8 December, Second Sunday of Advent
Readings: Malachi 3. 1-4; Phil. 1. 3-11; Lk. 3. 1-6
Theme: Prepare the Way
Today on this second Sunday of Advent our readings present us with the theme of preparing the way of the Lord. A new Israel will be reconstituted now that the exiles have returned from their Babylonian deportation and live under Persian rule, which has allowed them to return to their homeland and to restore the temple of Jerusalem. We have an indication of this in verse one of the reading from Malachi when it says, “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple” and in the statement that the offerings presented to the Lord will be fitting, “they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness”. The temple was the place that these offerings would be presented to the Lord and Malachi indicates to us God’s plan of restoration. Yet, in this plan of restoration, the question of who is in and who is out of this newly restored Israel will be a central theme of our new Gospel for this liturgical year; namely, year C of the church’s liturgical calendar which journeys through the Gospel of Luke.
What does this plan of a newly restored Israel mean? A key theme of the preparation required for this restoration which we carry over from the Old Testament is one of fidelity. The remnant of Israel that returns to the homeland includes those who even in exile have remained faithful to the Lord. The experience of the Jews in exile has been one of infidelity, making shady deals with foreign rulers and of worshipping other gods than the God of Israel, so now the journey back to the promised land comes with a need for preparation. This preparation is a renewal of the people to the covenant made between God and the patriarchs to worship the one true God and to live according to his ways which have been set down in the laws. This is what me might call the new spirituality of the returned exiles who have become a little too comfortable on their return to the homeland. They need to be reminded that though their initial enthusiasm for returning may now have worn off, they still need to live a life of fidelity based on the temple and the law.
The Gospel of Luke thus presents us with the figure of John the Baptist as the one who is to act, as the prophets of old, such as Hosea and Malachi, as the one who is to effect this preparation of the people of Israel for the coming Day of the Lord. John, son of Zechariah, is the sign in the New Testament that this time has now come. The return of the Lord is imminent and it will be John who will announce this to the remnant of Israel who are still faithful at the time of Jesus. Luke uses wonderfully poetic language which evokes some of those wonderful passages that we often hear throughout the Advent season of mountains and hills being made low and crooked paths made straight. All these tropes are ways in which Luke speaks to us of the need for preparation at the coming of the messiah who is coming in the flesh, as we hear at the end of verse six in our Gospel today.
So, the question which we are faced with on this second Sunday of Advent is what it means for us here and now to prepare for the coming of the Lord. Yes, the Lord is still coming because Advent is not a one-off season, but rather a time when we focus on the continual reality of the coming of the Lord into our lives. In this way, Luke is playing with different registers of time. The Lord may have already come, but he is also still yet to come. There is an intermeshing of different time zones, so to speak, in the Gospel of Luke, because the time of the Lord is always both here and now and always yet to come. The ‘both/and’ nature of the coming of the Lord is effected by the fact that the kingdom which Jesus announces has these dual dimensions to it. History is wrapped up in eternity without history and our ordinary time being collapsed into it. You might think of it rather like our time and history being enfolded into eternity, so that the integrity of time and history is preserved as well as being enfolded into a much greater pattern of God’s eternity.
So, what does it mean for us to prepare for the coming of the Lord? This time of Advent is a good moment for each and every one of us to pose that question for themselves. It might be helpful to do so in the light of the fact that our time is short. There is a certain urgency to the announcement of John the Baptist because the Lord is always already coming. There is no time to waste. Given this it is important for us this Advent to review our priorities. What is taking precedence in my life? Am I living as if the way I am now will go on forever? Or, do I realize that this time is short and it will soon be taken up into the eternity of the Lord. When I review my life in this way, I gain a Gospel-centred perspective because I realize that my life is in God’s hands, and all that I am now will be exposed to the light of the Day of the Lord. So, what are my priorities and how might I need to change my life so that at the coming of the Lord, I will be well prepared?
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.