselves - as He did - as though this were true?
We have our fun with Christmas – as long as we
understand it is far from over after the last present has been unwrapped and
the decorations are put away. The Lord is still coming back and the
Church is still called and encouraged to “wait patiently” … but not silently –
and certainly not anonymously. The reality of His Return must be
announced throughout the year – not as a threat but as His Promise - because
this Advent box of goodies must not be packed away and forgotten until next
December.
Originally, there was little connection between Advent
and Christmas. The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus,
meaning “coming”. Scholars believe during the 4th and 5th centuries in
parts of Europe, Advent was a season of preparation - not for Christmas but for
catechumens who would be baptized on the feast of the Epiphany. During
this season, those preparing for baptism would be expected to spend 40 days in
penance, prayer, fasting, and learning about life in the Church, life in
Christ, life as a disciple.
By the 6th century, Roman Christians had tied Advent
to the coming of Christ, but the “coming” they had in mind was not reaching
into the past for something which had already taken place – His birth; it was
His second coming as the Judge of the world. It was not until the Middle
Ages that the Advent season was explicitly linked to the Incarnation.
Like Lent, Advent is intended and ordered to be a
disciplined season of preparation, a season of reflection, a season of
repentance, a season of renewal lest we continue to take our roles as disciples
of Christ and life in the Church for granted. If we think we have nothing
from which to repent, we must heed St. Paul’s warning to the Romans: “…
it is now the moment for [us] to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer than
when we became believers; the night is far gone, the Day is near”
(13:11).
So even as we look back to remember with gratitude the
birth of Messiah and that extraordinary moment in Eternity, we prepare for, and
anticipate, the coming of Messiah. We remember our own longing for, and
need of, forgiveness and a new beginning … because I doubt there are many among
us who would not like to get over our past and start anew. The world won’t
let us forget our past, but our God and Father does not hold grudges against
those who truly repent. As I shared last
week, it is too easy to fall into the trap of being defined by any single
moment – good or bad though those moments may have been. Let us instead
focus on where to go from those moments! Let us learn to focus on
what is ahead of us – not behind us.
Since we will certainly celebrate the birth of Messiah
– by spending money we don’t have for stuff we don’t need, by making vows we
have not kept, by determining we will do better by the Church and by one
another until we are distracted by the latest new fad – we must ask ourselves
exactly how we can honor His birth and His life while preparing for His
Return. Practices that have their origins in paganism are not getting it
done. If anything, these are pushing us further away; the Messiah of The
Lord must never – EVER – become an afterthought.
When Jesus refers to the “days of Noah”,
He is using those days as an example, an analogy of the contemporary days, days
not unlike our own. It is a mistake for us to presume to think we would
have had the presence of mind or the state of heart to go aboard the Ark before
the Great Flood. In fact, the Judgment had already been made long before
the waters began to rise.
It is easy to imagine the grief Noah may have endured
by those who watched him building this Ark and laughing at him for wasting his
time with such a project when there was so much of life to enjoy, places to go,
things to do, people to see. In spite of how it has been portrayed in
some movies, there is no biblical indication Noah warned anyone nor was he
commanded to warn anyone. He was only told to build the Ark, and he was
told whom and what would be on board.
Yet “all flesh … were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage” as though that was the life to which
they had been called. In itself, there is nothing wrong with these
things – EXCEPT there was no mind toward the well-being of one another, no
sense of community; there was only the indulgence of self, as it is written; “God
saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the
earth” (Genesis 6:12).
Even before the time of Jesus, the faithful could see
this “corruption” as they prayed for The Lord to come. They knew
something had to happen. And it did. A Light shone in the
darkness. The world caught its breath when the Savior was born.
There was a sliver of hope, a moment of peace. Yet almost as quickly as
it had begun, it came to a violent end. On the surface, nothing seemed to
have changed. The world was still corrupt, they were still “eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage”. On
the surface.
Beneath the surface and in the depth of Eternity,
something had changed. It is not that we had been given a new season to
celebrate, a season that centuries later would lend credibility to our
indulgences. From the time of our Lord’s Ascension began a season of
preparation, a season of reflection, a season of repentance, a season of
renewal, a season of perpetual waiting with hope. It is this time in
which we are called away from the corruption that has engulfed our world and
our lives – and in great measure, the Church. But by Grace and the
Father’s heart, it still is not too late.
Like the early Church, let us resolve to put this time
to good use. Let those who are yet unbaptized – young and old – be
prepared for life in Christ and the Church. Let those yet unconfirmed be
prepared to take their own places in the Eternal Covenant and the Body of
Christ. Let us all reflect on the past year and determine to make 2020
truly AD, “anno domini” – ‘the year of The Lord’. And come January 5 and
the Feast of the Epiphany, let us revel in our renewal!
The season upon us is one of preparation. As the
Baptizer called upon the people of Israel to “prepare the Way of The
Lord”, so must the Church continue to prepare the Way. But not
before we prepare ourselves. To the Glory of the Most High God and to
peace to His people on earth until He comes again. Amen.
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