Second Sunday of Advent
I want to begin my homily today with this You Tube video clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPViKJRHyZo.
(Please play only the first verse of the song and then read the homily.
As we can understand, during the four Sunday’s of advent, the scripture readings are chosen very carefully. There are particular things that the Church wants us to know as we prepare for the birthday of Jesus. I am going to give you a little bible study here. First, the messiah must come from the tribe or the house of Judah. Jesse, who we hear about in the first reading, was King David’s father and he was of the house of Judah. God had made a promise to David, that his kingdom and his lineage would be secure forever. Jesus, through his foster father Joseph, came from the lineage of David. In this way, Jesus is the “shoot of Jesse” that Isaiah talks about in today’s first reading (Is 11:1). Secondly, Scriptures want us to know about the role of John the Baptist. His message, “A voice of one crying out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths,” originally was proclaimed by Isaiah (Is 40:3). It was the common belief that the prophet Elijah, who was taken up to heaven in fiery chariot (2 Kgs 2:11), would return before the day of the Lord (Mal 3:23a). Is it not interesting that the gospel tell us what John the Baptist wore? We do not have that kind of information about Jesus. So why is it important to tell us what John the Baptist wore? Because, it is said of Elijah that he wore a hairy garment and a leather girdle around his loins. In this way, scripture lines up Elijah with John the Baptist. If Elijah was supposed to come before the day of the Lord, then John the Baptist was preparing the way of the Lord, just as Isaiah had prophesied.
We cannot avoid both the message of Isaiah and John the Baptist. There is a certain amount of firmness and straightforwardness to both Isaiah and Baptist’s messages. Isaiah, for example, says about the coming Lord that he will not judge by appearance, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips (Is 11:3-4). The Baptist has an even more firm tone. He says, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.” (Mt 3:7) He also says, “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Mt 3:10).
So what is the message in all of this for us? Let me propose three practical implications:
a) The coming of the messiah is a big deal. It is such a big deal that prophets hundreds of year earlier foretold about the Lord’s coming. It is such a big deal that a messenger must precede the messiah. And sometimes, either because of the romanticization of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus or because commercialization of Christmas, it seems to me that Christmas has lost its power over us. It seems to me that people do not dwell of the deep implication of the coming of Jesus. I do not know who to put the blame on. Sometimes, I want to blame the Church (by church I mean leaders and people). For example, Santa Claus is Saint Nicolas. He is a saint of the Catholic Church. The commercial world stole that idea from us, stripped Santa Claus of his original message, totally commercialized it and made him a secular symbol for Christmas. Did the Church stand back and watch? I think it did. Christians bought into this lie hook, line and sinker. Today a voice cries out in the desert just as it did in time times of Isaiah and the Baptist, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Today, I am pleading with you. Together, please, let us not rod Christ’s birth of its true meaning.
b) If Isaiah and John are a voice crying out “prepare the way of the Lord,” and if we want to indeed prepare, are the scriptures also suggesting how we can prepare? The answer is, “Yes.” John the Baptist says, Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. We generally associate repentance with Lent. Here again, we lost the original sentiment associated with the coming of the messiah. We have replaced the word “repentance” with “pamper.” The scripture are telling us that we must take an honest look at our lives and prepare ourselves for this great event of our salvation. Let us remove any sentiment, thought, action that would be a stumbling block for Christ. Let us make straight the path of the Lord. Let us produce good fruit. Basically, let us think, talk, and act like Jesus.
c) I love what St. Paul says in today’s second reading, “think in harmony with one another…” (Rom 15 :5). Harmony is also the vision of Isaiah. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. (Is 11:6-8). My point is this: If each Christian in the world repents and if each Christian in the world produces good fruit, then the power of the birth of Christ will create the harmony that the birth of Christ was intended to create. Christ is born but it will be up to us to make his birth a reality today. And we can only do that if we let the seriousness, the depth and the power of the incarnation affect our own lives.
In a few moments we will receive Jesus in this Eucharist. This is a big deal too. There is power in this bread and wine. There is life in this bread and wine. There is God in this bread and wine. Let us allow the power of God to transform us and prepare the way for the Lord this Christmas. Amen.
Fr. Satish Joseph