Second Sunday of Advent Year A
Have you ever
longed for a place where peace and human harmony is not just a dream? A place
where people worked together, shared together and genuinely cared for one
another? A place where conflict, rivalry, violence is absent or abolished
entirely? Despite best intentions and best efforts, the lesson we learn from the
neo-socialists, communists, democratic governments is that mankind is unable to
engineer the perfect society. Why have countless other humanly devised
utopian concepts of social and government order been so unsuccessful? The
answer can be found in the very name given to these ventures. It’s the word
“utopia.” The word taken from Greek literally means “no place.” The reality is
that there never has been a place on earth where human beings created a perfect
peaceful community.
Yet so many people
continue to yearn for Utopia, where all is peace and all is harmony and where
there is no fear but only love and care for one another. Can we ever achieve a
community of peace? I don’t think any government or political leader can save
us or bring about a perfect world. No one political party has all the answers
or will automatically make this world a better place. The world is broken –
God’s kingdom is not on earth as it is in heaven. And often it has been the
very people who claim to create an earthly Paradise that have caused the
brokenness.The good news is
that the Scripture shows us how peace and perfection will arrive on earth.
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah, our
principal prophet for this season of Advent, shares with us a prophetic dream
of a future society, a perfect paradise. All hatreds and hostilities have
disappeared, those who hated and killed and their victims are now sitting side
by side, the lion and the leopard lie down with the lamb and the gazelle, the
child plays with the poisonous snake. Nobody is doing any harm, the poor and
the weak are no longer oppressed by injustice, all seems lovey dovey. It is
Paradise restored. Sounds like Utopia, right? Problem is that this ‘paradise’,
this ‘utopia,’ exists in no place. But will this ever take place? Well, the
Prophet Isaiah provides the clue – he points to the shoot that will spring from
the stump of Jesse.
The stock or the stump of Jesse actually refers to
another failed project, the broken line of the dynasty of David. The dynasty of
King David had been cut
down like a tree by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. when the city of Jerusalem and
the Kingdom of Judah was devastated and the ruling class led into exile. The
people were shocked to realise that the dynasty was not really eternal. But had
not God assured David: “your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before
me; your throne shall stand firm forever” (2 Sam 7:16). Isaiah knew that God
must always be true to his word; hence the dynasty in some way will revive. The
spirit of the Lord will rest upon the stump and the roots of Jesse, and the
people of God will bloom again. New life can emerge from what is perceived as a
dead tree. But the solution would not be a human one. It is through God’s
direct intervention that the dead tree stump would spring to life again. We
need a Saviour. Christ would be the answer.
The second reading also presents us with a similarly
utopian vision, now of the Church. But the realities that plagued the Church during
the time of St Paul’s writings were in fact dystopian. There was building
tension between two group of Christians within the community. The smaller
group, described as the “weak,” liked very much a traditional form of religion,
prayed a lot and mortified themselves, and observed a lot of prescriptions. The
other group, named the “strong,” did not pay attention to such “small” things,
which they considered trivial, and held that one did not have to follow a legal
practice like the old law; the only necessary thing was to be faithful to
Christ. The two groups abused each other: the weak “passed judgment” on the
strong ones, calling them unfaithful and these, in their turn “had contempt”
for the weak ones, classifying them as traditionalists and without
understanding. Sounds familiar?
St Paul recommends to all to be charitable, to show
love and reciprocal respect. He takes the example from the Lord who did not
seek to please himself but placed himself at the service of others. Harmony in
the community could only be assured by the member’s commitment to Christ. St
Paul challenged the “strong” as well as the “weak” to “treat each other in the
same friendly way as Christ treated” them. Rather than engage in mutual
criticism that would only engender hostility, they should learn “to be tolerant
with each other, following the example of Christ Jesus, so that united in mind and
voice (they) may give glory to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Christ
makes all the difference!
Finally, we come to the gospel and discover the key to
Peace. It is to be found in repentance. In today’s gospel, we hear the story of how St John the Baptist preached
this message, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” His
ministry and message resonates with the call of the Prophet Isaiah, “Prepare a
way for the Lord, make his paths straight.” Unfortunately, John’s call
to repentance to prepare the way of the Lord was not received by all.
What does the word
Repentance mean? In Hebrew, the word for
conversion (shubh) indicates that one
has taken a wrong path, and once he has become aware of his detour, the individual
returns to the right path in order to return to God. So too the Greek word, metanoia involves not just a static
remorse but a dynamic and determined about-face, a positive commitment to a new
way of life. Significantly, conversion is not a purely human decision or
endeavour. Rather, conversion is a human response to the prior initiative of
God.
Repentance means turning to
Christ. It means putting God in the first place in our lives and making sure
that everything else finds its rightful places in our lives under God.
Repentance means letting go of our own will, in order to follow the things that
God wills for us. It means turning away from sin and all rebellion against God,
in order to be obedient to God and to follow him in all that he wants from us.
Repentance means owning up to our sin, our human frailties, our fears, our
inner hurts and entrusting all these to God’s mercy and compassion. Repentance
means knowing our need of God. In turning our lives around, we come to
recognise that our self-sufficiency is inadequate and that we need to cooperate
with God in our own salvation. Repentance therefore is not a one-time thing. It
is a process that goes on for a lifetime. Little by little we orientate
ourselves ever more perfectly in God’s love.
So as we continue our journey to Christmas, we
need to repent of our comfortableness with sin. This is the only way our
society and the Church can be transformed. Various utopian experiments that have sought to improve
mankind and create a peaceable environment have failed. Lasting peace would not
be found in any peace treaty or socio-political or economic reform. This is
because, if God is not part of the equation, Utopia would remain a dream. But
God’s effort to bring peace will not
fail. It will succeed—through Jesus Christ and the establishment of
God’s Kingdom. That is why we need to come out into the wilderness where God reforms and transforms
His People – on His terms and not our own. Avail yourself to the very reason
Jesus came as a Child to Bethlehem: he come down to be among sinners. Yes, but
he came to call us into the Kingdom of Light. So prepare the Way of the Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Terms of Use: As additional measure for security, please sign in before you leave your comments.
Please note that foul language will not be tolerated. Comments that include profanity, personal attacks, and antisocial behaviour such as "spamming" and "trolling" will be removed. Violators run the risk of being blocked permanently. You are fully responsible for the content you post. Please be responsible and stay on topic.