The first reading: Is 40:1-5, 9-11 explained: Isaiah consoles the Jews in exile in Babylon, giving them Yahweh’s assurance that their 60 years of Babylonian captivity will end soon and that they will be going home as free people. He assures them that they will be brought back to Israel by the power of God. Isaiah is not shy about saying that the Exile was a punishment for sin. But Israel’s sins are forgiven now, and the exile is over. Isaiah wants the people to consider their return journey as their second Exodus, with Yahweh once more their loving Father and faithful Shepherd. He describes God’s marvelous love for the undeserving.  If Yahweh is now their Redeemer rather than their punisher, then their relationship with Yahweh also has to change.   Isaiah instructs the exiles that they are to return home in a   grand religious procession, with God leading them. To pave the way for this procession, valleys and mountains are to be leveled, and a highway is to be created in the wilderness. God will lead them to Judah and, within Judah, to the city of Jerusalem and, within Jerusalem, to Zion, the hill where their Temple had stood. Seeing the procession in his mind, the prophet exclaims with joy, “Here comes your God with power!” Then he presents the tender picture of God leading the exiles as a shepherd  cradles lambs. 

Isaiah originally spoke these words in the 6th century BC.  On one level they were fulfilled when Persia conquered Babylon, and those who had been exiled from Judah to Babylon were allowed to return home.  God first accomplished the salvation proclaimed by Isaiah by leading the exiles back from Babylon.  However, on a deeper level this word foretold the coming of Jesus.  The words of Isaiah about the “voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths,’” were a prediction of John the Baptist.  He was calling upon people to prepare for the coming of the Lord.  And the Lord was Jesus who brought about true liberation from the bondage of sin for all mankind.  It is because of this deeper meaning of the prophet’s words that this reading has been chosen for Advent. 

SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homilies / Used with permission

Second Reading, 2 Peter 3:8-14 explained:Traditionally attributed to Simon Peter, this letter was probably written c. 50 or 60 years after the apostles death (ca. 110-120 C.E.) (“The Second Epistle of Peter”, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary). Taken from the second letter of Peter, this reading makes it clear that the salvation promised by Isaiah was not completely accomplished even by the first coming of Jesus.  It is only when Jesus comes again at the end of time that Isaiah’s words will be entirely fulfilled. Hence, Peter warns against false teachers who have given up any expectation of   Christ’s return because of its long delay. As the years rolled by, non-Christians began ridiculing those Christians who still expected Christ’s second coming. A few Christians, in fact, began to believe that it would never happen. They laughed at what they thought was error and delusion.  So, Peter reminds them that even though the Second Coming seems to be delayed, Christ will indeed come as promised.   Peter also reminds them that God doesn’t reckon time the way we do since, to Him “one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day”(Psalm 90). In other words, the risen Lord is eternal and infinite and so is not restricted or measured by time in fulfilling promises.Besides, God “is patient” with us, giving us more time to repent of our sins and renew our lives. The longer we are allowed to wait for Christ’s Second coming the more people will have an opportunity to be converted and take part in God’s glory. So, Peter assures his people that Christ’s promise will be fulfilled. That is why we say in the Nicene Creed, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His Kingdom will have no end.” We, then, are expected to wait, leading lives of holiness and godliness.We should be holy in conduct and devotion, being “eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.”

SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homilies / Used with permission

Malachi’s view of the mission of the Messiah: “I send my messenger before you and he will prepare your road for you” Mark cites Isaiah as his source for the whole of the quotation with which his Gospel opens. This first sentence appeared originally in the prophecy of Malachi (Malachi 3:1). In its original context, it was a threat and warning from God to the Temple priests.  In those days, the priests were living lazy lives and were failing in their duty by offering the blemished and the second-best as sacrifices to Yahweh. Hence, the messenger was to cleanse and purify the worship of the Temple before the Anointed One of God emerged upon the earth. Coupled with Isaiah’s “voice crying in the wilderness,” however, the prophecy becomes an invitation to all Israel to prepare for the coming of the Messiah whom John would announce. So,  Malachi anticipates the mission of John the Baptist as one of purification.  John gives the Jews some down-to-earth advice on changing their lives for the better. He wants them (and us as well), to fill in the valleys of prejudice, level the mountains of pride, and straighten out the crooked paths of injustice. Preparing a way for God in our hearts is a time-consuming and costly business. It demands our listening to what God is saying to us and then making changes in our behavior. Welcoming God also involves removing all blockages and obstacles which keep Him from coming close to us. “Although Mark attributes the prophecy to Isaiah, the text is a combination of Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3; and Exodus 23:20 … this prophecy of Deutero-Isaiah concerning the end of the Babylonian exile is here applied to the coming of Jesus; John the Baptist is to prepare the way for him” (New American Bible footnotes).

Repent and return to the Lord –the priorities set by John: There are two traditions from which John’s baptism could be derived:  One is the ritual washings by which people cleansed themselves of spiritual impurity. Ritual bathing was especially important in the Qumran community with which John may have had some connection.  The other tradition is proselyte baptism of Gentile converts to Judaism; an initiatory cleansing rite performed by immersion. It seems likely that John borrows from both traditions (ritual washings and proselyte baptism) but establishes his own baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins as a prepartation for the coming Messiah.  John recommended a baptism of repentance in the river Jordan to the Jews who were familiar with ritual and symbolic washings (Lv.11-15).  The Jews insisted that when a male Gentile became a Jew, he had to do three things: i) accept circumcision as the mark of the covenant people; ii) offer sacrifice because he stood in need of atonement, and iii) undergo baptism by immersion in water, which symbolized his cleansing from all pollution. The most amazing thing about John’s baptism was that he, a Jew, was asking fellow-Jews to submit to that which only a Gentile was supposed to need. John, a prophet prompted by the Hoy Spirit, was convinced of the truth that even the chosen people needed true repentance and renewal of life to receive their long-awaited Messiah. We tend to think of repentance as feeling guilty about our sins, but it is more—much more. The Greek word, metanoia, means a change of mind or direction. It is related to the Hebrew word tesubah, used by prophets to call Israel to abandon its sinful ways and to return to God. Both words (metanoia and tesubah) imply “a total change of spiritual direction.” The baptism of a Gentile was accompanied by a confession made to three different recipients as a sign of repentance for sin.  (i) A man must make confession to himself because the first step in repentance is to admit his sin to himself.   (ii) He must make confession to those whom he has wronged.  This involves humiliation and is a test of real repentance since there can be no forgiveness without humiliation.   (iii) He must make confession to God because it is when a man says, “I have sinned,” that God gets the chance to say, “I forgive.”  

John’s message calls us also to confront and confess our sins; to turn away from them in sincere repentance; to receive God’s forgiveness; and most importantly, to look to Jesus. Do we need to receive God’s forgiveness? There are basically three reasons why we fail to receive forgiveness. First,  we fail to recognize as sin what we have done or failecd to do; second, we recognize the sin but do not repent of it, and third is that we ourselves fail to forgive thos who hae injured us.  Jesus was very explicit about this third failure, saying, “For if you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions”  (Mt 6:14-15). Is there someone we need to forgive today? Let us not allow what others have done to us destroy the rest of our life. We can’t be forgiven unless we forgive. Let ask God to help us to let go of that bitterness and allow Him to work healing in our life. Perhaps we need to draw closer to Him. Whe we do, our spiritual eyesight will grow stronger and, in His Love for us we will recognize the sins to which we were blind but now see, and so repent of them, turning to  the one we have offended and making reparation, and to God to ask for forgiveness. Like the prodigal son’s father, God will run to meet us. He will throw His arms around us and He will forgive us and restore us. He will receive us as His sons and daughters. Let us draw close to Him today, and He will draw close to us.

The effectiveness of John’s ministry: John’s ministry was effective primarily because his message was his life:  he lived what he preached. He was a man from the desert. In its solitude, he had heard the voice of God, and, hence, he had the courage of his convictions. His camel’s hair garment and leather belt resembled those of Elijah and other great prophets of Israel. It is coarse, woven from the belly hair of a camel—more like our burlap than anything else.  His food, too, was very simple:  wild locusts and wild honey. Dried locusts are fried and dipped in spices for eating. The “wild honey” refers to the fruit harvested from the date palms that grow abundantly in the saline soils around Jericho and south to the Dead Sea. The dates would give him the energy needed to stand in the current and welcome men and women into the river where he would dip them under the water. The Israelites had not had a prophet for four hundred years, and the people were waiting expectantly for one.  John’s message was effective also because he was completely humble.   His role was to serve Jesus and to serve the people. “He must increase, I must decrease,” he says elsewhere (Jn 3:30). That is why he publicly confessed that he was not fit to be a slave before the Messiah. He frankly admitted that he was the Messiah’s humble and obedient messenger, preparing a straight way for the Messiah in the hearts and lives of the Jews. His message combined three Scriptural passages familiar to the Jews, namely, Ex  23:20, Mal 3:1 and Is 40:3. That is why John’s influence continued to live on after his death.  When the apostle Paul went to Ephesus nearly 30 years later, he found a group of John’s disciples (Acts 19:1-7).

SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homilies / Used with permission