Homily for 1 Advent A, Nov. 28, 2010

My brothers and sisters, we are preparing to celebrate Messiah’s anniversary of birth, but more deeply we are looking forward to His return.

Isaiah wrote the verses of our first reading about 740 BC; it was a time when spirits were low in Judah. His message is that God will launch a new era in which God will actually dwell on earth. The prophet describes this as a time when all peoples will make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship God and to learn the way of virtue. In other words, the city will be the source of “instruction” in ethical living. It also will be an age of peace and plenty: warfare being a thing of the past and agriculture will prosper.

In the passages leading up to our reading today, Paul tells us that love is the one thing we Christians “owe” others (Christians and non-Christians). This sums up the obligations of the Christian in life and Christian ethics. Yet as Christians, love is part of the deal rather than an obligation, and can never be completely discharged. Love among Christians is something special: it is mutual.

Now Paul tells us another reason ethical behavior is important for Christians. We know that we are living both in an age that is after the first coming of the Messiah and before the second: an in-between time. “Let us live,” he says, as if the Day of the Lord is already here, “honorably,” not in ways that harm ourselves and our neighbors.

From Matthew we hear Jesus admonition to be Prepared! The end will come as a surprise. The situation will be like that before the Flood: people were preoccupied with earthly matters. When the Flood came, a small number “entered the ark” and were saved, but many drowned. The dawn of the new era will also be like this; some will be taken in and others will be left behind.

Our gospel today is one that many Christians have misused to support the notion of a literal disappearance of the faithful. Have you seen those bumper stickers that read “Warning - in case of rapture - this vehicle will be driver less”? As much as I loved seeing “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” last Monday, the idea that we will be magically taken up to heaven is not worthy of our belief. This literal and sensationalistic understanding of the Gospel is way off the mark. We are being called to be ready to meet our maker at any moment - not to be ready for magical transportation.

We share these readings today because we are starting a new liturgical year, or calendar. We are now in Year A of the Lectionary cycle in which we will hear mostly from the gospel of Matthew. We are also preparing for our annual celebration of the Messiah’s birth. However, we do so keeping in mind the unpredictable future in which Christ will come again.

Let us begin our preparations, begin our anticipation. Soon we will revel again in the coming of the Lord . . . still looking forward to his return. We plan for the near future, four weeks from now, but look to the long term and the Second Coming.