As we quickly approach the shortest day of the year, I’m sure we’re all noticing that the sun rises later and sets earlier every day. Perhaps your drive home to or from work is now in the dark, or you have to turn a light on for your morning routine. We notice this seasonal shift and we long for sunlight since need it for our physical and psychological health and wellbeing. Millions of people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, appropriately called SAD
Our souls also long for light. Every one of us confronts some sort of spiritual darkness in our lives: a prayer unanswered, sins we haven’t dared to confess, a feeling of being distant from God. These all bring darkness to our souls.
Take a moment to imagine yourself in a dark room. Now, imagine the candle we will light here on our Advent wreath being carried into that dark room. What happens to the darkness? Even though it’s only a single candle, you can imagine the light scattering the darkness. Darkness flees before the light of this one Advent candle.
This is the promise of Advent. With the symbolism of a candle in a darkened room, Advent is the promise of the dawn breaking over the black horizon. It is the promise that the darkness cannot prevail in the presence of even a small light. It is a season of hope in the midst of the sadness and despair many of us feel in our world today. With the ongoing war in Ukraine reaping so much tragic death and destruction in that country and widespread hardship in so many ways to millions around the world, we look forward to that day promised in today’s first reading when “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,” when “one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.”
This season of Advent that we begin today is a season marked by the growing light of these candles on our wreath as we light one more every Sunday. As we enter into this holy season, we are watchers, searching for these lights, eagerly awaiting the new day that the coming of our Lord promises us. This is a time when our already busy lives are now crowded with extra shopping, decorating and parties. In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus warn us about how focus on these daily activities can blind us to the coming of our Lord. Jesus calls us to be attentive and ready for his coming. Just as we focus our attention on the light of our wreath during this sacred season of Advent, we are called throughout this season to focus our attention on Christ’s light that overcomes our darkness. We are called to allow Jesus to bring his light to dispel our spiritual darkness. We are warned to stay awake to God who draws near.
As you probably know, the word Advent has a Latin root; so many of our church terms are Latin in origin. Adventus in Latin means to await the arrival of someone or something of great importance. That’s what Advent is: we await the arrival of Jesus, our Lord and God. That’s pretty important, isn’t it!?! Most of us think of this season as a time of preparation for the birth of Jesus, which we celebrate at Christmas. And, it’s important to do that since Jesus came to shine the light on our way back to the Father. But, this season actually has a double focus: our Lord’s first coming in Bethlehem and his Second Coming in glory at the end of time. The readings that begin the Advent season today capture that second meaning more than the first.
In our first reading, we hear Isaiah prophesying at a particularly dark time for ancient Israel. It was nearly eight centuries before the coming of the Jesus and God’s chosen people were under attack from the Assyrians. What was to follow would be a long period of war and even exile. To shine a light into this darkness, Isaiah – speaking for God – gave a message of hopefulness to help God’s people keep the faith during their time of affliction. We hear him assure his people that wars will end, the suffering will end. In beautiful, poetic language, Isaiah foretells a time when Jerusalem will be restored, the Temple rebuilt and, as we hear presented so eloquently, “all nations shall stream toward it.” And, with this powerful imagery, Isaiah’s prophecy offers us that double focus – the people would return to their land in the near future, but in the distance, God promises to bring them to the new and heavenly Jerusalem which will be “established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills.” Isaiah gives the people of his time – and us – the hope of heaven, and a Savior who will lead us there. Armed with that great hope, Isaiah encourages his countrymen – and us – when he declares: “Let us walk in the light of the Lord!”
When Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome centuries later – in fact, a few decades after the death and resurrection of our Lord – it was also for them a time of darkness and an uncertain future, much like the ancient Israelites in the time of Isaiah. The courageous followers of Christ were being persecuted by both their fellow Jews and the Romans. Paul was well aware of this; after all, he himself had once hunted them down. Like Isaiah, Paul points to a brighter future for those who endure the cross: they will one day wear the crown of righteousness, he assures them. He encourages the Christians in Rome to “throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” because “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” The same can be said for us today.
In today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, we hear from Jesus at a time when he is also facing great suffering and an uncertain fate. This passage comes from the Wednesday before Good Friday when he will be betrayed and abandoned, put on trial, sentenced to die and led out to the cross. Did he know the hour of his passing, the means by which it would occur, and by whose hand the deed would be committed? There is endless debate among scripture scholars and we’ll let it to them to struggle with that question. Regardless of whether he did or not, we do not usually have such a clear forewarning. For most of us, it will be as we hear Jesus declare in today’s Gospel that “you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” Therefore, Jesus admonishes all of us to be awake and alert, preparing for the end of our lives, the end of the world and his second coming in glory. We must learn from those in Scripture and throughout history who did nothing to prepare themselves. As we hear in today’s Gospel, all those in the time of Noah who did not pay attention to God “did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.” It was only Noah and his faithful family who were saved because they had paid attention to God and they were ready.
In just a few minutes, we will recite the Creed, a summary proclamation of our faith. As we do every Sunday, we will profess that we believe in God who “for us men and our salvation came down from heaven and, by the Holy Spirit, was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” That’s the first coming that we will celebrate at Christmas. We go on to profess that “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.” As we begin, once again, this sacred season of Advent, our readings direct our attention to both the first and last coming of God’s son into our midst.
Let us use this Advent season wisely, not only to prepare for the coming of Christmas with gifts, lights and parties, but with prayer and a deep longing for God, to prepare for the coming of Christ at the end of our lives and the end of time. Rather than being seduced by the darkness of this world, let us walk in the light of Christ! And, let us be vigilant and joyful, for he lightens our way as he leads us to the mountain of the Lord’s house – that is, heaven!