Mark 13:33-37
Dear Friends, Advent has us look backwards so we can look forward. Both views call us to live more intensely in the present.
We look backwards through the prophet Isaiah. His message of hope is a central element of the Advent message. We look forward to the coming of Jesus. In the first three weeks, this coming is presented as the reality of our lives open to the future with its final temporal expression in the coming of the Lord. In the closing days of Advent, we switch gears to focus on celebrating the mystery of the Word become flesh and our Christmas Season.
Unlike the final Sundays of the past Church year and their message of the end times, the proclamation of Advent is all about the deep, passionate call of the season, “Come Lord Jesus!”
There are three ways of looking at Jesus words for the Advent Season. “What I say to you, I say to all, Watch!” (Mark 13:37)
Down through history people have used the directive of watchfulness as a fear-mongering interpretation of current events. The more authentic Christian tradition recognizes there will be a finality to time as we know it. However, there is no life in being consumed by fear and trepidation. A more meaningful response is for us to be alert but in the context of faithfulness to walking with Jesus in our daily life.
A second way of looking at this watchfulness mandate offers this insight. The hopes for the future are brought into the context of our daily commitments. Here again, there is a strong emphasis on the coming but it is anchored in the reality of one’s life in living the Gospel.
The third approach would see us embracing God’s will in the concrete set of responsibilities and relationships that are the substance of our reality. Here the coming is seen in the specifics of my Christian responsibility. The Coming is diminished in a future view and made an energizer of my commitments in my quest to follow Jesus.
All three of these choices offer a partial insight into the Advent message of “Come Lord Jesus!” Along with watchfulness and the coming are the message of Advent. They both have little to do with any hysterical fear of the future but they are a truly hope-filled yearning for the New Day of freedom reconciliation, justice and peace.
Advent challenges us to look at the lost opportunities, the time wasted and misdirected. We all have more than enough to account for. Advent calls us to gather ourselves together and live today, in the grace of the present moment for tomorrow is in God’s hands. We indeed need to cry out, Come Lord Jesus! But a life seeking to walk with Jesus right now makes our cry more real and focused.
God is very capable of keeping the schedule. He will do his job of finishing the program at the appropriate time. It is quite normal for us to use that familiar question of our youth, Are we there yet? God will let us know. Advent lets us know we are getting closer. In the meanwhile, our task is to be faithful to the Gospel message to get our life in order and express the hunger in our heart for the healing presence with the beautiful Advent prayer, Come Lord Jesus!
