Year A Archives - Page 50 of 50 - Institute for Homiletics

When you stand at the lip of the Grand Canyon, you can see into a vast distance. You know that you are at the edge of something. Today, we are on the edge of something, too—the edge of time. That is a little harder to see. A pregnant mother breathes with the contractions of her womb; she is on the edge of the moment of birth. The family of a dying man waits by his hospital bed, attentive to his breathing, on the brink of the time of his death. Time has edges. Time has moments when something is about to shift.

At the time of First Isaiah, bloodthirsty Assyria hovered over Israel. The prophet sensed that time was about to change. Now we know that it was the total destruction of Israel’s northern kingdom and the loss of the ten northern tribes. Only Isaiah felt it coming. His people didn’t know. They were on an edge when history was about to shift.

Jesus alerts us to this edginess: we do not know our own time or hour. We do not know the time or the hour for our loved ones. Each moment of the present is a shifting point between past and future. We live on the edge of time.

Today, we are on the edge of Advent. Advent is the liturgical time that alerts us: Stay awake! Be ready! We know that Christmas is coming. We do not know when Jesus will come again in glory. With Isaiah, we pray that swords will be turned into plowshares. Are we on the edge of a shift in history? We do not know. But with God’s help, we hold onto this quiet Advent hope: Our God is timeless, but is also the Lord of time. Jesus is here, now and always.

Consider/Discuss

Think of your own moments of transition and change, the edginess of time in your own life. How has God been with you in those moments?
As we look toward the unfolding of Advent, how can we use this season of preparation purposefully to grow spiritually stronger for the next “something” that is coming our way?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, as we begin our Advent preparation, we wait for you. We listen for you in the stillness. We wait for you as in the quiet darkness before the dawn. We do not know what is ahead, but in this moment, breathe within us and strengthen us. Abide with us. Cleanse our hearts and let us be ready to receive you, no matter what may swirl around us. Come, Lord Jesus! Come and be born in our hearts.

The musical West Side Story was revived in New York City recently. The first song is “Something’s Coming.” Tony, a young man, senses something wonderful approaching but he does not know what. That very night he will meet Maria and fall in love. On the cusp of this new world opening up before him, he sings about his heightened sense of anticipation that something miraculous is about to happen, and it’s just out of his reach.

It is that kind of excitement that today’s readings are meant to evoke in us. There is something wonderful coming in our future—something no eye has seen or ear heard, something that God has ready for those who love God. But have we stopped looking forward to “something coming”? Have we given up on the hope that something new is coming, that a miracle is due, and at any moment, possible?

Jesus calls to us across the centuries in Matthew’s Gospel, at a moment when he is about to enter Jerusalem to die. He calls on us to live in hope that at any moment God’s rule can be experienced, that the peace that only God can give will touch our lives and suddenly settle on our hearts and minds.

How can we prepare for this sudden coming of God’s presence? Try to live consciously aware of what we proclaim every week in the liturgy: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

Consider/Discuss

When was the last time you looked forward to something in a way that made you feel fully alive, alert, and awake?
Do you believe that the day is coming when God will reign, bringing all nations to live in peace and harmony?

Responding to the Word

We pray every week: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Pray it daily as if for the first time. Ask God to allow the kingdom to come to your family, to your workplace, in your neighborhood, among the people of your city, country, and world.