Second Sunday of Advent (C)
December 10, 2006

by Cesar Marin, SJ

Luke 3:1-6

The main message of Advent is: “Prepare.” We’re already caught up in preparations for Christmas with daily reminders of the number of shopping days before Christmas. Nowadays it seems that the day after All Saints’ Day marks the beginning of the Christmas season with all kinds of sales and “Midnight Madness!”

What a contrast to the call to “prepare”, which we hear in the Gospel today! John the Baptist, who would probably be considered some kind of a weirdo in our day, comes upon the scene with urgent words from Isaiah’s prophecy: “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

Advent, one of the most wonderful seasons of the Church year, is almost overshadowed by our preparations for Christmas. Instead of four weeks marked by a mood of spiritual renewal as Christians prepare themselves for the celebration of God’s amazing gift of Jesus, Advent gets lost in the Christmas rush.

“Prepare” is the main message for these days, but Scripture’s meaning and emphasis stands in sharp contrast with our frantic, stress-filled preparations during these weeks before Christmas. The Church’s call to celebrate Advent properly seems like “a voice crying out in the wilderness,” in the words of Isaiah in today’s Gospel.

Christmas celebration seems to start earlier and earlier each year. Christmas carols are heard throughout November and December. Christmas caroling and parties by schools and offices, as well as churches, take place every day. By the time December 25 arrives, people are worn out by the Christmas celebrations. The historic “Twelve Days of Christmas” only begins on December 25, yet you can hardly bear hearing another Christmas carol by that time.

No wonder Advent seems lost in the rush of Christmas celebrations. There are practical reasons why this is so. Although it is liturgically correct to delay singing Christmas carols until Christmas Eve, you can’t really plan many Christmas activities between December 25 and Epiphany in early January. Schools are closed, as are most offices during the week between Christmas and New Year. People are on vacation, visiting families, relatives, and friends, or simply out of town, or staying home totally exhausted.

So, what to do with Advent? It is too important a season to ignore. Yet, it is too difficult to observe it properly. Many parishioners complain if the singing of Christmas hymns and carols in church is delayed until December 24. Many parish priests feel the tension between the proper liturgical celebration of Advent and the pressure to celebrate Christmas throughout December. The parish, which is strict about keeping the mood of Advent seems to be out of step with the rest of the world, not to speak of some Christian congregations. So, how do we keep a proper celebration of Advent with its message of “Prepare the way of the Lord?”

Appearing today at the center of the Advent stage is John the Baptist, that strange figure, who came out of the desert to announce the coming of the Messiah and to call on all of us to prepare for the King. Of course, John did his work when he and his cousin Jesus were about 30 years old, just before Jesus began his three-year public ministry. The time is wrong in terms of the happening, but the Scripture is right on target here. The time to celebrate John the Baptist’s important message is during these weeks of Advent, as we look forward to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

The Gospel writers believed that John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament about God’s messenger, who would announce the coming of the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior. So John’s appearance in today’s reading is linked with a prophecy from the Old Testament: “As it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth and all flesh shall seethe salvation of God.’”

When Isaiah wrote these words there were engineer soldiers called “sappers”, who would go ahead of a traveling king to smooth out the road for the king’s chariot. Sappers leveled hills, filled in ditches and removed all obstacles in the king’s way.

This approach continues in our day. The visit of a dignitary or a head of state or the pope ensures that a city is cleaned and decorated to look its best. Roads are repaired, buildings are repainted, slums are walled in from sight, and beggars are rounded up from the streets, adequate security is ensured. Like the ancient “sappers,” who removed obstacles in the pathway of the king, we are called to get rid of all obstacles to our welcoming the Lord God into our lives. What does this preparation of “repentance” mean for us today?

John the Baptist preaches a fiery message of a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.” This baptism is different from Christian baptism that we have, which is a sacrament of God’s grace. John’s baptism is a sign of repentance, which for us is our response to God’s call to receive Christ into our lives. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which literally means “turning around facing another direction. It’s no casual saying of “I’m sorry,” “excuse me,” or “pardon me.” It is an honest and thorough and often painful soul-searching. It is a deep awareness of the need for God’s cleansing power in our lives. It marks a new beginning made possible by a loving God. It means new priorities and values, a new way of looking at the world. God wants to change us - to bring us joy and peace and fulfillment. Because we continue to fail, repentance is a daily experience for the Christian. God’s faithful love and mercy reach out to us every day. No wonder we begin our worship with confession and absolution. This is the only way we can approach a holy and gracious God.

“Prepare the way of the Lord!” John the Baptist calls out to each one of us – to stop in the middle of our frantic preparations for Christmas to hear the message of Advent. We are called to examine ourselves, to repent and turn daily in a new direction – towards God. God calls us to “prepare,” but not only in the ways of modern society. Advent and Christmas are wonderful times of the year, even though they can also be the most lonely.

Parties and family gathering and the exchanging of gifts are part of the joy of this season. But let us commit ourselves to celebrating Advent properly with its message, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

BARUCH 5:1-9

Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship. Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones. For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God. The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God's command; for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company.

PHILIPPIANS 1:4-6, 8-11

Brothers and sisters: I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

LUKE 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."