First Sunday of Advent

Dec 05 2024

Scripture Study for

Jeremiah’s oracle of salvation stems from the period right before the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, which the prophet understands to be the just judgment of God for repeated violations of the covenant relationship. In particular, the prophet has accused the Davidic kings of failing in their task of ensuring justice among God’s people (22:1–9). The oracle assures the people, however, that the period of judgment is temporary. In time, God will not only restore Israel, but will also raise up a just Davidic king who will himself “do what is right” and ensure justice in the land, so much so that Judah and Jerusalem will even be called (symbolically), “The Lord our justice.”

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians was written to strengthen a persecuted and maligned community. Written from an apocalyptic perspective, the letter assumes that the world is presently in a middle period between the first and the second comings of Christ. During this time, it is easy to grow disheartened and to lose one’s way. Paul has just affirmed the faith of the Thessalonians despite these challenges and prays not only that God strengthen this faith, but also increase the preeminent sign of faith, which is love. This love is not a “feeling,” but a stance that pleases God, an expression of “blameless holiness,” which manifests itself in care for “one another and for all.” Such a stance can be particularly difficult in the face of both the delayed return of Christ and the experience of persecution.

Jesus’ warning of the coming judgment and redemption reflects Jewish apocalyptic expectations in the first century. By this time, prophetic pronouncements of God’s restoration of Israel had come to be seen as pointing toward a turning point, even an end, of history. The “signs,” which involve the dissolution of the stable cosmic order, foretell the coming of the Son of Man, a figure derived from the vision of Daniel 7:13, who represented the divine Messiah. The arrival of the Son of Man initiates the period of judgment for the wicked, but redemption for the just. Only those who have persevered in righteousness despite the long wait for that redemption will experience it when they find themselves standing before God’s appointed judge.

Dec 03 2024

Scripture Study for

The first reading contains a vision of universal peace and an invitation to participate in that peace through faithfulness to God’s word. The image of the reign of God found in the reading from Isaiah is of a city, not known for its political prominence or military might, but revered as the dwelling place of God. This is a vision of the future reign of God, of an eschatological age of complete faithfulness to God and the peace and harmony among people that will flow from it.

Paul, too, speaks about the reign of God, but from a different perspective. He tells the Roman Christians that they are living in a decisive moment, the kairós, the period of transition from the age of sin to the long-awaited age of fulfillment. Paul employs several images to characterize this division of time. He says that this age is like slumber, or night and darkness, while the age to come is like wakefulness, or day and light. He urges the Christians to wake from sleep and to live in faithful

ness. The apparent incongruity between these two ages exemplifies the paradox that we sometimes hear, “already but not yet.” It is a way of acknowledging that the age of fulfillment, the reign of God, has already dawned, but it has not yet been brought to completion in our lives.

Jesus also speaks about this transition from one age to the next. The question he addresses is not whether this time will come, but when it will come. Like a good teacher, he uses examples to make his point. The people at the time of Noah were oblivious to the danger that faced them and so they were not ready. The same was true in the analogies he uses of the men and women, and the parable of the householder, all of whom blindly go about their daily lives. The moral of the story? Be prepared!

Dec 03 2024

Scripture Study for

The reading from Isaiah focuses on future, universal recognition of the sovereignty of the God of Israel. God’s mountain refers to the site of the temple, yet the image evokes more than location. Not only God’s dwelling place, but also as the place from which the divine King exercises dominion through law-giving and judgment, the mountain represents God’s sovereign rule. In time, the kingship of God will extend beyond Israel as other nations receive both instructions previously reserved for Israel and the benefit of God’s just judgment. Enlightened by God’s instruction and obedient to God’s judgment of conflicts, the nations will have no need to resort to war.

Having exhorted the Roman Christians not to conform themselves to the present age, but to allow their minds to be transformed (Romans 12:2), Paul has insisted they must love one another, for “love is the fulfillment of the law” (13:10). Paul now places his plea within the context of God’s plan: moral transformation is both necessary and urgent, for the dawn of salvation has begun. To remain in former ways is to be caught “asleep” as the sun rises. Transformation comes about by putting on the “armor of light,” Christ himself (“put on the Lord Jesus Christ”), who protects against the seductions of the flesh, physical or social. Thus, it is Christ who brings about in the believer this saving transformation.

Jesus’ speech picks up this same idea of not being caught off guard when he returns. Just as the flood brought with it a sudden change from life as usual to judgment, so it will be when the Son of Man comes back. Now is the time to make whatever changes need to be made in one’s life. As in the Pauline passage, there is a union of eschatology and ethics—one must live in a way that is fitting for the reign of God. There will come a time when it will be “too late,” when the time of preparation will have passed.

Dec 03 2024

Living on the Edge—of Time

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.

Dec 03 2024

Something’s Coming

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.