Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT - 10.12.06 Bar 5,1-9; Phil 1,4-6.8-11; Lk 3,1-6 Who is your ‘prophet’ today?
God’s
birthday or visitation? In Advent, we all get caught in Jesus’ birthday spirit, naively taking for granted that Christmas has always been
celebrated as we do today. This is not -& could not- be the case. It took
centuries for Christians to shift from a conviction where the Lord comes to
judge, to one where we hold Our Lord’s birthday-party. For 300 years, early
Christians under persecution waited for the Lord to come in glory: to avenge
them, take them to his Kingdom, put an end to their misery & cut their
trials short. For them, the birthday was in heaven. In 311, Constantine gave
freedom of worship to all Christians in the Roman Empire (Edict of Milan). In
325 the Council of Nicaea issued the ‘Creed’, with the words ‘He will come
in glory to judge...& we look for the dead to rise & life
everlasting’... Only in 336 a Mass for Christmas was held in Rome. It took
years to turn a conviction about ‘the Lord who is coming to free, avenge &
reward’, into a celebration of the Saviour’s birth on December 25th. By the
way, this date had itself its political motivation: it counteracted an existing pagan
festival, to honour the Sun-God Helios, ever returning Rising Sun, on the winter
equinox of December 25th. Many years later, Gregory the Great introduced the 4
week ‘Advent Preparation’ (he died in 606). It took another 500 years,
before the magic of Bethlehem got to the celebration of Christmas (it means
Christ’s Mass). Then we got to the sweet, child-like magic, we so fondly
express in our carols & cribs. We must re-own the full biblical impact of
‘the Lord’s coming’: He is near, always coming as he promised. As sure as
God is God, he keeps his promise, comes now in mercy & will for sure come in
judgment. The
Lord never comes in noisy ‘busy-ness’. Our conviction that ‘God was made flesh &
dwelt among us’, is at the heart of Advent Preparation. God’s Incarnation is
not simply recorded as a past event or achievement. It is at the centre of our
lived experience, giving us energy, meaning & direction here, now &
hereafter. For the ancient prophets, as for us now, the ‘coming of the Lord’
is an event that constantly affects & challenges our life, as it
relentlessly move on. This Advent: stop & listen to the stirrings of the
Spirit, saying: the Lord is coming: stay awake, prepare, stand ready &
welcoming. Reflect how for years God’s message has sustained the hope of men
& women in every walk of life. Today, the greatest of all prophets -John the
Baptist-, shouts: ‘prepare the way of the Lord, straighten his paths - fill
the valleys & flatten the hills’. With strong, evocative language, Luke
urges us to prepare our hearts & purify our minds, so we may welcome the
Lord with joy. He says: do not be deceived by appearance nor disappointed by the
unexpected: the Lord never comes in the noisy confusion of our fast moving
world, nor in the glittering lights of big Christmas trees, erected to market
big sales. He comes in silence, stillness & sim- plicity. Remember that,
when the Lord came, there were famous &
powerful people, all highly respected in title, pedigree & prestige: yes,
there was since 14 AD the mighty emperor Tiberius in Rome, & in Palestine
ruled the two sons of Herod the Great, Antipas & Phillip & both kings at
Jesus’ time. Pontius Pilate stood for law & order in Jedaea; & there
was the Tetrarch of Abilene, Lysanias & the 2 High Priests, Annas &
Caiaphas... But God’s visitation
did not unfold with any of them, anticipating a political Messiah &
political plots. Question: what
unexpected & unpredictable stirrings is God’s Visitation bringing to your
life this year? Prayer for
endurance & patience: “thy kingdom come!”. ______________________________________ |
