4th December 2022 - The Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 11:1-10 / Psalm 71(72) / Romans 15:4-9 / Matthew 3:1-12

On this second Sunday of Advent, we are encouraged to continue to look forward to the coming of the Kingdom of God. A kingdom of peace, justice, and harmony so different to the kingdoms we experience here on earth. The first reading, drawn from the ancient prophesies of Isaiah, points to the coming kingdom. In the Gospel passage we hear of John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets who bridges the gap between the Old and the New Testament, calling for the way to be made clear for the coming of the Lord. The letter to the Romans calls for a unification between Christians of different backgrounds encouraging tolerance of each other never losing hope that help from God will be received.

We can be tempted to overlook the Old Testament as out of date and irrelevant. After all it has been superseded by the New Testament and the coming of Jesus as the promised Messiah. If we do this we miss the feeling of anticipation that slowly builds down history from the very beginning. The fall of humanity, as given in Genesis, was the trigger point for our salvation. From then on scripture builds an expectation of redemption. Time and time again the people chosen by God to be the first messengers of his will and the first to be redeemed from their sins turn away from God. God remained faithful to his promise and in the fullness of time John appeared as the last herald of the coming Messiah and made way for Jesus, God who became human, taking up his mission on earth. The Old Testament is full of hope in the coming of God’s kingdom of justice, peace, and mercy.

An example of the synergy between the Old and New Testaments can be found in the first reading for today. We remember that this was written long before Jesus came to earth, even longer before the understanding of God as a Trinitarian God of three persons but one God. And yet, this passage alludes to ‘the spirit of the Lord’ and then describes what we understand today to be the seven gifts of God the Holy Spirit. In this reading the three persons of God can be decerned. The Lord can be understood to be God the Father, the shoot of Jesse is the promised Messiah, Jesus, and the Spirit of the Lord is God the Holy Spirit.

In the second reading from the Letter to the Romans it can be seen how the issues that arose for the early Christian Church are the same issues that can block our mission today. The mission given to us by Jesus himself and taken on by each of us through baptism is to go out to the whole world and make disciples of all nations. We cannot begin to fulfil this mission while we are divided and squabbling amongst ourselves. We face many challenges in these times to spread the Gospel message to a world that seems not to want it. Recent figures from the census in England and Wales show that the percentage of the population claiming to be Christian has fallen below fifty percent for the first time since censuses were taken. Is this a warning that we as Christians have manifestly failed in our mission to bring people to God?

We cannot hope to bring people to the knowledge of the love God has for them if we do not appear to show that love for each other first. The message to the Church groups in Rome is the same message to us Christians today. We must be people of hope never giving up, always seeking the help we know will come from God. We must show tolerance for each other especially in our differences. In following the example of Jesus, we must become ‘united in mind and voice’ so that his message to the world can be clearly heard and not distorted by all sorts of argument and disagreement. Our aim is to bring the whole world to give glory to God. The peace promised by the prophet Isaiah comes only from the Kingdom of God. That kingdom is here, in our faith, in our hearts and souls. That peace must spread out from us as individuals, to our families, to our friends, our country and ultimately it can spread throughout the world. This s a divine, heavenly peace, a peace that the world needs so much today, a peace that only God can bring.

The message of John the Baptist is the same for us today as it was in his time, repent and believe the gospel. There was an urgency about John as there should be for us today. John felt that the kingdom of God was close, the promised Messiah was about to appear. Our message to the world is also urgent, the Kingdom of God is very close to us, and we know that Jesus will return as he promised, we just don’t know when. This uncertainty should instil in us the urgency that John felt.

Our task as Christians today is the same as it was for John. To prepare people for the coming of the Lord, to point Jesus out to those who do not know him. It may seem that we are ‘a voice crying in the wilderness’, but we have to ‘prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight’.

God Bless, Brendan.