THAT PROPHETIC CALL TO RECONCILIATION

HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

What’s the very first thing we do when we’re expecting a visitor? We would probably all agree that we have a good tidy-up and ensure that our home is nice and clean. A clean home assures the visitor that his host has really made himself ready for his arrival. In other words, we prepare for an expected visit. Now, when we see Jesus as the very special Visitor who has informed us of His intention to visit each one of us, how then should we get ready to receive Him as the King that He truly is? In order to welcome the King and invite the Lord Jesus into our hearts - and this is the whole purpose of Advent – what we must do is repent and prepare the way of the Lord by making His paths straight in our lives and in the world. This duty is communicated in the three readings of this Sunday - the duty to repent and get ready for the coming of the Lord. All this boils down to a single, central theme of reconciliation with God and with one another. Why? Because it is reconciliation that brings about peace.

The Gospel Reading (Mt. 3:1-12) is the story of the forerunner, John the Baptist, and his message of repentance. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. There had been a gap of four hundred years since a prophet had last arisen in Israel, and that was the prophet Malachi. And so we can appreciate the thunderous impact John’s message had upon people. The voice crying in the wilderness was prophetic, and so there must have been quite a feeling of relief in the air, relief that God had not forgotten His people after all. The voice of the humble precursor to the Messiah was potent, compelling and a threat to the powerful. That voice called the people to repentance. Repentance is generally characterised either by a feeling of remorse and regret for doing wrong, or by a sense of pain and sorrow for what one has committed or omitted. However, we need to dig deeper behind this general understanding. In the original language (Greek), the verb used is metanoein which means to change one’s mind or purpose. Here, it is used in the imperative. Metanoia then denotes a change of mind; as it’s in the imperative, this change is an order - something that must be done - as a necessary condition for the reception of the Lord. This order takes repentance beyond mere feeling to a firm, concrete change of mind. 

Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John is preparing the way of the One of whom Isaiah spoke, says St. Matthew. This oracle of Isaiah in Israelite history served to console the people after the exile, when there was seemingly no hope. The people longed for reconciliation. And so, this became a message of hope and peace for the people, with the promise of a Davidic king who was coming to bring total restoration to them. The notion of how this restoration would come about was for the people to be reconciled to God, without whom the exile experience would be repeated. St. Matthew links the voice of John to this message of Isaiah to stress the urgency of the call to reconciliation with God and with one another. In his concern for the reconciliation of Gentiles and Jews, St. Paul prays for them (and us) to be tolerant of each other, following the example of Jesus (cf. Second Reading; Romans 15:4-9). This is an explicit way of preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord.

In the First Reading (Isaiah 11:1-10), Isaiah relays the apparently impossible experiences that will mark the new era of the King. These experiences can only be effected as a result of total, comprehensive reconciliation. After the King has judged with integrity and equity, rather than by appearances or hearsay, as Isaiah envisioned, there will be a totally peaceful world. That world is represented allegorically here in terms of predators and prey getting along together. There will no longer be fear: animals will no longer attack each other or mankind, and even children will no longer be afraid of them. This takes us right back to the first Garden, the first Paradise. But this abundance of joy and innocence will be heavily dependent upon the righteousness of humanity. The prophet envisions the new Paradise by speaking of the justice with which the poor and the meek will be defended, and by which the wicked will be eliminated. Just as the animals turned wild as the result of the original fault of the first parents, the redemption of mankind in Jesus the Anointed One will restore the entire earth to its original, pristine peace.  

Finally, the voice of John heralded both a threat and a promise. He warns the Pharisees and Sadducees that for them to plead that Abraham is their father would be of no avail to them. This was perceived as a threat by the Jews because they believed that the merits of Abraham would suffice to guarantee them safe passage to eternity. This would mean that neither they, nor we, should hope to benefit from the spiritual capital of the past. No age can hope to claim salvation simply because of its heroic past, just as a wayward son cannot hope to plead the merits of a saintly father when he is brought before the judge. John also promised that the One who was to come would baptise them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The Holy Spirit is the supreme agent of reconciliation, both between us and God, and also between us and one another. When the Spirit enters our hearts, our eyes are opened. The prejudices which blind us are removed. The self-will which darkens us is overcome and the weary defeat of life is ended. And then, we experience the surge of the new life of peace entering us. These are the merits the Anointed One comes to bring us. May these gifts of the Spirit be bequeathed to us today and evermore, as we repent and prepare ourselves to receive Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.