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Second Sunday – Year B – Advent
Readings: Isa 40:1-5, 9-11; II Pet 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8.
- 1/ First Reading: RSV Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
2/ Second Reading: RSV 2 Peter 3:8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! 13 But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
3/ Gospel: RSV Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight — “ 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
I. THEME: Preparing our soul to welcome Christ.
The message of last Sunday, the first week of Advent is to recognize the necessary presence of God in our life. The main message of this week, the second week of Advent, is to prepare our soul to welcome Christ, to prepare a way for him to enter our home.
In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah demanded the Israelites to prepare for the Messiah to come by: “make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.” In the second reading, the author advised his faithful, “Beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” In the Gospel, John the Baptist repeated Isaiah’s words: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” He called people to be baptized to show their repentance and to receive God’s forgiveness.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: God consoles His people.
Today passage, the beginning of chapter 40, is the introduction to the Deutero-Isaiah. This second book was written during the exile (721-538 BC). Living in the foreign land, the Israelites must face many hardships and sufferings; there existed a danger that many of them would loose their faith in God.
1.1/ The Good News were announced: God, though He had to punish people in order to purify them, continually looked after and cared for the Israelites. He sent many prophets to live with, to console, and to encourage them not to lose their faith in God, as the prophet Isaiah wrote: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” Through these consoling words, Isaiah would like people to know that God punished because He wanted them to be better, not out of hatred or to destroy them.
1.2/ Prepare a road for God to come: The exile is liked as the exodus which Moses led the Israelites during 40 years in the desert before they came to the Promise Land. This time was needed because it helped people to expel all of their bad habits, such as: complaining, lamenting, jealousy, gluttony, ingratitude and idols worshipping. Similarly, before God sets the Israelites free from the exile and let them return to their country to rebuild it, He demanded people to purify their minds from all sins, represented by an image of “a straight way” which they must prepare for God. The prophet described this way in detail:
– “Make straight in the desert a highway for our God”: This means people need to expel from them all tricks to deceive or to take advantage of others.
– “The uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain”: This means people need to put out all hatred, jealousy, backbiting, slandering and false accusation.
– “Every valley shall be lifted up”: People need to throw away unlimited greed of money, power, fame and fleshy desires.
– “Every mountain and hill be made low”: All prides before God and others must be wiped out, at the same time, people need to be humble and put God’s teachings into practice.
1.3/ God will visit His people: After people had purified their minds, “the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” The vision that the prophet foresaw is not limited only to the day that the Israelites were set free and returned to their country but also the day when the Messiah will appear and instruct them.
The prophet talked about the Messiah in these words: “Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” The Messiah will achieve many wonderful victories; and all what he achieved; people will also share in them.
The prophet continued: “He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” The Messiah isn’t only the king, he is also the Good Shepherd. He will heartily care for both mother and children lambs. This image of the Good Shepherd was mentioned not only in Isaiah; but also, in Jeremiah (23:1-8) and Ezekiel (34:1-31). In the Fourth Gospel, Christ himself declared: “I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me” (Jn 10:14).
2/ Reading II: The faithful must be patient in waiting.
2.1/ What God has promised, it will be certainly happened; but people must patiently wait for it. The first generation of Christians also misunderstood about Christ’s second coming. They thought it will happen during their lifetime. When they didn’t see that day happens, many got tired of waiting and some of them returned to their formal lives. Both the author of second Letter of Peter and the second Letter to the Thessalonians advised the faithful that they must be patient in waiting. They gave the reasons why that day isn’t happened yet:
(1) God’s time is different with human time. The author said: “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
(2) The reason why people must be sober and alert: The day of the Lord doesn’t come yet because:
– God would like everybody has many opportunities to repent: “The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
– The suddenness of his coming: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.”
2.2/ People must be carefully prepared to welcome God: Like the prophet Isaiah in the first reading and the evangelist in the Gospel, St. Peter advised the faithful that they must live a righteous, pious and holy life when they prepare for the LORD to come: “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
3/ Gospel: The Good News are announced.
3.1/ John the Baptist prepared a way Christ: Beginning today, Mark’s Gospel will be announced through the whole liturgical year B. St. Mark began his Gospel with this sentence: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
(1) The Good News and the announcers: The Good News is Christ himself, the Son of God. The announcers could be Christ, when he revealed about his Father; or prophets, as the prophet Isaiah in the first reading; or Jesus’ disciples, or all the faithful when they preach the Good News.
(2) The herald who went first to prepare a way for Christ to come: John the Baptist was the herald of Christ; he was preparing for people to meet Christ. After the exile (about 538 BC) until the Messiah’s time, there was 500 years without any prophet in Israel. John the Baptist is considered the last prophet of the Old Testament and was the connecting prophet between the Old and the New Testament. The appearance of John the Baptist was the fulfillment of all prophecies about him.
– The fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy: “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts” (Mal 3:1). According to these words, John the Baptist appeared in the desert to prepare for Christ’s way.
– The fulfillment of the Isaiah’s prophecy as in today first reading: “A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD.”” The voice in the desert is John the Baptist. He lived in the desert, was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. His life must help us to examine our life as Jesus’ disciples. Do we need to depend so much in material life as we are now living? John the Baptist used all of his time to prepare people to meet Christ while we are spending most of our time to work for money!
(3) The herald’ s message: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” This message was explained in detail by Isaiah in the first reading.
(4) The baptism for the forgiveness of sins: According to Jewish tradition, this baptism is only for those who want to convert to Jewish religion. The newly convert must be circumcised, offer a sin-offering, and purified by the water. The strange thing happened in today passage is that John the Baptist made even the original Jews to have this baptism, as reported in Mark: “There went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” The reason why they must go through this process was many of them were believers in name only, not truly believers. The same thing happened to many Catholics; they didn’t practice what Christ taught them to do.
(5) They must confess their sins before were baptized: A true conversion requires a sinner to recognize his sins, God’s goodness to him, and making a sincere confession before his sins can be forgiven. All what was reported today are the basic theology of the two sacraments: Baptism and Reconciliation.
3.2/ John the Baptist talked briefly about the Messiah as follows:
(1) “He is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” This sentence is also a declaration to all people that he knew the mighty power of Christ, at the same time, his lowly condition compared to him. He didn’t want anybody to confuse between Jesus and him.
(2) The baptism for the forgiveness of sins and the Baptism to bestow graces: “I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus’ Baptism isn’t used only for the forgiveness of sins, but also to bestow Holy Spirit’s seven gifts.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– We must prepare our souls to welcome Christ. The best way to prepare is to examine our conscience to find out all things we have sinned against God and others; after that we must confess in order to be forgiven.
– We must be patient when we are waiting for Christ’s second coming. We must live a pious, righteous, and holy life while waiting for Christ to come.