Second Sunday of Advent
It was Christmas Eve, and an overwhelmed mother was preparing the living room for Santa. Her children watched in excitement as she left a glass of warm milk and her freshly baked cookies on the coffee table. But she accidently dropped a cookie on the carpet. “Five seconds rule,” she said to her kids and put the cookie back on the plate. Her seven-year-old said, “Mom, Santa can’t have that cookie!” She protested, “I just vacuumed the whole room and the carpet is clean. Santa won’t know anyway.” Her son said, “So… Santa only knows what I do?”
There is a child’s way of looking at Santa and there is an adult way of looking at Santa. There is a child’s way of navigating Advent and there is an adult way of spending Advent. There is a child’s way of celebrating Christmas and there is the adult meaning of Christmas.
The contrast that I have created is inspired by today’s scripture readings. The first reading and the gospel reading present a contrast. In today’s first reading Isaiah offers comfort, consolation, and reassurance to a people, whose exile had led them to despair. In the gospel reading, in contrast, we hear John the Baptist “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1:4). Repentance and consolation – they are both part of Advent preparation for Christmas. Here are my three points for reflection.
God is Just and Merciful
Much has been written about the justice and the mercy of God. We know that God is just. If God was not just, then the entire foundation of human moral life would collapse. There would no expectation to be righteousness because it would not matter. In this sense, John the Baptist draws our attention to God’s justice. God’s justice gives us the confidence that we will be treated justly by God. But God is also merciful. The story of the exile addresses precisely this point. The exile was God’s justice but in Isaiah’s proclamation “Comfort, give comfort to my people…, speak tenderly to Jerusalem” (Is 40:1) we experience the mercy of God. The exile was God’s justice, the end of the exile was an experience of God’s mercy.
This Advent, I invite you to connect both with God’s justice and God’s mercy. Throughout Advent, we will hear the relentless call to repentance. And repent we must, because God is just and righteous. And when we repent, we will experience not God’s judgment, but rather we will experience God as mercy – Jesus Christ, who came not as a judge, but as a frail, humble, and loving child!
An Advent for Children and An Adult Advent
As I interact with children these days, it is wonderful to see their anticipated excitement. Every one of them is waiting for Santa to come and put gifts under the tree. They have dreams about their dream gift. But as adults, what are we awaiting? What is our dream?
Unlike a child, we adults know better to turn our focus not on the frivolous but on the eternal. John the Baptist says in today’s gospel reading, “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit” (Mk 1:7-8). John points to Christ and John leads us to Christ. John brings us the one who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. The joy, the peace, and the love we experience from the Christ is different from the fleeting thrill children feel with their gifts. These gifts will be laid aside. Someday, the thrill will be lost. But for us adults, neither John nor Christ are forgotten for the rest of the year. Christmas season will be followed by Ordinary Time, when John the Baptist will be martyred, and Christ will begin his ministry. It will be followed by Lent when the events of our salvation will be remembered and celebrated. John’s ‘Lamb of God’ will lead us to eternity itself. But it all begins here, today, with the prophet’s cry, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” (Mk 1:3).
Let us indeed prepare the way of the Lord. This Advent, let us prepare for the birth of Jesus. For adults, Christmas itself is the greatest gift that will then lead us to the rest Christ’s life, to his death, to his resurrection, and ultimately to eternity. This is what separates children from adults.
You Better Watch Out!
As parents and adults, we tell our children that Santa is watching. There is even a song about it. It goes, “He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake.” And the children buy it! What we parents and adults forget is that we too are being watched. And I am not trying to create a spirituality of fear. In fact, you should be consoled if I said that God is watching because God is just and merciful. We have something greater to be concerned about. Our children are watching us! They know when we are sleeping. They know when we are awake. They know when we’ve been good or bad. So be good for children’s sake!
When our children see us, I hope they see people of faith, character, integrity, goodness, kindness, love, and forgiveness. I hope our children see adults who build bridges, who stand for equality, justice, peace, and hope. I hope our children see us as adults who care about Creation, about the sanctity of life, about the poor, and about the common good. I hope our children see us people of prayer and as people whose life is influenced by faith. I hope our children see as adults who practice what we preach to them?
It is one thing to have Santa give gifts to our children for Christmas. It is quite another let our children see, that for us, Jesus is the greatest gift. It is one thing to let children know that Santa is watching them. It is quite another to let them watch us and learn that God is just and merciful.
Advent is an invitation to not only prepare for Christmas but to also prepare for eternity. Children prepare for Christmas. Adults prepare for eternity.
-Fr. Satish Joseph