Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent
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Saint John the Baptist always figures prominently in the Gospel Readings for the Second and Third Sundays of Advent, and this year we will hear about him on the Fourth Sunday as well. Over these Sundays we are given a look at:+ his personhood+ his ministry of preaching+ his relationship with Jesusas a means of teaching us how to live Advent well, and of preparing to meet Christ as we celebrate Christmas… and beyond.Looking at these three Advent Sunday Gospel passages, we find, further:+ a description of Saint John+ an instruction from him+ a reaction emitted from him.Let’s look at these individually for insight into the Saint, and to what we can learn from him.A DescriptionIn giving us all those names in the Gospel’s opening sentence: Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanius, Annas, Caiaphas… Saint Luke is planting Saint John firmly into a particular time and place in Salvation History so that we will know that he was not a mere mythical persona, but a real, human, historical figure.We are then given some information about his ministry as an itinerant preacher who “went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”Then, he is described as the person who completes all of the Old Testament prophecies, becoming “the voice crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord!’” All Old Testament prophecy leads up to Saint John the Baptist as an inter-Testamental figure who will be the Forerunner of Christ: at one and the same time, the last of the Prophets and the first of the Disciples.An Instruction from Saint JohnNext Sunday we will hear him concretize his prophecy, going beyond the ethereal to the practical, giving various people instruction as to how to meet the Lord when He comes, and how to live in the coming Kingdom in the context of their real, everyday lives.A Reaction to meeting JesusFinally, on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we are given a portrait of Saint John meeting Jesus in person (i.e. in utero) The event described there is the meeting of Saint John with Christ at the event of the Visitation of Mary and St. Elizabeth, as the two boys become aware of one another while still in their mothers’ wombs.For most of their lives, John and Jesus did not live in geographical proximity:+ Jesus growing up in Nazareth, up north in Galilee,+ John growing up in Ein Kareem, down south in Judea.Yet there was a bond of familiarity and mutual respect that would transcend time and space, so that when they meet, there is recognition and reaction with John the Baptist leaping in his mother’s womb — and, years later — crying aloud. “Behold the Lamb of God!”If we wish to grow in the type of friendship that Saint John enjoyed with the Lord, we have to go where the Lord can be found:+ in prayer and in the Sacred Scriptures+ in the Sacraments, and in the Tabernacle.Once present in history, Our Lord is now present in mystery. However, while we revere the mystery, as we make our way through Advent and Christmastide, the stories become increasingly human.This is to let us know that friendship with Christ is not just some ethereal thing, but as it grows, it becomes more profoundly human: We will find that Jesus will walk beside us in all our difficulties, struggles, and anxieties if we will allow Him to do so.In seeking a deeper relationship… a true friendship with Our Lord Jesus, the Lord will do His part; but it is we who must make it work. God the Father will also do His part, as we heard today from the Prophet Baruch: “… you will be moved by God forever… rejoicing that you are remembered by God.”Mary and Joseph certainly did their part for us in the Christmas story: struggling to make their lives work in the mystery that was their profound relationship with Jesus.Just as God began the work of salvation in Christ within the lives of Mary and Joseph, He works in us, continuing Salvation History by means of imparting Grace to each one of us through the Holy Spirit. And, Saint Paul tells us that he is confident that the One who began this good work in you will continue toward its completion until the day Christ Jesus returns.It is for this reason that we prepare for the Feast of Christmas: the Lord’s First Coming is presented to us to keep us from taking too lightly His eventual Second Coming.So, we find our own place in Salvation History, working to build up our friendship with Christ, preparing ourselves — and the world — for that Second Coming. Then, we look to this
+ present moment+ this very day+ this Blessed Advent+ this season of hopeand listen, once again, to the words of Saint Paul (slightly paraphrased for our immediate benefit) “… this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more, in knowledge and in every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and holy for the coming Feast of Christmas.”