Commentary
Sunday, 12/6/2020, Second Sunday of Advent
Home Page Commentary
Three Prophecies
First Reading Commentary: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
In today’s first reading, Isaiah gives us three prophecies. First, Isaiah prophesizes an end to exile. In this prophecy, Isaiah was speaking about the Israelites, the end of the Babylonian exile and the return of the Israelites to Judah. But for us, Isaiah’s prophecy is about mankind’s exile from this life into the Kingdom of Heaven.
This life on earth is our exile. Just as the Israelites were longing to return to their land of Judah, we are longing to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There we will be comforted by our God and by His mercy and the guilt of our sins will be taken away.
As Christians, this is what we live for. This prophecy from Isaiah comes to us in Advent because it reminds us that the Word became Flesh so that we may be saved. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, we are called to remember that if Christ did not come into the world to save us, there would be no end to our exile and there would be no salvation. Therefore, as we celebrate the birth of Christ, we should also be looking forward to His second coming.
The second prophecy from Isaiah today is the coming of John the Baptist. Isaiah says, “A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord!” In telling the people to make way for the One who was to follow him, John the Baptist fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, heralded the coming of Christ and preached repentance.
Advent is not just a time to get ready to celebrate the birth of our King and say, “Joy to the World.” It is a time for us to look within, cleanse our souls, increase our faith and make ourselves ready to receive the Lord as He becomes one of us, makes us a part of His Mystical Body and stays with us in the form of the Eucharist.
The third prophecy from Isaiah today is the coming of the One who is our God who rules with a strong arm and shepherds His flock. This message has been the focal point in our liturgy for the past several weeks.
This is not just another birthday that we are preparing to celebrate. This is the Nativity of our Good Shepherd and the King of Kings. This is the Nativity of the One who came to take away the sins of the world. This is the Nativity of the One who will lead all believers into His Kingdom of eternal life where there will be peace and joy.
We are called to remember this as we read our Christmas cards that say, “Peace on Earth” or “Joy to the World.” The “earth” of eternal peace and the “world” of eternal joy is God’s Kingdom of Heaven—home to those who want to be there.
We officially set aside these four weeks of Advent to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord but preparing ourselves for His coming is something that we should never stop doing. Constantly looking within and checking ourselves to make sure that we are ready is the only way that we can obey the command that Jesus gave us last week in Mark 13:33-37 when He said, “What I say to you, I say to all: Watch.”
Be Found Without Spot or Blemish
Second Reading Commentary: 2 Peter 3:8-14
One does not automatically think of the Book of Revelation when considering Advent. But in today’s second reading, Peter tells us several times to do just that.
First, Peter reminds us that Gods time is not our time when he says, “…with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day…he is patient…” Peter’s message is that God never breaks a promise and if the Son promised to come again, He will come again. But in: His own time.
Second, Peter’s choice of a thousand years in his proclamation has a couple of messages of its own. We know that in the Book of Revelation, the number of one thousand represents a long time with no exact definition of time even though the words describe a finite time. That is to say that we have no idea just how long of a time it represents. That again; is because God’s time is not our time.
One Thousand years, in Revelation 20:1-11, is also how long the devil will be locked up in the abyss. During that time, the devil will not be able to lead the nations astray. Then the devil is released for a short time and he will deceive the nations and his followers will surround the city of the holy ones.
With everything that is going on in the world today, I believe that we are living in that time right now. Just consider the pandemic, the divisiveness and hatred in our country and around the world and global warming with all of the harm that it is doing to our planet.
But the devil and his followers will have fire from heaven come down on them and they will be thrown into the pool of fire and sulfur—hell for ever and ever. We just have to be patient because God works in His own time.
Does any of what is in chapter twenty of Revelation matter to those who are ready for the second coming of Christ? No! They will already have their names written in the book of life before the thousand-year reign begins. Once again, we are being warned to be ready.
Finally, Peter tells us that the Lord does not want any of us to perish but that all should repent. In other words, the Lord wants us to make ourselves ready for His coming by cleansing ourselves of all of our sins. We can best do this by taking advantage of the mercy bestowed on us when we confess our sins and ask God for forgiveness. That is what happens in the Sacrament of Confession.
The Lord wants us to have faith in Him and believe that He will come again but He does not want us to be shocked or afraid of His second coming. Instead, He wants us to always be ready because He may come at any time. The Lord wants us to look forward to His second coming because when He does come again, He will complete His mission of making all things new.
This is when everything which has ever been done on the earth will be found out. All things will be dissolved and there shall be new heavens and a new earth of righteousness. All of the faithful will experience a new birth into a life of eternal peace and happiness beyond explanation. What better reason can there be for Peter to advise us to be found without spot or blemish. What better reason can there be to be ready?
Prepare for God’s Plan—Repent
Gospel Commentary: Mark 1:1-8
John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah who said, “A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Some people say that John the Baptist was Elijah reborn, because of the similarities between them. They both wore camel’s hair clothing with a leather belt and they both lived in the desert region near the Jordan River and they were both servants of God.
But one thing is for certain. John the Baptist announced the coming of Christ and told everyone to repent. The message of John the Baptist was all about preparing the way for the goodness of the One who came after him—Christ to enter our lives by getting rid of everything bad in our lives.
In Matthew’s account of this Gospel, Matthew 3:1-12, John the Baptist challenged the Pharisees and Sadducees calling them a brood of vipers and telling them to produce good fruit as evidence of their repentance and to stop being so proud always thinking that they were better than others.
In effect, John was telling the Pharisees and Sadducees to stop being false prophets. John was telling them to stop expecting to be held in high regard above everyone else because they were not the ones who were supposed to receive the glory. John was telling them that they were not so great at all and that all glory belongs to God. This is part of the message that Jesus would later give to the Pharisees and Sadducees when He delivered His Seven Woes in Matthew 23:1-36.
John the Baptist also gave a vision of Revelation in Matthew’s account of today’s Gospel when he said that God could raise up children from stones and that the ax lies at the root of the trees and that every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down. See Revelation 14:15-19. The message being that the coming of Christ on earth is to prepare us for His second coming on the last day. Those who are prepared will be the trees that produce good fruit.
Humility is shown by John the Baptist when he admits that there was one coming who; was mightier than he. Of course, John was speaking of Jesus, but John’s humility is what I want to look at here. John had just rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees for their pride and he wanted people to know that he was not great either. He said, “I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.” John was sending the message that we must all humble ourselves to God.
John the Baptist said, “I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” I want to make three points about what John said here. First, when people were baptized by John the Baptist, they acknowledged their sins and repented for their sins. In doing so, they expressed a willingness to be with God and accepted by God. Their baptism by John the Baptist also was a proclamation of their faith in the preaching of John the Baptist which means that they accepted the One who John foretold, Jesus Christ. Therefore, in my opinion, they were saved by their faith.
Second, it was Jesus who instituted the Sacrament of Baptism. Some people believe that the sacrament was instituted when Jesus was baptized Himself and others believe that it was when Jesus instructed the Apostles in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Either way, it was Christ who instituted the sacrament.
The presence of the Trinity in the Sacrament of Baptism is the third point. The Trinity was present at the Baptism of Jesus when the Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is My Beloved Son.” The Trinity is present when we are baptized with water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In baptism, our stain of original sin as well as the sins which we have already committed are nailed to the cross and washed away with the Blood of Christ. We are also granted mercy and forgiveness by the Father and the Spirit descends upon us with His gifts.
John the Baptist did not institute the sacrament of Baptism himself, nor did he claim to. But his baptism was a forerunner to the sacrament and John knew that the Trinity would be present in the Sacrament of Baptism. His prophecy is a proclamation of the Trinity and the Kingdom of Heaven. With his prophecy, John prepares us for the coming of Christ by telling us to repent. Christ then prepares us for His Kingdom by giving all of Himself for our salvation.
