Second Sunday of Advent
Last weekend, I preached a homily titled, “Don’t Settle for Cheap!” To further help me reflect on this, a parishioner sent me a New York Times article by Tish Harrison, an Anglican priest, titled, “Want to Get into the Christmas Spirit? Face the Darkness.” Let me begin this homily with a quote from her article. Contrasting the mood outside versus the Church’s more subdued Advent sentiments, she says, “I think Advent offers wisdom to the wider world. It reminds us that joy is trivialized if we do not first intentionally acknowledge the pain and wreckage of the world.” She continues, “… inside many church buildings, this time of year looks different. There, we find a countercultural sparseness. The altar is covered in purple, the color of both royalty and repentance. There’s a slowing down, a silent stillness. The music turns to minor keys and becomes contemplative, even mournful. The Scripture readings are apocalyptic and trippy, strikingly short on sweet tales of babies, little lambs and Christmas stars. In this small space, Christmas season has not yet begun. The church waits in Advent.”
I wonder if you feel the dissonance of the Advent season. These days we are busy putting up our Christmas trees, spending time shopping in glittery shopping malls, feeling excited by the gifts we have purchased, and the deals we got on them. We attend work Christmas parties, family Christmas gathering, and then, we come to Church and hear John the Baptist crying out in the desert, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" There precisely is the dissonance. Elsewhere, this season is associated with frivolity, with playfulness, with glitter and glamor. The last thing the mood outside prepares us for, is repentance. Yet, this is exactly where Tish Harrison makes sense. As she says, “Joy is trivialized if we do not first intentionally face the darkness.”
Let us allow John the Baptist to speak to us today.
- “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” As difficult as it is for us to get to it, the fact is that the Christ-event demanded conversion. Both John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries with the same words, “Repent, for theThe Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mt 3:1). In fact, conversion was a condition to embrace the Kingdom. This demand for conversion is not for its own sake. The demand for conversion comes from the realization that there is a great dissonance between God’s vision for humanity and our vision for humanity. If indeed we acknowledge that Jesus came us to lead us to the Kingdom of God, then we have to leave our kingdom behind; we have to intentionally align our lives with God’s kingdom. John’s call to “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand” is to “face the darkness” within us and in the world. Remember this, “Joy is trivialized if we do not first intentionally acknowledge the pain and wreckage of the world.” This Advent, let us “face the darkness” so we might know the joy of the One who is the Light.
- “Produce Good Fruit as Evidence of Your Repentance.” Facing the darkness is a two-fold reality. Repentance is only the first part of the invitation to face the darkness. We face the darkness to embrace the light! We leave something behind to embrace something greater. We renounce sin to accept grace. As John the Baptist would say, “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance!” (Mt 3:8). This is the sign of true repentance – that we turn our lives to God and become ambassadors of God’s goodness. Because God has been good to us – we must be good to others; because God has shown mercy, we must show mercy; because God has loved us unconditionally, we must show great love; because God is kind, we must kind; because God gives us another chance, we must give people a chance. This is how we know that “the kingdom of God is at hand” – that we produce good fruit as evidence of our repentance; that, through us, there is a revolution of goodness, a revolution of holiness.
- “Even Now, the Axe Lies at the Root of the Trees.” I am not sure how you might hear John’s words, “Even now, the axe lies at the root of the trees” (Mt 3:10). Surely, we can take it for what it sounds like – a caution, a warning, a threat! However, it can also be heard as an opportunity. Each day is another opportunity for conversion. Each day offers us another chance to change. Each day offers us another possibility to do good. Each day we stand the at fork of a road. In the church there is name for the opportunity, the possibility, the chance, the choice that lies before us. It’s called Advent. This Advent, either we can hear the call of the gospel or we can squander the opportunity! For indeed, “axe lies at the root of the trees.”
So we come before this altar and face Him whom we await. Let us not be afraid to “face the darkness,” because He turns our darkness into light, our repentance into joy!
- Satish Joseph