First Reading – Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 ©
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 84(85): 9-14(Advent)
©
Second Reading – 2 Peter 3:8-14 ©
Gospel Acclamation Luke 3:4, 6
The Gospel According to Mark 1:1 - 8 ©
(NJB)
The Second Sunday of Advent (Year B)
Consider the words of the
prophet:
There is
great hope expressed by Isaiah, a profound hope for the future wellness of all
people,
As seen through
his understanding of our common destiny as children of God, the creator of the
universe. The prophet expresses certainty in regard to the expectation of
atonement, not just for the people of Israel or the children of Judah, but for
all people.
Be mindful!
This teaching
serves as the principle foundation of the early church, and the whole of
Christian faith accordingly.
John the
Baptist, stood in the tradition of Isiah, his was a voice crying out in the
wilderness; he called the faithful to action, instructing them to prepare the
way. His was a voice of expectation instructing the faithful that the
entire creation will bend to the will of God; every valley and every mountain,
from the cliffs to the plains, everything will yield to God.
Furthermore,
we are instructed to believe that despite the omnipotence of God, we are to
regard the creator like a shepherd who feeds the flock, like a mother ewe among
her children, not as a lord or a king or a general leading armies.
To be
clear: Isaiah also speaks of God as the punisher, reminding the people of Judah
of the punishment they have suffered for their crimes and of future punishments
to come if they persist in their sinful ways.
Remember
this, their crimes were crimes against the people, their crimes took place in
the world. They made enemies among foreign powers and they suffered on account
of their wickedness and vanity, and broken promises. They were not punished by
God. The justice they encountered was the justice of human beings. It was
harsh, it was painful, many people were slaughtered, many more were taken into
captivity, but this was not the work of God, the creator; we know this because God does not intervene in the affairs
of the world.
In the
midst of all the that the children of Israel and the people of Judah suffered
came Isaiah, whose voice cried out in the wilderness, then came John followed
by Jesus hundreds of years later, reminding the people that God is with them
still, and that in the end all things will be resolved in love.
Listen!
God is the
creator of the entire universe, everything belongs to God; all lands, all seas,
all planets, all stars, all galaxies; everything and everyone that is in them.
You should
know that God did not end the captivity of the children of Israel, they did.
This is not
hubris.
It is
greater hubris to think that God loves a special people, one tribe above all
others, it is much greater to think that than to think that the Israelites
escaped bondage under their own power.
Know this!
God is
never angry or indignant with the people, neither does God rescue us from our plights or
the miseries of the world; that is for us to do for ourselves, it is for us to
do for each other.
Bear
witness to Peter’s struggle.
His mission
was to call people to holiness and to a just way of life. He spoke about the
fruits of such a life and the reasonable expectation that if you live a good
life good things will come to you…though if truth be told there is no guarantee
of that.
Peter knew
this.
Treating
all people with goodness and mercy, telling the truth as best as you understand
it, in no way does doing these things guarantee that you will be treated the
same. Therefore we may understand that the divine promise is not that you will
experience justice and mercy in this world, but that there will be justice and
mercy in the next.
Peter had
been preaching on this and the return of Jesus for many years, believing that
the Church would usher in the new world of justice and grace, but two thousand
years has gone by and it has not happened, not yet.
You should
know that there are many people preaching the same message, not for the good of
others but for their own enrichment, as the years and decades and centuries and
millennia pass, the teaching on Christian hope has become elongated elongated,
the expectation is no longer that you will receive justice in this life with
the return of Jesus, but in eternity.
Be mindful!
God will
bring the world to an end only when God’s purpose for the world has been
fulfilled. Trust that God is loving and God is patient, and it is God’s desire
to save everyone. It is God’s desire to leave no one behind, and that is the true
foundation of Christian faith, in keeping with the tradition of Isaiah.
Read your histories. Though it has had a mixed
record of success the Christian tradition has always attempted to root itself
in historical realities.
The study of the Christian tradition gave birth to
modern historical and literary criticism, without which, as a culture, we would
have no understanding of the uses and limitations of history whatsoever.
Appreciate the fact that this took eighteen hundred
years to develop.
Our narrative concerning the life and mission, the
arrest and killing of Jesus are a part of the testimony of our faith. These
stories helps us to locate in time the singular moment when our cultural
commitment to the teachings of Jesus took place.
Through the liturgy we remember the rule of
Tiberius, heir to Augustus, the Herodian dynasty and Pontius Pilate. We recall
the role that Pilate played in killing of Jesus, we shout it out at every hour
of every day in all parts of the world; that Jesus suffered under his hand, was
crucified and buried. This story is told unceasingly and without end.
Be mindful!
It is long since time that we, as heirs to the
ministry and teaching of Jesus, forgive Pilate for the role he played in that
political murder.
John the Baptist taught us to repent and be
forgiven, but Jesus taught us to simply forgive. He forgave those who killed
him even as they were torturing him; and he asked God to forgive them when he
was up on the cross breathing his last painful breaths. It is time we followed
his example and did the same. The promise of Isaiah, which John echoed in the
wilderness cannot be received by us unless and until we do.
Know this!
God is the author of our salvation but we are the
agents of it, and it is incumbent on us to proceed with the healing, if the
human race is to be healed.
Consider
the Gospel reading for today:
Isaiah
did not predict the coming of John and Jesus. We know that this is true,
because we believe that God, the creator of the universe, created us in
freedom, and nothing in the world is pre-determined.
Isaiah’s
movement took place over the course of a decade or more, its followers and
proponents witnessed the collapse of David’s kingdom and the scattering of the
Israel into the remote reaches of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires.
Neither
did John the Baptist predict the coming of Jesus, though he may have expressed
the hope that someone like Jesus would come after him and continue his work.
In
the time of John and Jesus the people of Judah and the children of Israel were
in much the same place as they had been six hundred years earlier. They had
rebuilt their cities, re-dug their wells and constructed a new temple in the
land of their forebears, but they were still divided among themselves,
factionalized and politically weak. They were still subject to foreign powers,
and still subject to the capriciousness of kings.
John
saw his death coming because he understood the political temper of the men and
women in power in his day, like Jesus who came after him he accepted that death
rather than risk the lives of his followers in a vain attempt to forestall the
inevitable.
First
Reading – Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 ©
The
Glory of the Lord Shall be Revealed and All Mankind Shall See It
‘Console
my people, console them’ says your God.
‘Speak
to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended, that
her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double
punishment for all her crimes.’
A
voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord.
Make
a straight highway for our God across the desert.
Let
every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low.
Let
every cliff become a plain, and the ridges a valley; then the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed and all mankind shall see it; for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken.’
Go
up on a high mountain, joyful messenger to Zion.
Shout
with a loud voice, joyful messenger to Jerusalem.
Shout
without fear, say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God.’
Here
is the Lord coming with power, his arm subduing all things to him.
The
prize of his victory is with him, his trophies all go before him.
He
is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them
against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 84(85): 9-14(Advent) ©
Let
us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.
I
will hear what the Lord God has to say,
a voice that speaks of peace,
peace for his people.
His
help is near for those who fear him
and his glory will dwell in our land.
Let
us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.
Mercy
and faithfulness have met;
justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness
shall spring from the earth
and justice look down from heaven.
Let
us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.
The
Lord will make us prosper
and our earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice
shall march before him
and peace shall follow his steps.
Let
us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.
Second
Reading – 2 Peter 3:8-14 ©
We
Are Waiting for the New Heavens and the New Earth
There
is one thing, my friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, ‘a
day’ can mean a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is
not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow;
but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody
to be brought to change his ways. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and
then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall
apart, the earth and all that it contains will be burnt up.
Since
everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly
lives while you wait and long for the Day of God to come, when the sky will
dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat. What we are waiting for
is what he promised: the new heavens and new earth, the place where
righteousness will be at home. So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do
your best to live lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at
peace.
Gospel Acclamation Luke 3:4, 6
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Prepare
a way for the Lord, make his paths straight, and all mankind shall see the
salvation of God.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Mark 1:1 - 8 ©
A Voice Cries in the Wilderness: Prepare
a Way for the Lord
The beginning of the Good News about Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah:
“Look, I am going to send my messenger before
you; he will prepare your way.
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths
straight.”
And so it was that John the Baptist appeared
in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of
sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as
they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John
wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the
course of his preaching he said, ‘Someone is following me, someone who is more
powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his
sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy
Spirit.’
The Second Sunday of Advent (Year B)
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