People, Look East – Jesus is Coming!

Our first reading is from the Book of Baruch.  Baruch was Jeremiah’s scribe.  Jeremiah prophesized at the time of the Babylonian exile.  Jerusalem had been destroyed and her children taken off to Babylon.  Why did Nebuchadnezzar do that!  Why did he separate the children from their parents?  I think so that he could reform them – form them again as worshippers of Baal. That’s a tactic that has been used many times in revolutions.

If your children are here with you today – I’d like you to look at them. 

If they are not with you, I’d like you to picture them.

If you are an elder, I’d like you to picture your grandchildren.

Say their names.

This is the generation for which we pray.  The culture today seeks to turn them against God and lead them away, but we still have them! 

The prophet is speaking words of hope and encouragement to Jerusalem and to us.  Look to the east.  Your children are returning.  God is starting something new with you.  Let’s begin again.  Let’s make things better – level the mountains – fill in the gorges – Let Israel be at peace in the glory of God. Let the children be raised to know, love and serve the one true God.

To fulfill that promise – God did begin something new and we will celebrate that on Monday – the Immaculate Conception.  God prepared to bring his Son into the world – as a second Adam, to reset and start over again -- to redeem the world and rebuild it into the Kingdom of God.  To do that, he prepared the way by making it possible for Mary – the mother of Jesus and thereby the Mother of God – to be conceived sinless and to remain sinless for her life.  In Mary, that temple of pure goodness, Jesus would be conceived by the Holy Spirit. 

In Baruch – we are told to look to the East. 

Looking to the east calls us to change.  Today can be better than yesterday.  We don’t have to step into those same traps and pitfalls again.  Today is a new day.

John the Baptist calls us in the Gospel to a new day as well.  He points metaphorically to the east, toward the rising sun where a new day is dawning.

He points to the Son of God – who came to make all things new again.

• Make straight his paths
• Fill the valleys
• Make low the mountains and hills
• Smooth out the rough spots

Whatever is in the way of welcoming Jesus more fully into our heart – now is the time to fix it! 

Now is the time for a change of heart – a metanoia – a turning around:

• From darkness to the light
• From gloom to joy
• From violence to peace
• From desperation to anticipation
• From sin and death to new life in Christ.

Today, John the Baptist calls us to prepare for Jesus to come more fully come into our life this Christmas. 

We know that Jesus came into the world – a couple thousand years ago years ago – historical fact.  It’s History.

St. Luke, (a companion of St. Paul) the only evangelist to write about the birth of Jesus is believed to have personally interviewed eyewitnesses who knew firsthand about the birth of Jesus.  Look at the detail in this gospel passage.  Luke’s words can be trusted.

Scripture also tells us that Jesus will come again – at the end of time.  At the ascension of Jesus, the disciples were standing looking up into the sky when they heard: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way…” (Acts 1:11, also written by St. Luke.) Jesus will return in majesty to heal every hurt and right every wrong.

But there is another way that Jesus comes to us. St. Bernard writes about this.

He wrote:

• In his first coming he was seen on earth, dwelling among men.
• In his final coming, all flesh will see the salvation of our God and they will look upon him whom they pierced.
• But the intermediate coming of Jesus comes between the first and he final.

The intermediate coming is a hidden one.  It is a mystery – but somehow Jesus comes to us – each one of us.  He comes into our heart with spirit and power. 

St. Paul tells us that God has begun a good work in us.

He longs to continue it and bring it to completion.

He wants us to love and for that love to increase more and more.

It is his plan for us, that we be blessed with abundant love – a full measure, pouring over and into the lives of those around us.

He wants us to be seekers of knowledge.  When we seek knowledge – real knowledge, which is truth – we find God.

He wants us to be perceptive and to discern what is of value.

How do we decide what is worthy of our time?

What we view or read or listen to, how we spend our time, what causes we support, these are conscious decisions that we are called to make in the light of our faith.

How we respond to situations in our life where we offend others or they offend us, deciding what we will do and what we won’t, these are the valleys, mountains and hills, and the rough spots and curves.

John the Baptist calls us to pursue what is right in those situations. 

Then we will be pure and blameless and righteous.

Our lives will be worthy of the name – Christian.

Today, as we continue our journey through Advent, we look to the east and we look to John the Baptist.   

With hope-filled longing, we prepare and wait.

Let’s consider what needs purification in our lives as Christians?

Think about how Jesus is present in our life today.

          When are the times that we feel closest to Jesus?

          Who are the people in whose company we feel the presence of Jesus?

          When are we able to bring the presence of Jesus to someone else?

When we focus on those things, we won’t be overtaken by the commercialism that has become the secular Christmas season.

By looking to the east – we will remember Advent.

Strengthened by our gathering here today and fed by the Eucharist that we share, let’s be about the work of Advent. 

People look east. Jesus is coming