HOMILY: Second Sunday of Advent, 2013
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Romans 15:4-9
Matthew 3:1-12
Within the last few days the news
programs have been filled with remembrances of Nelson Mandela, the former
president of South Africa who died on Thursday. He was a person who spent 27
years in jail, then was elected the President of South Africa, and died at the
age of 95. His greatest legacy will be his concern for reconciliation. His
years of imprisonment exemplified the suffering experienced by so many who seek
justice. As president of South Africa, Former President Bill Clinton visited
Mandela and asked him why he had invited his jailer to his inauguration and
brought white opposition parties into his government. "Tell
me the truth: When you were walking down that road, didn't you hate them?"
Clinton asked Mandela. "Mandela said: 'I did. I am old enough to tell the truth.
'I felt hatred and fear but I said to myself, if you hate them when you get in
that car you will still be their prisoner. I wanted to be free and so I let it
go. That is probably one of the
best definitions of reconciliation or forgiveness.
On this second Sunday of Advent all of
our Bible readings empahsize the need for forgiveness and repentance. Isaiah’s
passage today is one of the most beautiful in Scripture. It describes a leader
sent from God who would bring peace to the world. This was an intensely
important image of hope. The Kingdom of Judah had had a succession of kings,
one worse than the last. At this point in Isaiah, King Ahaz was on the throne.
He inherited a kingdom surrounded by
powerful enemies and troubled by internal division. He had to made a decision.
Would he go along with his enemies or be faithful to God? But Ahaz did not
trust God. So he gives in to his
enemies. But along comes Isaiah who triest to give hope to the Jewish people.
Isaiah has a dream or a vision of what it might be like in a world that Jesus
talked about so often. In this world the
baby will play by the cobra's den. The wolf will be the guest of the lamb. The
leopard and the kid will lie down. The calf will eat with the lion, the cow and
the bear will be neighbors. This may
sound like a child’s fairy book where animals do simple things together. But
the truth is that this is what we long for. We long for a world filled with God
or goodness or peace or repentence.
Isaiah gives us a picture of a heaven of universal peace and
justice.
In our last Bible reading today we hear
that God tells us that most of our waiting has ended. God will finally send a
person by the name of Jesus. A preacher
by the name of John the Baptist arrives.
He lives in the desert. John
dressed himself in camel hair, and ate locust and honey. He lived much of his life in the desert.
John
was concerned that those who follow him live a good life. He tells people that
they have to repent. Repent means that we are sorry for anything bad we have
done. REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
IS AT HAND, he says. If we are
to have a future, he says, we must
reform our lives. In this Bible reading John mentions repent three times.
When
we hear that word we may think of some terrible sinner who needs a total
makeover spiritually.If we think this message about repentence does not belong
to us, we need to hear again what Paul tells us in our second reading: Whatever
was written previously was written for our instruction.
In
other words the word repent is meant for all of us, not just for bad people.
Originally repent was a word that told us to change our mind. As time went on
it meant to change our mind so that we might be a different person, or a better
person. John the Baptist is telling us that if we have not been as good as we
would like to be, or as good as know God would like us to be, then we need to
decide to make a change. Either we need to change our attitudes or to change
our behavior. John the Baptist mentions that Every tree that does not bear good
fruit must be cut down.It is not enough to avoid evil; we have to be good.
Just
in case we missed the point of John's sermon, we can read a little further in
our Gospel and come to the very first sermon that Jesus himself gave. WHAT
DO YOU SUPPOSE JESUS PREACHED? The
same point that John the Baptist gave. Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Jesus says.
There
is much more that John and Jesus gave us in their sermons. But the message of
this weekend in Advent is to Repent. To Repent is not one of our common
expressions. To repent means to improve and renew our lives. But to repent is not easy.
It
is part of the normal conversation around this time of the year to ask: Are you
ready for Christmas? We would probably
be surprised if we asked someone that question and the responded: I still need
to do a few things to make myself better spiritually. That kind of an answer
would leave most of us speechless.The news and the advertisements are
bombarding overtime telling us how to get ready for Christmas. But leet us also
listen to John the Baptist telling us how God wants us to be prepared for the
birth of His son Jesus.
I
started by mentioning the way of forgiveness of Nelson Mandela. I remember ,
however, a story story told to me by an uncle who was a soldier in the Second
World War. It was Christmas eve in the occupied Netherlands. The military commander
of the town lifted the curfew to allow persons to go to Midnight Mass. Just
before Mass a group of German soldiers marched into the church to celebrate
with us. No Dutch or American would ever associate, let alone eat with them.
Even when these soldiers gave candy to children they would spit in their face.
But at this Christmas eve, American, Dutch and German soldiers came to receive
Holy Communion, and no one objected. For a brief moment all was well; enemies
talked. Jesus lives here and now. So must we.
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