Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
Waiting can be hard to do. We all know that anxiety which can come from waiting for a loved one to return, waiting to be reunited with someone we have not seen for a long time. At my house, when we know the approximate time of someone’s arrival, the kids start to look out the front windows or even ask to go sit on the porch. They want to be able to see the guests at the very moment they pull up into the driveway.
As we all know by now, Advent is a season of waiting – or rather, joyful anticipation. During this season, we are waiting for the coming of Jesus, in particular the coming of Jesus as an infant born in Bethlehem, but we also await the second coming of Jesus. And while this first event – Jesus born in Bethlehem – is something we know has already happened, the waiting for this second coming is a little more intangible. We may believe in the second coming, but we certainly don’t expect that to be tomorrow, nor perhaps in our lifetime.
And if we think of our waiting for Christ’s second coming, it can perhaps help us to imagine what it was like for those Jews who awaited their Messiah in the days before Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. They were waiting, waiting, waiting, but they did not know when exactly the Messiah was to come. What they had was hope, a hope that is expressed so eloquently in the words of the prophet Isaiah. This first reading today is a love story. It is the story of a merciful God who loves his people to no end. It is the story of a God who will not let go of his people. It is the story of a God who knows that his people are in debt because of their sins and yet does not want them sold into slavery to pay their debt.
We know that God did come. These hopes of Isaiah were realized when that child was born to the humble yet holy Blessed Virgin Mary. And yet our gospel reading shows us that it is also possible to miss the coming of Christ our redeemer. Many of those who were fascinated with John the Baptist and his prophecy did not understand that it was in reference to Christ. They waited without watching. They weren’t sitting attentively on the front porch.
As we wait in these last days of Advent, we should make sure that we aren’t making the same mistake. Yes, we are preparing for Christmas. We are buying gifts, putting up decorations, lighting candles on the Advent wreath, and singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” but are we waiting for Christ or just for Christmas? In other words, are we prepared to receive Christ, in the many ways we receive him, in others, in the Eucharist, and so on? Part of Israel’s longing expressed in Isaiah was the knowledge of their sinfulness, indicated by the image of “debt” and the hope for the Redeemer who would pay off that debt.
If our waiting for Christ is to be authentic, we too must recognize our continued debt, acknowledging it in acts of penance, particularly by making use of the sacrament of confession. We also must remember that the joyful expectation of Advent is but a training for our other longing of Christ’s second coming. For we who believe and strive to be grateful to our Redeemer, this will be a time of great joy, as is Christmas. Let us pray that this time of waiting will be a time of blessing!
- Maria Morrow