{"id":2351,"date":"2017-12-10T12:48:02","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T17:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2351"},"modified":"2017-12-10T12:48:02","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T17:48:02","slug":"second-sunday-of-advent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/second-sunday-of-advent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Sunday of Advent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

2nd<\/sup> Sunday in Advent, Year B<\/a>
\nIsaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
\nPsalm 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14
\n2 Peter 3:8-14
\nMark 1:1-8
\nDecember 10, 2017<\/p>\n

We continue our Advent season this week.\u00a0 You might remember that the word \u201cAdvent\u201d means coming.\u00a0 As such, I spoke last week of how our Church calls us to think about both the first and second of Christ during this season.\u00a0 Today\u2019s readings refer to both.<\/p>\n

Our gospel reading comes from the very beginning<\/em> of Mark\u2019s gospel.\u00a0 Mark was the first gospel to be written.\u00a0 As such, it is brief and to the point.\u00a0 These eight verses we hear today are the entirety of what Mark tells us before Jesus begins his ministry.<\/p>\n

While brief, Mark wants to connect what happens with Jesus to the Israelite past and the prophecies.\u00a0 So, in these few verses, he refers back to what Isaiah prophesized about a messenger that will come before the Messiah to \u201cprepare the way of the Lord<\/em>\u201d and to call the people to \u201cmake straight<\/em>\u201d their paths.<\/em>\u00a0 John the Baptist calls the people to repentance and points them to Jesus as \u201cone mightier than\u201d<\/em> he.<\/p>\n

We know the date in which we celebrate Jesus\u2019 birth (December 25th<\/sup>).\u00a0 It is the same date every year.\u00a0 We know the date and we plan for it.<\/p>\n

Many people do better with deadlines.\u00a0 We are better motivated when we know the date for something is near.\u00a0 While we know the date of Christmas, we must realize that the Jews, while very much expecting a messiah, had no idea what date the Messiah would come.\u00a0 They began \u201clazy\u201d in their waiting and many fell away from the Lord.<\/p>\n

We shouldn\u2019t be surprised by this.\u00a0 Many have come to do the same thing when it comes to the Second Coming of Jesus.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t come for 2,000 years so we don\u2019t worry.\u00a0 We don\u2019t get ready.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s second reading, Peter speaks of the Second Coming when he says, \u201cthe day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus will come at an unknown hour.\u00a0 We should be ready.<\/p>\n

Some might ask why Jesus hasn\u2019t come.\u00a0 It\u2019s been two thousand years.\u00a0 Why so long? \u00a0Peter gives an answer.\u00a0 First, we must remember that God does not operate under the confines of time that we do.\u00a0 For the Lord, a thousand years are like a day.<\/p>\n

More importantly, the Lord is patient<\/em>.\u00a0 The Lord delays<\/em> his coming to give us every chance possible to repent.<\/p>\n

We might think then we have nothing to worry about.\u00a0 We have all the time in the world but we don\u2019t.\u00a0 As I have said before in other homilies, while the second coming hasn\u2019t happened, many people have come and died.\u00a0 We need to be ready.<\/p>\n

The first coming gives us hope.\u00a0 Hope that is so needed.\u00a0 Isaiah writes as a prophet of the Lord in a time when the Babylonian Exile is about to come to an end.\u00a0 He tells Israel \u201cthat her service is at an end<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Isaiah speaks of giving comfort<\/em> and speaking tenderly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Isaiah calls them to \u201cprepare the way of the LORD!<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 This is a call to the Israelites in Isaiah\u2019s day but it is also a call on a much bigger level for the coming of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Isaiah goes on to speak about how, \u201cEvery valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low, the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his coming, God is going to level the playing field.\u00a0 We see it some in Jesus\u2019 first coming when the gospels speak of how the Lord will fill the hungry with good things while \u201cthe rich he has sent away empty<\/em>\u201d (Luke 1:53).<\/p>\n

It is not that God wants to take away earthly riches.\u00a0 God does not hate the rich.\u00a0 God just has a different focus.\u00a0 We might spend much time trying to \u201cget ahead\u201d or to be the best in this world.\u00a0 What does it gain us?<\/p>\n

In Heaven, everything is equal.\u00a0 Just as Isaiah speaks of filling in the valleys and cutting down the mountains, we are all on the same level before God.<\/p>\n

So, what does this say for the priorities we have in our lives?\u00a0 We need food to eat but how much effort do we put towards gourmet meals and having more<\/em> <\/strong>that we need.\u00a0 I know eat too much but I like to think I don\u2019t build my life around it.<\/p>\n

We need a place to live.\u00a0 We need cars to drive but do we buy expensive houses and cars to show off or do we just focus on what we need?<\/p>\n

What about time?\u00a0 We can lead very busy lives.\u00a0 There\u2019s work.\u00a0 There\u2019s family.\u00a0 There\u2019s fun.\u00a0 Where is God in all of this?\u00a0 What comes first?<\/p>\n

God knows we need to work to provide for our families.\u00a0 Is that the only thing that drives us at work or do we try to help others?<\/p>\n

God wants us to provide and care for our families but where is God in this?<\/p>\n

We make time for many things.\u00a0 Do we make time for God?\u00a0 What we choose over God says something about what is most important to us.<\/p>\n

In this season of Advent when we think about the coming of Christ, how important is it to you to have Christ come into your lives not just at Christmas or in the life to come but every day?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2nd Sunday in Advent, Year B Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 Psalm 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14 2 Peter 3:8-14 Mark 1:1-8 December 10, 2017 We continue our Advent season this week.\u00a0 You might remember that the word \u201cAdvent\u201d means coming.\u00a0 As such, I spoke last week of how our Church calls us to think about both the first …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Second Sunday of Advent, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[223,82],"tags":[375,376,149],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-BV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2352,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351\/revisions\/2352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}