3rd Sunday of Advent…. “How Do We See the Advent of Jesus?”
3rd Sunday of Advent…. “How Do We See the Advent of Jesus?”
In case you have not noticed, there are lot of Christ displays in our neighborhoods. Many decorations are optical illusions. We see two things if we look at them.
We can look at a decoration and see three white plastic balls inflated by a fan. Or, we can see frosty the snow man. We might notice during the day a rod attached to a piece of plywood with electric lights running in all directions during the day. Or, at night, we can see the perfect outline of a Christmas tree. We could notice a tangled bunch of branches with electric lights wrapped around it as we drive by a neighbor’s house. But then again, we come as dusk comes. Then we see beautiful reindeer grazing peaceably in the evening air.
What we see depends on how you look at the decorations. And it depends on when you look at the decorations. The gospel today can remind us that we can look at the same reality in two different ways.
When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one or if there was another to come. Jesus was not what John expected. Believers have always been told to expect the end of the world. The Jews called the end of the world, “The Day of the Lord.” If we read Old Testament works like the Prophet Daniel, we hear about a scary end of the world. In the New Testament we hear the same sort of descriptions. The Book of Revelation speaks of plagues, wars, pestilence, dragons, punishment for evil doers.
On the other hand, we have the end of time described by the prophets like Isaiah. In this version, we hear how the sick are healed. The hungry are fed. War will no longer be necessary. Mourning is unthinkable for it will be a day of joy. Prophets usually begin to describe the end of the world in a grim fashion, but they always end on a hopeful note. We can’t imagine a more hopeful description of the coming of the Messiah than the one Isaiah uses in the scriptures today. The second coming of Jesus, can be perceived, then, in two ways. We can see it either as a day of reckoning or a day of celebration. Really, it’s both.
John the Baptist was a prophet who saw the day of the Lord as a day of conversion. He preached reform. He scared his audience into repentance. If we know anything about the theory of spiritual growth, we know that repentance is a necessary thing for spiritual maturity. The person who wants to have a relationship with our lifegiving God must experience conversion. A spiritually awakened person wants to please the God who made them, that God that holds them in a loving embrace.
But forgiveness must be experienced. Once we realize God is a forgiving God, we leave our wounded past behind. We feel relief. After that, there is a desire to get to know our merciful God more and more. We have a hunger for relationship with God. Until that hunger is fed there will be dissatisfaction with life.
As we consider John the Baptist and Jesus, we could say that they represent two ways of perceiving the Day of the Lord. We also could say that they represent the two stages of spiritual growth. Once people were baptized by John, they wanted to move on the next level. We see how some of the disciples of John come to Jesus in the Gospel stories. And they ask Jesus if he can teach them deeper truths. John had taken them so far, but they wanted more. Jesus’s gospel teaches us not only to leave sin behind, but it teaches us how to live day to day. John appeared for, a brief time, with a message of reform. But religious life is not all about sin and guilt. Jesus takes three years to unfold the beauty of the gospel message which is all about how to find intimacy with God.
As we contemplate the messages of John the Baptist and Jesus we might ask where we are at in our spiritual journey. Are we still struggling with repentance? Are we hungering for more understanding of the things of God? We may ask what is next? Which ideally is a never-ending quest. Because once we have been forgiven. Once we have studied the tenants of the faith it is time to share that faith. Jesus said, go out to the world and share the good news.
We have people in our life who need to hear the teachings of Jesus. Jesus’ teaching it is the greatest gift we can share, better than an electronic devise, better than a gift card, better than a rum cake, better than diamonds, more valuable than anything else. On Gaudete Sunday, when we reflect on the virtue of hope, we ask how we can bring light into a dark world. The answer would be that we would share with others how Jesus has set us free from sin. We share how Jesus has shown us the way to meaning and purpose. Our witness may give people a new way to look at the world.
Please note: rough draft, grammar may not be perfect!