Second Sunday of Advent
First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 85:9-14
Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-14
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8
Today’s first reading from Isaiah announces the imminent deliverance of God’s people thanks to the power of the Lord who rules the world and determines the course of human affairs. The context is the Babylonian exile. Babylon had conquered Jerusalem in 587-586 BC. The imminent liberation of God’s people is depicted as a “new exodus.” In the Exodus, God acted with great power against Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt. And the people of God made their way through the wilderness and journeyed to the Promised Land. The exodus from Egypt became the prototype of all of God’s saving interventions on his people’s behalf. Thus, the prophets used the image of ‘preparing a way in the desert,’ ‘making in the wasteland a highway for our God,’ filling in the valley, etc. to speak about liberation from exile and salvation. By crying out, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God,’ Isaiah is indicating that God is about to act again. He will act with a power that surpasses the first exodus. The news that deliverance is at hand greatly consoles the people. Now they must get ready to leave their land of exile, they must prepare themselves.
And so, when John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, calling the people to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight his paths, and to baptize in the Jordan River, his first-century audience would have been reminded immediately of the exodus from Egypt as well as from Babylon; when Isaiah called the people to prepare a way in the desert. The first exodus which is the prototype of God’s saving intervention ended when the Israelites crossed over the Jordan River and entered the promised land. The crossing of the Jordan came to be seen in Christian tradition as an image of Baptism because by it, the people of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham which symbolizes eternal life, the promise of blessing fulfilled in the New Covenant. By going back to the Jordan area, John the Baptist is signaling by his preaching and baptism that God is about to act again to save his people. Like Isaiah in the first reading, he calls us to prepare. We must prepare our hearts for Jesus who although he has already come and redeemed us, will come again to judge the living and the dead.
In the second reading, St. Peter tells us how we are to prepare. While the first Exodus ended in the promised land, Saint Peter tells us that “we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. He tells us to practice virtue. The practice of virtues not only assures our vocation and election; it is essential for attaining entry to the eternal kingdom. Advent invites us to prepare our hearts for Jesus by turning away from sin and whatever is contrary to the life of virtue.
Happy Sunday,
Fr Chidi Onwuka m.ss.cc.