Bar 5:1-9; Phil 1:4-6, 8-11; Lk 3:1-6

Advent is a time of waiting and preparing for the grand, joyful celebration at Christmas of the coming of Jesus - the coming of God - into human history. We do this each year so that by the very celebration of it the whole wonderful reality will become an ever-more intensive, an ever-more exciting expectation within us. So that, in turn again, the kingdom of God that was begun here on earth at the first coming of Jesus in the past will grow to final fulfillment and visible completion at the second coming of Jesus in the future. Therefore, our celebration of his first coming at Christmas is in reality the joyful, hope-filled anticipation of his Second Coming on the last day - the day that St. Paul calls “the day of Christ Jesus.” Hear again what Paul writes, “God who has begun the good work in you will carry it through to completion, right up to the day of Christ Jesus; so that you may learn to value the things that really matter, up to the very day of Christ.”

This is the scriptural and liturgical understanding. And such a scriptural, liturgical understanding as this moves us far beyond just a nostalgic remembrance of the birth of a baby, and far beyond ourselves and our own individual religious concerns; in fact, it leads us out to critical and responsible social action to change the world so that it is more just and human and therefore more ready for the second coming of Jesus at the end. This is why Paul says: “It is my wish that you may be found rich in the harvest of justice which Jesus Christ has ripened in you, to the glory and praise of God.” This is what Advent and Christmas tell us; this is what John the Baptist tells us; this is what the prophets Baruch and Isaiah tell us; this is what Luke tells us in the gospel - this is what they all tell us when they tell us to be heralds in the world, crying out, “Make ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path, and all shall see the salvation of God.” ( Is 40:3-5; Lk 3:4-6)

Do you see how powerful this scriptural meaning of Christmas really is? That Christmas points not to the past but to the future; that Christmas is very much an adult affair; that the tremendous task to which Christmas calls us is the task of preparing the world by our actions of love and justice and peace for the final coming of the Lord at the end; that this is indeed the mighty majestic message and challenge that Advent is preparing us to hear at Christmas.