SUNDAY REFLECTIONS 1st Sunday of ADVENT (27 November 2011) Isaiah 63:16-17;
64:1.3-8; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37
Today we begin the season of Advent. Advent means waiting or coming and we wait for
the coming of someone we love. During this season we focus on waiting for the Lord,
waiting for the coming of Jesus. We have the three fold waiting. We know that Jesus
has already come in history and we remember that during the week before Christmas
our waiting changes to waiting for our celebration of the birth of Jesus. We also
wait for his final coming at the end times when he will take all to himself. We also
experience his daily coming into our life through the Eucharist, word of God and also
in the various persons and events of life. Waiting is something very important in
the life of the human person. Anytime we wait we do so because we expect something
to happen or someone to come. In our daily routine of life we wait for something
to take place, maybe we wait for a friend, for a bus or train, and there is the eagerness
within us that makes us look forward to something new that will take place. During
Advent we look forward to Jesus who will come in a total gesture of love: God becomes
man. Today’s readings assure us that the Lord is coming. But an individual has to
be alert and must be on watch. The first two readings of this liturgical year bring
us face to face with a God who is Father and with the reality of our own sinfulness
before him. We have wandered away from him but he is faithful and has sent his own
Son to free us from our blame. Prophet Isaiah makes a prayer of yearning asking God
to come and save us from sin. Paul in the second reading stresses on the fidelity
asking people to remain faithful to Jesus to the end. The Gospel of Mark invites
all to a spiritual vigilance. He tells us all to be ever alert so that the coming
of the Son does not find us unprepared for no one knows the day or hour of his coming. The
First Reading of today shines in the grace of God. The passage opens and closes by
addressing God as our Father recalling the Exodus episode where God called Israel
his first born. It echoes Divine love that is forgiving towards those who live righteously.
In their need the people of Israel imagine that their God has abandoned them, retreating
to realms or place beyond their reach. When Isaiah saw Jerusalem hit bottom in ruins
he pleaded for God to rend the vault of heaven and come back down to be among them.
The people confessed their guilt and admitted that God was indeed right to punish
them. They understand that they have given to Yahweh their God plenty of reason to
stay away. They feel that they are sinful, unclean and full of guilt. At the same
time they wonder how God could have let things go this far. Like a leaf, the sinners
are taken away by the wind to fade away at a distance. Having turned from the ways
of the Lord, no longer calling on his Holy Name, the sinners are left to their own
iniquities. The prophets have been in fact telling them that God has been calling
them all the time and they have refused to listen to him. The imagery that appears
all too seldom in the bible, the people speak themselves as the clay and of God as
the potter. They are ready to be shaped by the hands of God into perfect vessels
that God always wanted them to be. In the second reading of today Paul tells the
Corinthians that the grace of God flows abundantly towards those who walk their living
faith in Jesus Christ. Those who walk their living faith, they are enriched in Jesus,
in speech and knowledge of every kind, not lacking in any spiritual gifts for the
betterment of the Church. Through Jesus, the faithful are strengthened to the end
of their worldly lives so that they will be blameless before God the Father on the
Day of Judgment. One may wonder how he could be blameless before God on the Day of
Judgment since all are sinners. Those who walk their living faith by the grace of
God the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit in the Most Holy Name of Jesus will
not have their sins of the weak flesh held against them because they will not be judged
according to the law of men but rather according to the law of God. Being spiritually
minded, they have received the indwelling Holy Spirit who protects them against the
grip of the evil one. Those who walk by the flesh, setting their minds on worldly
things, they shall be judged by the law of sin. Those who walk in faith through Jesus
Christ, setting their minds on spiritual things, they shall be judged according to
the law of God. Those who persevere in their living faith, God will no longer remember
their sins. He will blot out the transgressions of those who strived in their living
faith for His own sake. As such, they shall be blameless before God the Father on
the Day of Judgment. In the Church’s celebration of the mystery of Christ, during
the closing Sundays of the past liturgical year we looked forward to the final coming
of Jesus. Jesus is going to come in glory to judge all people and take the righteous
for their reward. Today we are beginning a new church year and we have a marvelous
mixture of the end and beginning of the universe and of man. The first Sunday of
Advent invites us to be ready to receive the Lord who is going to come. This is the
time of waiting and we await the one who is certain to come to us. We must be ever
alert and ready so that the coming of the Son does not find us unprepared. Advent
is a season for us to renew our hope because of the coming of Christ. As we reflect
upon the period of waiting for the first coming of Jesus at Bethlehem, and as we begin
to prepare for his coming now at Christmas, we await his final coming into our lives.
In other words, we celebrate his coming in history, his coming in mystery, and his
coming in majesty at the end time. The church teaches us that the Lord has already
come. Knowing that he has already come as a child born of Mary gives us confidence.
Amidst the overshadowing material preparations for Christmas, we begin our spiritual
preparation for Christ’s coming by way of the season of Advent. The season of
Advent begins with a sombre warning from Jesus to his disciples, to be watchful and
to be alert. Here Mark warns the Christian community against all eschatological expectations
that can easily go out of hand. There is still work to be done here on earth before
the final coming of Jesus. Today's Gospel is speaking on the level of the future
and present comings of Jesus. The key word placed before us is 'readiness'. He calls
on his disciples to be on their guard and to stay awake, because they never know when
the time will come. Here Jesus gives a parable about a man travelling abroad. He
does two things: he gives various responsibilities to his servants to be carried out
while he is away; and he warns the doorkeeper to be vigilant. This, in a way, covers
the two parables found in the Gospel of Matthew: the parable of the 'talents', when
the servants were told to make productive use of what they had been given by their
master, and the parable of the wise and foolish virgins who had to be fully prepared
and remain in readiness for the coming of the bridegroom. Jesus tells each one of
us to stay awake, because no one knows when the master of the house is coming, evening,
midnight, cockcrow, dawn. If he comes unexpectedly, he must not find his chosen ones
asleep and not at all prepared. Therefore he asks all to stay awake and alert. Readiness
is not only for the end but also for the daily stream of experiences that make up
our ordinary day. Jesus is always there. In the Gospel of today we have the summons
of Jesus to be watchful and alert. But the disciples wanted to be certain when the
end of the world would come. Jesus while responding to them did not get specific about
time but his central teaching is that he will return in glory to usher in the end
of the world. However, his summons is not filled with urgent anxiety. There is no
call to fanatical behaviour of any kind. If anything, Jesus encourages a calm seriousness
placed within the context of realism. The fact is that only God knows when the final
coming of Jesus will be and on the part of human persons it is necessary to be constantly
vigilant. Whatever the signs or events human persons may say that they are pointing
to the final end, they are mere speculations. Thus the issue is not whether the Lord
will come again but to be prepared for his coming at all time. They reveal to us
that God is faithful, His Word being unchanging. They teach us the end result of righteousness.
They tell us that although we presently dwell in our present sinful physical bodies
that seek to oppose what is spiritual, we can still be blameless before God on the
day of our Lord Jesus Christ. These are all very powerful statements that deserve
to be reviewed so that they may be understood. Jesus in the Gospel speaks of the
here and now. He calls his disciples to focus on the immediate events that will take
place in the near future. He gives the example of the faithful and trustworthy servants
who behave loyally during the absence of his master. They have their responsibilities
and they know what they are supposed to do. If they are faithful, they will carry
out all those tasks given to them whether the master is present or not. When the
master does eventually return, the faithful servants will be in good stead because
they have done what they were supposed to do. They have done their task with diligence
and loyalty. Every moment has an eternal significance and so the disciple should be
on guard. The servants who remain casual in their behaviour and make a guess about
their master’s return from journey may well be found wanting in their behaviour.
The point that Jesus makes here is clear and simple. Live each day as if it were the
final day of the master’s arrival from his journey. This is not done with high anxiety
and uncertainty, but with the calm conviction that whenever he master comes, the servant
will be ready. This in fact is the message of Advent. Today's readings touch upon
a number of spiritual issues. They reveal to us that God is faithful, His Word being
unchanging. They teach us the end result of righteousness. They tell us that although
we presently dwell in our present sinful physical bodies that seek to oppose what
is spiritual, we can still be blameless before God on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These are all very powerful statements that deserve to be reviewed so that they may
be understood. The Gospel Reading reminds us that while Heaven and earth shall pass
away, the Words of the Lord shall not pass away. Every promise that He has made shall
be fulfilled. God shall prove His faithfulness to all by His Divine actions. But there
is a catch. Everyone must remain consistent in his living faith. He must keep alert
for no one but the Father knows when the time shall come, when the Son of God shall
return or when each individual person will be called to experience physical death.
Jesus said to keep awake and wait for the Lord and with this he meant that one must
be spiritually active and consistent. The daily coming of Jesus into our lives is
the process by which we deepen our understanding of who Jesus was and is and become
more and more identified with his vision of God and of the meaning of life. With this
identification we are not only ready but eager to meet and be one with our God. We
wait for the coming of Jesus in our everyday living. Thus Jesus gives us the warning:
Watch! Do not be caught unawares. On his part this is an eminently positive admonition
and the guiding step. The Christian who listens to Jesus’ words lives in permanent
expectation of his coming and will welcome him as the long-awaited Master arrives.
Secondly, to be on watch is to be aware each day, through prayer and reflection that
the ‘today’ of salvation is now. It is to adopt every measure to live always in the
grace of friendship with God, so that were the final call to present itself today.
We today can thank God for all that Jesus has brought and continues to bring into
our lives, the countless helps he gives us to lead a good life. We do that best by
constantly being aware of his presence and action in the people around us. We are
helped by so many people, most of whom we do not know, have never seen. As Christians,
as Prophet Isaiah promised have a new hope and a new light. Our waiting for Jesus
is a moment of joy and expectation and not a tension filled situation. Therefore here
in the season of Advent we live by faith, walk in hope and are renewed in love so
that when Jesus comes at the end time to be our judge, we shall not merely know him,
but come to him as a friend. Well known preacher and writer Norman Vincent Peale
tells us of his life experience. When he was young he was walking down the street
with his father who himself was pastor, they confronted a beggar who was dirty and
smelling. He came to Norman and touched his hand and asked for some money for food.
Norman seeing the man dirty and poorly dressed with tattered clothes recoiled and
brushed him aside. His father told him that he must respect the man and not behave
in this way. The boy replied that after all he was worthless and dirty and he could
do nothing more. His father told him that in this world there is no one worthless
for all are the children of God. Then he took out one dollar, all he could afford
and gave to the boy and said give to that man and tells him that it is in the name
of Jesus he is giving this gift. Norman refused at first but on his father’s insistence
he ran after the man and gave him saying this amount he is giving in the name of Jesus.
The man looked at him and gave him a big smile and said: I thank you my son in the
name of Jesus. Norman says that in this genuine smile of the man who looked worthless
he found the real face of Jesus which he never forgot in his life.