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Mass Readings
Reading 1 – Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm – Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
Reading 2 – 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Gospel – Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
Happy first Sunday of Advent!
We hear in the first reading today, “The days are coming, says the Lord…”, Jeremiah 33:14. Scholars tell us that Jeremiah preached over 600 years before Jesus was born, and yet this warning from Jeremiah is more relevant for the Christian today than perhaps at any other time in history. You see, those early Christian communities that began to form not long after the Resurrection believed that Jesus would return during their lifetime in all his glory as Jesus Himself described in today’s Gospel, Luke 21:25-28, and 34-36. After a little time passed, they began to realize that things will unfold in God’s time – not their time. So the focus gradually shifts away from the imminent coming of Jesus to living lives of discipleship in an unbelieving world.
I think an unintended consequence of this shift is that Christians might take for granted Jesus’ return. In fact, it almost becomes academic. Yes, Jesus will come at some point way out there in the future – just not today. That thinking makes us too vulnerable to the world around us. Don’t get me wrong, we all need to engage the world around us, but for the disciple, the world around us, especially consumerism, presents unique challenges. The focus of consumerism is on me and my things. Right? We convince ourselves we deserve that new gadget or new device or new car. The great tragedy is that we get so caught up in all that stuff that can never fulfill us that many of us fail to see Jesus trying to come to us right now.
Take the innkeeper in the Nativity story, for example. In that story, the whole Roman world is on the move to be counted in the census ordered by Caesar Augustus. To be counted, you had to go to your hometown. The problem was that Mary wasn’t just pregnant – she was very pregnant! Nonetheless, they made the journey, as Scripture says, from Nazareth to Bethlehem. By the time they arrived, they couldn’t find a place to stay. They knock on an innkeeper’s door who tells them there is no room at the inn, but he offers them a place in the stables.
Now let’s stop for a minute and look at this story from the eyes of the innkeeper. Here’s a guy just going about his business. By the time Joseph knocks on his door, I’m sure the innkeeper was exhausted. Remember, the whole Roman world is on the move. His place was packed. Maybe he was annoyed at the way some of his customers had behaved earlier. Maybe he lost business because he hadn’t ordered enough food and wine. Maybe he was frustrated because his son hadn’t taken out the trash. So here at the end of the day he’s looking forward to his warm, comfy bed when someone else knocks on his door. That knock on the door probably grated on him like fingernails scratching a chalkboard. You can almost hear him bark out as he answers the door, “No, of course we don’t have a room!”
Can you imagine just for a second what would have happened if that innkeeper had recognized the Messiah knocking on his door through other people – through Mary and Joseph? Why, I bet he would have pulled the Holy Family inside and perhaps even offered his own room so that Mary could bring Jesus into the world in a comfortable bed. That inn would have been the most celebrated in all history! Today there would probably be a huge church marking the spot and we would have known the name of our anonymous innkeeper. If only he’d recognized the opportunity.
I wonder how many times in my own life I might have missed the opportunity to see Jesus in the people around me, like in the eyes of that homeless guy that I tried not make eye contact with on my way to work. Or maybe, maybe he tries to come to us through the immigrants we might catch a glimpse of on a cable news program or through that person we know who leads an alternative lifestyle. Too often, I think, we’re quick to judge other people – to blame them for their own problems or the problems of our society – that we fail to recognize the possibility that Jesus might be trying to reach out to us through one of them.
Why does Jesus do that? Why does he come to us through other people? I believe that Jesus loves us so much that He constantly pursues us – He’s constantly knocking on our doors.
But here’s the trick. We have to open the door. Like that innkeeper, we have the power to decide whether or not to open or close the door. That’s what free will is all about. You see, God pursues us, but He will not force Himself on anybody. We have the freedom to act. And when we open the door, we invite God’s saving grace into our lives.
I think this season of Advent, this time of preparation that the Church sets aside for us, is an excellent opportunity to pause and to ask ourselves if we are open to the possibility of seeing Jesus coming to us this Christmas, perhaps through the people around us.
Homework! There are two things I think we can work on this week. Nourished by Christ in the Eucharist and in the Word proclaimed, let’s reflect on these two questions:
- First, how do I treat other people? Can I see Jesus in the people I encounter?
- Second, what is one thing I can do this Advent to prepare myself for Christ’s coming at Christmas? For example, could I go to mass every weekend? Could I receive the Eucharist? Could I go to confession?
I think by doing our homework we’ll be more aware of Jesus trying to reach us through other people, that we recognize the knock on our doors so that we might recognize the opportunity to have an encounter with Jesus Christ, an encounter that leads to transformation, transformation that leads to salvation.
Does that make sense? Are you going to do your homework? Good! May each of us this Advent season come to know the grace and peace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. +Amen!