2nd
Sunday of Advent
Fr.
Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR,
NOLA
Last
Sunday, I called Advent “winter's Lent.” And there is a
penitential flavor to the season. But there is also a taste of
rejoicing before we celebrate the Nativity of our Lord. We turn out
our sins and expose them to the Lord’s mercy, AND we rejoice at the
promise of His coming again. We take stock of the time we’ve spent
so far, AND we offer to for God's blessing the time we have left.
Repent and rejoice. Convert and sing praise. Confess
and follow righteousness. Therefore, prepare His way in your
heart, your mind, your body, and your soul. Lay a clear path to the
center of your covenant with Him, open the gates of your reason for
His light, make a gift of your work for His works of compassion, and
your soul an offering of immortal praise. Now is the time for
searching faults and finding mercy, for opening wounds and finding
health. Advent is the time to straighten your path to God. Advent,
winter's Lent, is that time for us to ask ourselves: what sort of
person ought I to be?
And
so, what sort of person ought you to be? This is the perfect question
for Advent because it is a question that requires us to think in
terms of who we ARE and how we ought to ACT. It is a question that
requires us to think about how we balance between being good and
doing good. In his letter, Peter, asks his readers what sort of
persons they should be given the coming of the Lord. He then
immediately elaborates on the question by adding, “…conducting
yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the
coming of the day of God…” Who we ARE goes hand in hand with how
we ACT. For the beloved of the Lord, being good and doing good are
inseparately bound together. We wait and prepare and repent. We
cultivate holiness and practice devotion. And like John the Baptist,
we cry out in the desert of wherever we are: “Get ready! He’s on
His way!” Who ought we to be? We ought to be prophets.
As
the One Who Comes Before the Christ, John the Baptizer appears out of
the desert preaching repentance. As the prophet Isaiah says, he is
the messenger sent ahead, a voice from the desert urging those who
hear his cry to “prepare the way of the Lord.” This makes John a
prophet, a herald. He’s the guy who showed up first, told the truth
about Who and What was coming, and offers those who listen a chance
to get themselves straight with God. He is an alarm ringing in
Jerusalem, calling everyone away from sin and toward righteousness.
John
isn’t just about serving up the doom and gloom of The End. He
offers more than a prediction and sharp tongue. John made it possible
in his preaching for those listening to begin a better way toward
God, to start over with the Father and bear good fruit. He offers a
baptism of water to wash away repented sins. And he offers a vision
of the straightened path to the Father: the good fruits of repentance
will show that you are ready for the coming of the Lord AND make you
a prophet. Yes, we ought to be prophets, but are we ready to be
prophets?
It
is not enough that we acknowledge our sins, wash in the baptismal
waters, and come spotless to God. Our acknowledgment of sin, our
willingness to be found without blemish, must
produce good fruit.
Being good in theory builds lovely temples in the air. Doing good for
show makes good religious theater. But airy temples never last and
the curtain falls on even the best theater! Living our lives as
prophetic witnesses – that’s the sort of folks we ought to be!
But
what does it mean for us to be prophetic? It doesn’t mean putting
on camel hair shirts and eating locusts and honey. It doesn’t mean
standing on the street screaming about fire and God’s wrath. It
doesn’t even mean being particularly pious or holy if by “pious”
and “holy” we mean being outwardly righteous for show.
Nor
does being prophetic mean taking all the right political positions,
protesting all the wrong ones, signing petitions, and marching around
with wearing little buttons and issuing self-important statements.
All that can be as empty as false piety.
So,
what does being prophetic mean? Let’s look at John. He comes out of
the desert, a desolate place, a place devoid of life. He finds his
voice there. Outside family, friends, culture, and civilization, John
finds a voice to proclaim the Coming Christ. He doesn’t use this
voice to promote himself. He speaks of Another. He doesn’t prepare
the way for his own celebrity. He celebrates Christ. He doesn’t try
to make his own life easier by claiming some sort of divine
connection. He makes the paths straight for the Lord. He doesn’t
try to “fit in” or blend in or “inculturate.” He preaches
against the cultural grain, against the prevailing morals. He is not
concerned about being comfortable with his role or finding
satisfaction in his ministry or being a team player. His
is a lonely voice. He
does not coddle the legalists or the revolutionaries, the lawyers or
the trendy academics. He calls them to repentance and a life of good
fruits. He points again and again to Christ, the mightier One, the
One Who Comes to baptize in the Spirit. Always pointing toward
Christ, always toward Jesus. This is what a prophet does.
Absolutely,
we ought to be prophets. We are ready to be prophets if we will
acknowledge our sin. Repent. Turn around. Face God. Produce good
fruit first
and then expect it from others. We will be prophets if with every
thought, word, and deed we proclaim the coming of the Christ – as a
child and as a Just Judge. Advent is our training season. Now is the
time to get into prophetic-shape!
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