Advent is a time to be alert, to be watchful, because we are to be ready for Christ when He comes: in our hearts, through faith, in our annual remembrance of His birth at Christmas, and when He will come again as our Saviour and our Judge. We need to be ready, which is why we have this season of preparation, to help us. We don’t say the Gloria in excelsis, so that it may ring out with joy, as we join our voices with the angels celebrating Christ’s birth at Christmas.We use purple, a dark colour which reminds us both of royalty and penitence. We serve a King, and we are aware of our own shortcomings, and our need to prepare to meet Christ. It is good and healthy to be reminded of how we have all fallen short, to ask God for forgiveness and mercy, and to be reminded that God is loving and merciful, and has taken away our sins on the Cross, to save us.
In our first reading this morning, the prophet Jeremiah declares that God fulfils His promises: we can trust Him. He will cause a righteous branch to spring forth, His Son, Jesus, who embodies justice and righteousness. Jesus shows us how to live, declares God’s love, and dies for love of us. In the Letter to the Thessalonians we see the injunction to be loving one another and all people, because LOVE is the heart of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. God loves us, so we should love one another. This is how we should live and be pleasing to God, and prepare for the fact that Jesus is coming again.
If we consider the parable in today’s Gospel, the parable of the Fig Tree, two things are apparent, firstly fig trees are clearly visible and easily recognisable in the Middle Eastern Landscape – when Our Lord comes it will be apparent to all and sundry. Secondly, figs, as fruit take a long time to ripen, so as their visibility shows us that the Kingdom of God is close at hand, their long ripening shows us that we need to be prepared to wait, for all things will happen at their appointed time, a time which even the Son Himself does not know.
In the meantime we need to guard against Drunkenness and Hangovers (not those caused by the inevitable Christmas party) but the metaphorical kind –- a lack of alertness, a sluggishness with regard to the Gospel, and an excessive concern with the worries of this life, instead we need be alert and watchful which will allow us to ‘stand tall when others faint’. We need to be prepared to meet Jesus as our Saviour and our Judge, freed from the cares of this world
God has made a promise, through the mouth of His prophet, Jeremiah, a promise of salvation and safety, which is brought about through the Blessed Virgin Mary’s ‘Yes’ to God, which will lead to the Incarnation and thereby the Salvation of the whole world wrought upon the altar of the Cross. It is this faithful and loving God whom we wait for, a merciful judge. Thus, Advent, the preparation for the coming of Jesus as new-born infant and Judge is a time of hope and joy. We can like the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church in Thessalonica be filled with joy for the Lord, resolute in our prayer for and encouragement of one another as a Christian family.
This prayer and encouragement leads to an increase of love for both God and our neighbour. This is what living the Christian life means, something we do all through the week. This is the preparation we, as Christians, need. It is something which we cannot do on our own; we need to do it together, encouraging one another to live lives filled with the love which comes from God, which is God’s very nature as a Trinity of persons. This love and a freedom from the cares of this world is what Jesus comes to bring us, this is our deliverance, our liberation from sin. It is this love and freedom which makes God give himself to us this morning under the outward forms of Bread and Wine, a love we can touch and taste, which will transform us, and fill us with His love.
What greater present could we offer to the Infant Jesus than hearts filled with love and lives lived in the true freedom proclaimed by the Gospel. Thus, at one level it doesn’t matter whether the Second Coming is today or in a million years time, what matters is living lives infused with the values of the Kingdom of God, a joyful and yet a serious business. We know what we should be doing, and this is something we as Christians need to do together, praying for the Grace of God to help us, to strengthen us and fill us with that Love which comes from Him. We may feel unsure, unsafe, and worried but relying on God as part of His family, the Church, we can take courage and be alert to take part in that great adventure which is the Kingdom of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment