Advent: Time to Banish Fear and Take the Kingdom by Force

Reflection on Today's Readings, Thursday of 2nd Week of Advent, Year C,  December 9th, 2021
Texts: Isaiah 41:13-20; Ps. 145:1.9-13; Matthew 11:11-15
When God ask us not to fear, He is simply asking us to have faith in Him. Faith is a victory over fear. God knows that things that will trigger fear in us is bound to come. Hence, in today's gospel reading, Jesus says, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force." The violence the kingdom of God suffers is the persecution and attack of the heralds of the kingdom. Facing persecution and attack trigger fear. The men of violence, here, are men of courage, fortitude and perseverance; they approach the kingdom with courage, fortitude and perseverance in the midst of persecution and attack. We are men of violence who take the kingdom of God by force when we despise persecution, attack, insults, abuse, shame for the sake of the kingdom.
Apart from persecution and attack, it takes a lot of energy and force to reject sin so as to advance the kingdom. We need to be violent in our search for the kingdom of God. Violent in the sense that we need to pursue the kingdom with determination; nothing should deter us from the pursuit of the kingdom. John the baptist is an example of those who had taken the kingdom of God by force. We see in him the kind of violence required by the kingdom. He feared no authority or principalities when it comes to speaking the truth. He spoke the truth with passion. He feared not even death.
In today's first reading, God says, "I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.' Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel." God calls us to trust in His help and He assures us of His never failed help. He says, "I will help you". This means He has committed Himself to helping us. On His part, helping us is a commitment. On our part, we need to trust in His help. If we have faith in His help, fear will vanish. Fear grips us because we have no faith in His help.
God goes further to tell us how He will help us. He tells us that He will fortify us. In His words, "Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff; you shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them." He does not say He will put an end to what stands against us but that He will make us to be able to confront it and surmount it. This means we shall live under grace. Having granting us victory, we will rejoice in Him. He says, "And you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory." The will of God is that we rejoice in Him. This will happen when we realise that our help is in Him. To know our help is in Him we have to confront the odds of life with courage and fortitude, trusting in His help. When we  gain victory with His help, then we will rejoice in Him.
He also tells us that He will help us by making the creation to respond to our needs. He puts it thus: "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together". Wherever we find ourselves for God's sake, we will never lack the basic necessities of life. God will respond to our needs in such a way men will know that no one else has done it but God. He says, "that men may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it."

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the paths of your Only- Begotten Son, that through his coming, we may be found worthy to serve you with minds made pure. Amen. (Collect).

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke