SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT: Year A.

9 Dec 2008

Isaiah 11: 1-10 Psalm: 72 Romans 15: 4-9 Matthew 3: 1-12

1. Winter has come with a vengeance. The leaves and flowers are gone. The trees are bare and look dead. But we know in six months time, there will be buds on the trees and the leaves will cover them green again. But for now, the trees look just right to be chopped down and used for fire wood. They look dead.

David had gone a few centuries, but now the stump of Jesse looked dead. It was fit for firewood. The four kings who rule in Isaiah’s time, each one was either as bad or worse than his predecessor. The Time was ripe to loose hope. But Isaiah was convinced that God had not given up on the Kingdom of David. >From this “dead” stump of Jesse, would come a King, a Messiah. God would anoint him with the intellectual gifts of wisdom and understanding, the physical gifts of counsel and might, the spiritual gifts of knowledge and the fear of God. This Messiah would put things in balance and as a result justice shall flourish and there will be the fullness of peace.

Psalm 72 was a fitting response to this reading and it might be worthwhile reading it again and meditating on it verse by verse. When this occurs then nature would be in harmony,

the wolf shall lie down with the lamb

the leopard and the kid will not harm each other

the lion will dwell in peace with the calf and the fatling

the bear and the ox shall graze in tranquillity.

2. A scripture scholar has said The Old Testament is a book of promise. Promise leads to hope. Paul picks this theme up in the letter to the Romans where he tells us that the Scriptures give us encouragement which leads to Hope. It is providentially coincidental that the letter of Pope Benedict 16 ON HOPE “Spe Salvi” has been promulgated at this time.

The letter begins with the key idea “we are willing to undergo any hardships on our journey through life, if we know that at the end of the journey, there is something worth our efforts, our energy, our pains and our hardships.” The letter goes on in detail and at length to enflesh this idea.

However, we know from scripture and our own experience that this is true.

Abraham left his comfort zone, his people for a land the Lord had promised him. The idea of going to a strange land, with strange customs, strange languages, and strange gods did not prevent him from setting on the journey. He did this because of a Promise that gave him hope.

The Israelites marched through the desert with his barrenness and difficulties, because of a Promise of the Land which gave them hope.

Our parents and grandparents left our “home and native land” to come to Canada. They worked through times when money was scarce, the winters were cold, there was no central heating or indoor plumbing, there were no phones, TVS, Blackberries, and MP3 players to while away the winter nights. But they had a dream where their children and grandchildren would live a richer life. Today we do live that rich life. Canada has now become one of the best places in the world in which to live. They embarked on this journey because of hope.

And so Paul tells us that our basis for hope is that we have the Steadfastness and the Encouragement of a God. It is in this spirit we journey through Advent, a season of quiet joy and hope.

3. And then we have the jarring note of John the Baptist. His strident voice tells us “prepare ye the way of the Lord.” For most of us, we have seen John the Baptist as the voice crying in the wilderness. We do penances and change our ways of life, because every valley must be filled and every mountain must be laid low in preparation for the Messiah. But John was only six months old when Jesus was born. John the Baptist does not point out to Christmas but rather to the whole ministry life and death of Jesus. For the Scriptures, Christmas does not merely mean the Nativity, but the whole Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The entire ministry of Jesus Christ was to proclaim the Kingdom of God which resulted in the fullness of Peace.

This peace would be given at Christmas,

This peace would be the hallmark of the ministry of the Apostles. They were told to wish “Peace to any village you enter.”

This peace would also be Christ’s first greeting after the resurrection. Advent asks us the question: Do we want Justice that flourishes and the fullness of Peace. And are we ready to prepare for the Coming of the Lord?

A substitute teacher was asked to visit a hospital to help sick students so that they did not fall behind in class. She went to the corridor and room only to realise it was the Burns Unit. She found a horrible burnt boy in great pain. She awkwardly mumbled, “I am your new teacher come to teach you your nouns and adverbs.” And she did this for a few days, when she was called by the Supervisor. Before she could start her apologies, the head nurse said, “ We were very worried about Billy. But he is going to get well. He said, “they would not send a teacher to teach nouns and adverbs to work with a dying boy would they?” There is always hope. God sends us Jesus, and we await with hope.

Story number two: A man was on a cruise in the Caribbean. An attractive woman about his age, smiled on him on the first day as he passed her on the deck. This pleased him. The days passed and she still smiled. He managed to get a place at her table one evening . He said that he loved her smile and how he managed to get to sit at her table.

She said that the reason she smiled was that his face reminded her very much of her third husband. At this he brightened. He asked her, “how many times have you been married?” She looked down shyly and said, “Twice”.