First Sunday of Advent
As we begin the season of Advent, the scripture readings use numerous analogies to prepare us for Christmas. Let me begin with the first reading from Isaiah. The very last sentence is the very crux of today’s message: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Is 2:5) Light is best juxtaposed against darkness. As Paul would say in today’s second reading, “Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Rom 13:12).
Paul uses yet another analogy – being asleep and awake. He says, “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep” (Rom 13: 11). Jesus uses all these images together, when he says, “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Mt 24: 43-44) In other words, as we begin the season of advent, God is inviting to walk in the light of the Lord. God is inviting us to be awake as in daylight and not to be asleep as when it gets dark.
The juxtaposition here is between people who are enlightened and those who are senseless, foolish, as if in a haze. Let me juxtapose two kinds of people. There are those who let superficial aspects of Christmas dominate the story of God coming to earth as one of us. On Black Friday, for example, it is one thing to look for a good deal but it quite another to do so at the cost of the deal of all deals – Jesus Christ.
An enlightened person, one who is awake, one who walks in the light of the Lord is one who keeps his or her eyes focused on the Son of Man. So here is a test. Think about the most important person in your life. Do you know what you are going to give this person as a gift this Christmas? It is my presumption, but I think, you probably do. Here is the next question – do you know how you are going to spend this advent preparing for the gift of all gifts, Jesus? What will you offer Christ this Christmas? If there is a dichotomy between these two issues, then the reading are calling out to us to wake up.
Fr. Satish Joseph