1. Good Morning. Let’s pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the mediations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening Comments: Last Sunday was “Hope” Sunday and in our reflection on that day God reminded us of our “long sigh” – our deep yearning - our hope for Christ’s Second Coming!
Today is “Peace Sunday” and our focus obviously will be on Peace. We heard the following words read earlier this morning when the “Peace” candle was lit:
Our hope is in God, and in his son Jesus Christ. Our peace is found in him. We light this candle today to remind us that he brings peace to all who trust in him.
A Bible commentator by the name of Dianne Bergant brilliantly associated today’s reading with Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. She wrote:
The biblical authors sketch profiles of individuals after whom we can model our lives as we embark on our pilgrimage [towards Christ’s Second Coming when heaven will come to earth and Paradise will be reestablished on earth]. Isaiah depicts the righteous messianic king; Paul provides us with a glimpse of Jesus, the one who ministers to all; and Matthew describes John the Baptist the prophet who prepared for the Advent of Christ.
While I agree wholeheartedly with her broad analysis I found myself returning again and again to the reading from Isaiah for it captured for me a vision of peace on earth the like of which I have rarely seen.
We’ll come back briefly to the other readings soon but let’s focus for just a few minutes on the reading from Isaiah chapter 11 for it’s in these words that the idea of peace becomes grounded for us and I pray that it’s in a deeper understanding of what Isaiah is saying that the gift of God’s Peace will join with our long sigh of hope to nourish our souls and it might just do something even more. So please turn with me to the Old Testament book of Isaiah chapter 11 beginning at verse 1 and ending at verse 11:
Is. 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Is. 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD— I believe with many others that Isaiah was anticipating Jesus Christ. Reading on:
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Did you hear that? The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD – will rest upon Him – the Spirit of the LORD will rest upon Him! This is a picture of our King!
Now listen and try to see these images in your mind’s eye for this is what awaits us! This is what paradise looks like! This is what is happening as Heaven inexorably touches down on earth. This all began when Christ came to earth – God incarnate came to earth - and inaugurated an process of heaven coming to earth – it’s just a matter of time and is aided by our faithfulness!
(Ask Kevin to begin to play the images of heaven on earth.)
Please listen to it and try to see it in your mind’s eye:
Is. 11:5 Righteousness will be Christ’s belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Is. 11:6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
Is. 11:7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
Is. 11:8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
Is. 11:9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Is. 11:10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.
I hope that some of us were able to see those images not only with your eyes but more importantly with your souls for these are the pictures that are hard wired into the DNA of our souls as human beings. For, indeed, we were made in the image of God and all that is of God is there in our soul’s DNA. We yearn for the coming of heaven to earth. We yearn for Paradise once again. The memory of it imbedded into our souls awakens and causes us to groan for it’s final coming!
Let it come Lord Jesus! For here is the most perfect image of absolute peace!
Old enemies lie down together – they eat together – they don’t eat each other. As we head last week – nations shall melt down their swords into plough sheers! There will be no more war or preparation for war but peace – Shalom – perfect rest!
The peace that we had in the Garden of Eden will be restored once and for all and we will live as God meant us to live – at peace with one another! At peace with all of Creation!
No longer trying to get from it but now living peacefully with it – part of it – no longer separated from it and at odds with it.
This is peace unmitigated by anything foreign. It’s not a conditional peace or a partial peace or a cease-fire but rather the ultimate peace that we all yearn for.
One day we will all cry out with the Psalmist –
“Justice shall flourish in His time, and fullness of peace forever!”
Peace forever and ever world without end – amen!
But before this ultimate consummation when heaven will fall to earth what is our role here and now to speed up this inevitable coming?
Ah – it’s what John the Baptizer was doing – Preparing the way for the Coming of our Lord.
As John prepared the way for Christ’s First Coming so too we are to prepare the way for Christ’s Second Coming! This, by the way, is in fact the theme for the entire Advent Season – “Preparing the way for Christ’s Second Coming!”
As Fr. Brendan Byrne wrote,
“What is essential and preparatory to Jesus’ proclamation of good news is John’s summons to conversion of the heart. The way that Isaiah wanted prepared in the wilderness is one that must be prepared in the wilderness of the human heart so that the good news may truly enter in when finally proclaimed.”
And do you know what the greatest obstacle to that Second Coming is? It’s complacency – a complacency that rests upon privileged status and a sense that one is different from the despised outsiders and so can rest secure.
Repentance is absolutely essential for it prepared the human heart for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
You see John’s role was crucial. Truly his baptism of water other wise known as the baptism of repentance prepared the human heart for the eventual coming of the Holy Spirit’s baptism which Jesus brought with Him to earth!
Listen once again to John the Baptist in our Gospel reading:
Matt. 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Yes, repentance is critical! It can’t be avoided for it humbles the heart and thus prepares it for the coming of the Holy Spirit and then with His coming we’re filled with heavenly power – power that will enable us to continue the ongoing work of Jesus Christ here on earth!
At this time in Advent we should join with John’s disciples and admit that we’re part of the human race that has brought this world to the state of corruption that it is currently in and then we should:
· Repent for our part in all of this,
· Ask for God’s forgiveness and mercy, and finally
· Ask God to empower us to be a part of the new humanity that He is forming here on earth!
This is the calling of we, the Christian community!
The Advent Season is a penitential season and today we have a chance to repent of those things which we have done which haven’t prepared the way but have, in fact, stalled Christ’s Second Coming.
Please bow your heads and think of the ways in which you have stalled Christ’s coming. . . .
Now let us pray . . .
Amen and Amen!
