2nd Advent = Swimming with the current or against it?

Two people were walking over a bridge one day. One noticed some ducks in the river and remarked to the other: “Wow, they are really moving fast!” “Because they are swimming downstream with the current.” said the other.

As a priest, people will me ask for direction; in what way do they need to go, what do they need to do; “Should I do this?” “Should I do that?” “Go here or go there?” “Does God want me to do this or that?” “Will God get angry to i choose this and not that?”

We will have our doubts, our uncertainty...it’s part of our human condition, many also want total clarity, but we don’t get that either. We want someone to tell us we are okay, we want someone to tell us the answer. We want certainty.  We get frustrated when we do not get that.  Our Anxiety levels grow.

“A disciple once complained, ‘You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us’”. Said the master, ‘How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and chewed it before giving it to you?”

The meaning of Sin and repentance in the time of John the Baptist and Jesus was not about following the law per se. That is our western, Roman, Anglo-Saxon approach which we have thrust upon the world.  Sin in their context was about missing the mark. We want to go in one direction, but our aim is off. We get off course. We aim wrong because our thinking is wrong, our hearts off kilter, our minds are not focussed. We are distracted.

“Repentance” means to change direction; to get back on course. When we repent; we understand where are supposed to be going, we have some sense of how we get there, and we realize we are not going that way and so we change the direction of our lives. We change our minds and our hearts, the way we think and act, so as to be able to hit our target, so to be able to do what will create the good in this world.

Repentance isn’t something that is meant to be scary, it is about more about evolution and transformation; it is about maturing.

John the Baptist prepares people for Jesus by getting them to think about the direction of their lives. He wants them to begin to open themselves to a new way, or actually the Original way to walk with God. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, with Jesus. Jesus will open it up for us! Our choice is to walk in that direction.

Beautiful readings from Isaiah. It speaks of a wisdom, a divine wisdom, that will bring true peace, bring true reality. It is a wisdom that unites, that brings a clarity. It is a wisdom that helps to build the Kingdom of heaven here on earth.  We read this and we can think of Jesus, as a descendent of Jesse, the father of David. He is this wisdom, he is the one to build up the Kingdom of Heaven.  This is true. 

Yet, we who are baptized, we are baptized into Christ! We are the shoots of Jesse as well. This prophecy of Isiah speaks to our own lives.  We are baptized into mission. The direction of all of our lives is about building up the kingdom of Heaven here on earth. The goal of our lives is to help build up the kingdom of heaven here on earth. It is about spreading the wisdom of God.  Not with force, coercion, manipulation, nor rigid enforcement of rules and regulations, but with love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness and generosity, with giving of ourselves. It is through our deeds that reflect the inner good.

This is what God wants. This is the Will of the Father.

Now, God is NOT a micromanager. God has given us the capacity to choose and think for ourselves. God does guide us to accomplish the will in the context of our own lives. The Father sends the Holy Spirit, in Christ, to inform us, inspire us, to motivate us, encourage us, and sometimes to kick us in the butt, so that we can grow as his children and accomplish our mission.

Jesus is that wisdom of God made incarnate, made flesh and bone.  Jesus shows that we too are created to incarnate the divine wisdom, to make it present in this world, and thus make this world God’s kingdom.  

Jesus also reveals the lies of this world, the lie that force and power and control are good; the lie that it’s all about “my” choices, “my” rights. Lies that ultimately bring death. The bad choices that go against the current of the divine will.  

Jesus reveals the means to discern our way, to see where we need to go, where we want to go, and how to get back onto the path. We celebrate this and remember this in each and every Eucharist.

Advent, this beautiful time of preparation, centers us again on Jesus Christ.  And our mission.   Our actions, our choices...are they about creating life? Will our choices help lift people up? Will they bear fruit for others, and thus lift us up as well. Do we live life swimming with the current or against it?