Happy 2nd Sunday of Advent! I find the scriptures in today’s readings to be incredibly dynamic as they powerfully reflect our own geo-political reality.
Psalm 126 describes the radical change that will happen when people encounter the true God. The psalmist uses the image of farmers anxious about a poor harvest who “go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown,” but then “come back rejoicing,” carrying an unexpectedly large harvest with them! In mass today, we join in with their celebration as we repeat, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”
Then the second reading in Philippians 1 boldly states, “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.” Personally, I find these assertive reminders so refreshing and necessary right now. We can be confident: the good works are not over. God is still at work, in us and through us until Christ returns.
In his gospel account, Luke tells us that even though there were other reports already written about Jesus’ life, he included as many eye witness stories from Jesus’ original disciples as he could in his own account. Luke likely wrote his gospel around eighty years after Jesus’ long-awaited birth, which means that the events of Luke’s gospel were only about fifty years old at the time. The people he interviewed were the ones who had lived and walked with Jesus, personally hearing His words, seeing His miracles, and knowing His presence.
As a physician, traveling companion of Saint Paul’s, and future author of the book of Acts, Luke possessed a rare insight into the world of Jesus, even though he did not personally walk alongside Him. By presenting many thoroughly researched stories of Jesus’ friends and disciples, Luke hoped to show how every piece of Jesus’ story was on purpose and perfectly fulfilled the promises God made about the Messiah who would offer salvation to us all.
In a narrative choice that I find particularly inspiring in light of the political heaviness we are currently living through, Luke makes us crucially aware of the historical context surrounding John the Baptist as he “prepared the way of the Lord” throughout the entire region of the Jordan River. Luke lists out all of the rulers of the region at the time, including names like Pontius Pilate and Herod, who we will soon recognize in Jesus’ journey to the cross. Luke includes their names and the specific year very obviously, highlighting the tumultuous geo-political reality of the day. Rome was the empire in charge, Pontius Pilate the true figure of power, and Herod, King of the Jews, the political puppet of Rome whom the Jews were forced to follow. The political chains were tightly wound and the sovereignty of the Jews as their own people was subjugated and denied. Sound familiar?
It is in this context that Luke shows how John the Baptist fulfills a promise from the Old Testament as he cries out in the desert for people to “Prepare the way of the Lord.” He vows that “the winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Everyone who heard John the Baptist knew from personal experience that the roads were winding and the ways were rough. They lived it every day, just as we do now in our own varied ways.
So just like John the Baptist, we can proclaim that the Savior is coming right now in the year of our Lord, 2024. Jesus is the only one who can straighten the treacherous paths and smooth the rough edges of our lives. Our anxieties turn into rejoicing because we can be fully confident in the good works that God has done and will not stop doing. O come Emmanuel!
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