Second Sunday of Advent, December 10, 2023 – Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8

There’s a commercial on TV these days that’s both a wonderful commercial and a very bad commercial. It’s an advertisement for a brand of liquor. And, in the commercial, a nice young man in his early twenties talks briefly right to the camera. At the end, he toasts us with his glass of alcohol, saying, “What a great time to be alive.” The problem with the commercial is that he is so engaging, and the images are so attractive that you don’t pay very close attention to what brand he’s advertising, which is deadly for a commercial. Name recognition is the most important. And the only real purpose of a television commercial is that, when it’s over, the name of the product stays in your head. I can't remember what he’s advertising and, yeah, sometimes I forget stuff. But every time I watch it, I can’t see or hear the name anywhere. It is a little too subtle. But it’s a great commercial because it draws you in. But I imagine that many of you, if you saw that commercial, would say, “Yeah, this is a great time to be alive. There’s great violence and great anger, great dishonesty and great greed, and great lust. That’s how great it is to be alive.” But most of us here in Church this morning have spent between four and eight decades already. We view the world from one perspective. This is a young man just starting out in life and he is looking forward to the challenges that life brings. It’s stimulating, it’s exciting, it’s great. 

A couple of weeks ago, very dear friends of mine buried their son. He developed that kind of depression that happens to certain young people beginning in their very late teens, early twenties and lived with for a score of years and finally couldn’t take it anymore and took his own life. This is a terrible time for my friends. A terrible time that will go on for a long time because we just are not prepared to have our children die before we do. This afternoon I am baptizing two babies who are cousins. This is an event of tremendous joy in these families. Tremendous joy. Because new life always brings joy, but two kids together is double the joy.

It really depends on where you are in your life at any given moment what kind of time it is for you. That passage from the Book of Koheleth, in the Old Testament, says it so well. “A time to live ,a time to die. A time to feast, a time to fast. A time for peace, a time for war. And so on and so forth. Each of those are unique times.

And that’s what we have in today’s three readings. Each one of them is a unique time in history. We wouldn't know what some of those times are. For example, in the First Reading, this is what’s just happened. The Israelite people, for almost a hundred years, were slaves in a country called Babylon. Their own country of Palestine was destroyed, and the temple in Jerusalem was burned down. But now, a very great King, Cyrus, who was a Persian, has conquered the Babylonians and he’s going to send back, to their own country, all of the slaves and captives that were taken by the Babylonians. So, all of a sudden, the Jewish people are going to be able to go back home. But now that they are free, they are not sure whether they want to go back. It’s hard work to rebuild your houses and to rebuild your civilization. And they’re excited, but they’re fearful. And the man who wrote the Book of Isaiah, who just used the nickname Isaiah, is trying to get them enthusiastic enough to start the hard task of going home. A singular moment in history that will never come again. 

In today’s Second Reading, from 2nd Peter, there’s something else going on. It wasn't really written by the apostle, Peter. The apostle, Peter, was executed by the Emperor, Nero, in the year 65. This letter wasn’t written until the year 125. A long, long time afterward. But somebody else took Peter’s name because there were problems in the church just like the problems that Peter faced. The problem was this. The Church was growing very, very rapidly, but in secret because the Roman Empire did not trust the Christians. And so, there were little groups of Christians here and there, almost in hiding. And, since they did not have the ability to talk to themselves, one to another, all the time, they were beginning to get confused about what Catholics believe. And wrong ideas were being circulated in the church. And so, two problems were happening. One inside the church and one outside.

Inside the church, there was confusion and being mixed up about what it means to be a Catholic. Outside the church there was the danger of persecution from the Roman Emperors. And so, the people of 125 A.D. were fearful people who were not able to do the job of living their lives as Christians and telling other people about Jesus.

In the Gospel, what do we have? What’s the singular moment? The very first line tells you. “This is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus, the Son of God.” Beginnings are always exciting. And so, the first guy we meet is this guy, John the Baptist. There’s a painting of John the Baptist and Jesus on the back wall, where the baptismal font is, and that painting was done by one of our parishioners and given to us. John the Baptist comes saying, “Because this is a new beginning,  you’ve gotta reform your lives.” What he meant was change your attitude. Get back to basics. Remember stuff. 

Now, I told you that the Second Reading had two important things in it. One was an important teaching of the church; the other was an important moral teaching. The first one is God’s time is not like our time. God’s time is not like our time. So, even though there are all of these unique moments in history that we just talked about, the same God was present to each one of them. And each one of the readings tells us that, in that moment of crisis, God was coming. Isaiah says to the people going home, “Don’t worry, God is going to journey with you.” St. Peter says to the frightened Christians, “Don’t worry, our Savior is coming.” St. John the Baptist says to the people, ”It’s a hard job to repent but don’t worry, somebody mightier is coming.” God is always on the point of coming because time is always the same for God, no matter what time is like for us.

The other important point is what he says. “So, then,” he says, “what sort of people should you be?” They already know the answer to the question because it’s a very simple answer. You should be people who are righteous and devoted. Righteous and devoted. It’s not brain surgery.  Look at you and me. Ever since we were seven years old and were being taught for our first confession, we’ve known what it means to be righteous. Ahh, sometimes we don’t want to be righteous, but we’ve always known what it means to be righteous. And since we were seven years old and being taught for our first Holy Communion, we know what it means to be devoted. It’s not brain surgery.

Each of us, on any given day, can be at a unique, and perhaps life changing, moment in our lives. The moment when we decide to sell our house and move somewhere else. The moment when our children go off to college. The moment when the doctor gives us concerning news. All of these things are unique moments. But the same God is always on the point of coming to that unique moment. And all we need to do in response is to be people who are righteous and devoted.