Homily: 1st Sunday of Advent – Cycle B
It’s no secret that we celebrate a lot
of funerals here at All Saints. As the
number of funerals that I’ve celebrated continues to grow, I’m growing in my
understanding of how, as a priest, I can best care for the spiritual and
emotional needs of the family who is grieving the loss of a loved one. Being present with them while their loved one
is dying is, of course, important. Meeting
with them to pray with them, to let them tell the story of their loved one, and
to help them plan the funeral Mass after their loved one has died is also very
important. What I have observed,
however, is that the “behind the scenes” work of preparing for the funeral Mass
is a great work of spiritual and emotional care for those in grief, as well.
It seems to me that, when a family
arrives at the door of the church with the body of their loved one, if they
find everything prepared and that we have been waiting for their arrival, they
will be comforted: comforted because they know that they have been cared
for. This sign of devotedness, I would
argue, is some of the best spiritual and emotional care that I can provide.
In ancient times, when the head of a
household would go on a journey, he would measure the level of devotedness of
his household servants by how ready they were to receive him when he returned
home. If he returned and found the house
in order and his servants ready to welcome him, he would know of their
devotedness. If he returned, however,
and found the house in disorder and his servants scrambling to make
preparations to receive him (or, worse yet, ignoring the fact of his return
altogether), he would know of their lack of devotedness. In that culture, it would have been a sign of
great disrespect to be unprepared to welcome an expected traveler.
Jesus, therefore, uses this example to
admonish his disciples about his second coming.
In a sense, he is saying to them: “It’s true, I'm going; but stay alert
because I'll be back and I'll measure your devotedness to me by how ready you
are to receive me.” So strong is his admonition
that he specifies that there will be no part of the night that will be “off-limits”
for his return and so they should not let down their guard for one moment. In this we should hear echoes of the parable
of the wise and foolish virgins. Even
though they all fell asleep as they awaited the bridegroom’s return, only the
wise virgins prepared for it and brought extra oil. When they bridegroom returned and they were
ready to receive him, they were welcomed into the feast; for they had shown him
their devotedness. The foolish virgins,
who had to run off to buy more oil, had proven their lack of devotion and so
were left outside and shunned by the bridegroom: so unloved had he felt by them
that he even refused to acknowledge that he knew them.
Thus, as we begin this Advent season,
we are renewing this admonition for ourselves.
First and foremost, we are reminding ourselves that our master—the head
of the household, the bridegroom—is away and we are awaiting his return. Then, we are reminding ourselves that, if we
are truly devoted to him, we must not let our guard down and begin to forget
about our preparations, even if it seems like he is long-delayed in his coming. Because the fact of the matter remains that
he could come at any time; and that, in spite of the fact that God is, indeed, “rich
in mercy”, he will not have mercy on those who had been forewarned so clearly
through these parables.
And so, the question comes to us: “Are
we so devoted to Jesus as to be ready to receive him when he returns?” In other words, are we actively preparing and
watching for his return? or are we going about our own business, ignoring the
fact that he could return today? If the answer
is “yes, I am actively preparing and watching for his return”, then great! Keep up the good work! If the answer is “well… not so much”, or,
flat out, “no”, then here is your wakeup call!
Hopefully,
if you fall into this latter category (which, I would guess, most of us do), you
feel some anxiety about it. If so, then
that’s a good sign! It’s a sign that you
have devotion to Jesus, even though you might be failing at demonstrating it
right now. In fact, even if you do feel
like you are actively preparing and watching for Jesus’ return, you should feel
some anxiety, also; because we all know that, no matter how much you prepare to
receive someone you care for, you’re always a little anxious that it isn’t
going to be good enough, right? If you
have no anxiety at all, however, it shows that you are either presumptuous (kind
of like the foolish virgins) or that you really don’t care at all (which, then,
begs the question: what you’re doing here?).
I’m going to continue, however, under the assumption that all of us here
do have a devotion to Jesus at some level, but that we are less than prepared
to receive him if he should come today.
If that is the case, then I think that the prophet Isaiah gives us a
good “stepping-off point” to begin our Advent.
Isaiah was frustrated that his people
had wandered far away from the Lord, and so he cries out to God and asks him to
come and fix it all! Now, although this
comes from a place of frustration, it also expresses a great faith: that the
Lord is powerful enough to fix even this, their greatest mess! Isaiah expresses his desire that, when the
Lord comes, he would find his people busy about his work and mindful of him—that
is, showing a devotedness to him by being prepared for his coming. Isaiah knows, however, that they aren’t, but
he calls on the Lord, anyway. In other
words, he doesn't panic and try to get everything fixed up by himself before
the Lord comes, but rather he sends a note to say: "Hey, I know you're on
your way, but the place is a mess and it may not get fixed up before you get
here. In fact, you're going to have to
help us clean it up. Know that we wanted
to get it cleaned up for you, though!"
We, too, should begin our Advent this
way: by crying out to God and asking him to come, even though we're not as prepared
as we'd like to be. This, in itself, is
a sign of devotedness: that is, that we are being watchful for his coming. Having begun in this way, we will then be
moved to do what we can to make preparations.
And what are those preparations?
Well, we heard them last week: that the hungry are fed, the thirsty are
given drink, the strangers are welcomed, the naked are clothed, the sick are
cared for, and those in prison are visited.
Jesus promised that, when we do these things to anyone, we do them to
him; and so to perform these acts of mercy is great sign of devotedness to
him. Still more, however, when we do
these acts of mercy we are making God’s kingdom present among us; and what
better way can there be to prepare for the coming of our King, than for his
kingdom to be vibrant and shining when he comes.
My brothers and sisters, through the
words of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, God has promised us that he has given
us every spiritual gift that we need to make ourselves ready to receive our
Lord when he comes. Therefore, let us
begin today to show our Lord our devotedness once again, so as to be ready to
receive him with joy when he comes.
Given
at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – December 3rd, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment