Reflection on Today's Readings, First Sunday of Advent, Year B, November 29th, 2020
Texts: Is. 63:16d-17;64:1.3-b-8; Ps. 802.3.15.16.18.19; 1Cor. 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37
Today, we begin another liturgical year in the Church; it is the beginning of new year in the Church. The previous year was a special year marked with unexpected event that marred our celebration. It was a year that challenged us and put our faith and love for God to test. Those challenges shook our faith so as to better reposition it. We have learned a lot from the experiences and the lessons are meant to make our love for God and faith in him more intense and better in this new year. Our devotion to God this year should be better than ever.
New year, in the Church, always begins with the season of Advent. The theme of Advent is hope, and that is what we are: we are people of hope. We are people of hope because we are on a journey, we are not yet there, and that is why we are called the prilgrim church. This our hope was born at Easter, nurtured during the year and few weeks to the end of the year, till yesterday, we meditated on the content/object of the hope, which are parousia (the return of our Lord), the final judgement, the resurrection, and heaven. The Hope we celebrate at the close of the year is about the coming of our Lord as the judge of the world. The Hope we celebrate during the Advent is about the coming of our Lord as the the Saviour of the world. Though Advent is more about the expectation of a Saviour than a judge, it does not lose sight of expectation of a judge, for that is the reality of our life now. The reality of our life now is that we are expecting the coming of our Lord as a judge. In Advent season we celebrate both the first coming and the second coming of our Lord.
When we say that the reality of our life now is expectation of our Lord as judge, it could suggest that Advent is about the past. Of course, it is not. In God we cannot talk about past, present and future, so also we cannot say Advent is a celebration of past event; it is the celebration of what God has achieved for us. Advent is the celebration of Hope that redeems and saves, while in the expectation of a judge we celebrate the Hope that vindicates and justifies. In the past few weeks we talked more about justifying hope, in this season of Advent we shall talk more of saving Hope.
Today's first reading speaks of the bad state of the people and how they are in dire need of salvation; the people of Israel were hoping for salvation. Hence, prophet Isaiah says, "Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. O that you would tear the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence!" They needed redemption from their sins and iniquities. Just as the people of Israel, we also need salvation from sin and evil. Our world at this time needs salvation more than ever before. Despite the development of sophisticated weapons and advancement in knowledge, we cannot conquer evil, we rather become worse. The more we advance in technology, information and communication, the more sophisticated we become in practicing evil. It is clear to everyone that our world is in dire need of salvation. Isaiah captures the situation of our world in these words: "in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one that calls upon your name, that bestirs himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hands of our iniquities." However, Isaiah mentions a way out of the situation when he says, "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet him that joyfully works righteousness, those that remember you in your ways."
The way of salvation is to wait for the Lord. We wait for the Lord by walking in his ways. We walk in the ways of the Lord when we live in righteousness. Waiting for the Lord also means living everything in his hand, that is, allowing his will to prevail in our lives. It means being patient for him to act at his own time, not our own time. We wait for God by allowing him to determine what happens or does not happen in our lives. We should be able to say, "O Lord you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our Potter; we are all the work of your hand." Waiting for God entails patience and perseverance.
The second reading continues with the joy of Hope. While the first reading tells us the God works for those who wait for him and that he meets them, St. Paul, in the reading, tells of God's abundance grace for those who wait for him. He says God has given us grace in Jesus Christ, that in every way we are enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge so that we are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as we wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we hope in him, he will sustain us till the end. He strengthens our hope by saying, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord." This is meant to strengthen our hope because our hope is in the fulfilment of God's promises. Hence, he assures us that God does not fail in keeping his promises.
Jesus Christ, in today's gospel reading, tells us, "Watch and pray". Watch, here, means being ready and in position to meet the Lord. We are ready and in a position to meet the Lord when we live in righteousness, for prophet Isaiah tells us that God meets those who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember him in his ways. We watch when we live in righteousness. We need to pray that we may not be tired of living in righteousness. Prayer keeps the Devil and his angels far from us, and gives strength and creates condition to live a righteous life. Through prayer we make the Lord our strength.
Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming. Amen.
Rev. Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
Posts
0 Comments