Returning Home
Dec. 10: Second Sunday of Advent
Today’s first reading and psalm are reversed chronologically, with the latter taking place during the Babylonian Exile, and the former post-exile. Both are about returning to Israel. The second reading is also about returning—the return of Jesus.
The Gospel, though, is about Jesus coming the first time. No flashbacks here. Mark just gets right to the story—
Reading 1
IS 40:1-5, 9-11
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every 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. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
While we1 obviously interpret this passage as a reference to John the Baptist announcing the coming of Jesus, that wasn’t really Isaiah’s intention.
He’s talking about the Babylonian exiles returning to Israel. They’re not going to be taking the long way around, like Moses did after the Exodus. They’re taking the straightest path possible, thanks to God, and ignoring the usual routes taken by gentiles from Mesopotamia to Israel.
They’ve expiated their sins, and so God rewards them now with return to their homeland.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
This was written during the Babylonian Exile, looking forward to the time described by Isaiah above. The people wait patiently for God to enact His salvation.
Reading 2
Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.
Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.
The patience the exiled Israelites showed was rewarded. Peter advises us to be patient, as well. We don’t know exactly when Jesus will fulfill His promise to return, just like those in exile didn’t know when they would return.
But patience is happening both ways. God is being patient with us, as well. He wants to give us time to repent.
Alleluia
LK 3:4, 6
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
All flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all refer to the passage from Isaiah.2 It’s not a small thing to tie Jesus in to the prophesies of the Old Testament. They all want you to know he’s the Messiah that was promised, although in an unexpected way.
Gospel
MK 1:1-8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Repenting our sins doesn’t mean feeling bad for what we’ve done. It means repairing our relationship with God. It also means turning away from all that is contrary to our own good and embracing the infinitely worthy One who gives us a share in his Spirit.
We’re called on to prepare the way of the Lord into our hearts, not for His good, but our own. That’s as true for us today as it was for the ancient Israelites.
Including Mark, as we’re about to see in today’s Gospel.