Holy Family B

Holy Family B

Readings: Sirach 3:2-6,12-14  Colossians 3:12-21  Luke 2:22-40

During the Christmas season the Church celebrates the Incarnation by dwelling on various aspects of this mystery.  Holy Family Sunday reminds us that Jesus was both called to a unique saving mission by his Father but also fully shared our experience of living in a family with all its joy, confusion, pain and mystery.  As we struggle with the obligations of our commitments to God and family, let us pray in faith the words of this Sunday’s responsorial psalm: “Happy are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways” (Ps 128).

The Sirach reading is a wisdom instruction based on the commandment to honor father and mother (Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16).  This obligation is about caring for elderly parents when their health and minds fail. “My son, take care of your father when he is old;/ . . .  Even if his mind fail, be considerate with him;/ revile him not in the fullness of your strength” (Sir 3:12-13).

According to Sirach, care for elderly parents will be reciprocated by God.  “He who honors his father atones for sins;/ he stores up riches who reveres his mother” (3:3).

Paul’s instructions to the Colossians put family obligations in a Christian context.  Christians are to divest themselves of their old lives of sin (see Col 3:5-9) and clothe themselves with Christian virtues: heartfelt mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and especially love “which binds the rest together and makes them perfect” (3:12-14).  They are to pray in joyous thankfulness to God the Father, as their words and actions are done “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Paul concludes with specific words for each member of the family.  Wives are to be submissive to their husbands; husbands are to love their wives and avoid any bitterness toward them; children are to obey their parents; fathers are not to nag their children “lest they lose heart.”

Luke’s account of Jesus’ presentation in the Temple both celebrates the surprisingly joyful fulfillment of Israel’s messianic expectations but also ominously foreshadows that this messianic child will know opposition, rejection and suffering.  Like the pious Zechariah and Elizabeth (Lk 1:6), Jesus’ parents fulfill the Jewish law by presenting Mary for purification (cf. Lev 12:2-8) and dedicating Jesus their first-born son (Ex 13:2,12).  The centerpiece of the scene is Simeon’s prayer.  As a representative of the poor of Israel who await the kingdom of God’s justice, the elderly Simeon is moved by the Holy Spirit to take Jesus in his arms and proclaim the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel of the Savior who will be “a revealing light to the Gentiles.” “Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace;/ you have fulfilled your word. For my eyes have witnessed your saving deed/ displayed for all the peoples to see:/ A revealing light to the Gentiles,/ the glory of your people Israel.” But Simeon’s prophetic vision also foreshadows the divisive character of Jesus’ ministry.  After blessing the marveling parents, the prophet informs Mary his mother: “This child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed– and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword–so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare.”  Jesus’ proclamation of the Father’s forgiving love will divide Israel between those who repentantly accept this message and those who self-righteously refuse it (cf. Lk 7:18-50).  We later learn that Mary’s own blessedness will also involve the challenge of following God’s call when Jesus himself announces that true blessedness “is hearing the word of God and observing it” (see Lk 1:38-45; 8:20-21; 11:27-28).

Advent IV

4^th Sunday of Advent B

Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-11,16   Romans 16:25-27   Luke 1:26-38

As the Feast of Christmas approaches, the readings for the final Sunday of Advent present us with the mystery and scandal of God’s plan for our salvation in Jesus.  The divine purpose does not proceed according to human ambitions and calculations.  Although Nathan’s prophecy to David and Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary may lead us to expect a powerful Messiah who will bring peace by ruling in splendor “from the throne of David his father,” we have hints in the readings that God’s will often overturns human expectations.  David is not allowed to build the glorious house (temple) of his dreams; instead the Lord will build a house (dynasty) for him.  God’s fulfillment of “the mystery hidden for many ages” is first revealed to Mary, a lowly virgin from the insignificant town of Nazareth in the obscure region of Galilee.  As Mary obediently submits herself to the Lord’s impossible plan for the birth of the Messiah, we may already expect that her child’s rule is not going to conform to the standards of earthly power and prestige.  Let us praise the Lord for his mysterious ways in the lyrics of our responsorial psalm: “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord” (Psalm 89).

Nathan’s prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 is a culminating point in both Israel’s history and David’s own life.  The Lord has finally given Israel and David “rest” from all their enemies. After Saul’s death, the Lord guided David in uniting Judah and Israel, defeating the Philistines, and centralizing the nation by establishing Jerusalem as the capital where he placed the ark in a tent shrine (see 2 Samuel 1-6).  Now David, who has already built himself a splendid palace of cedar, proposes to the prophet Nathan that he wishes to build a “house of cedar” (i.e. a temple) for the ark.  At first, Nathan encourages David in his ambitions, but that night the prophet learns that the Lord’s plan does not depend upon David’s limited vision.  A mysterious divine purpose has been operative since David was taken as a shepherd boy to be commander of God’s people, and it ultimately will culminate in God’s giving Israel peace from its enemies and the establishment of a lasting house (i.e. dynasty) for David.  The editors of 2 Samuel 7, using the royal ideology of the Solomonic period, envision Solomon’s reign as a partial fulfillment of this promise.  He is the son who “will build a house for my name” (2 Sam 7:13; 1 Kings 5-9), but even they also recognize that neither David nor Solomon, for all their glory, were the complete realization of Nathan’s prophecy; both kings bring tragedy upon themselves and their people by their sins in the latter stages of their reigns (see 2 Samuel 11-20; 1 Kings 2 and 1 Kings 11-12).  With the fall of the Davidic monarchy, Nathan’s promise became the basis for Davidic messianic hopes, as are found in our responsorial Psalm.

Romans 16:25-27 is a doxology, praising God who is able to strengthen the Christian community in the gospel which has now been revealed to the Gentiles through Paul’s preaching.  It emphasizes the hidden mystery of God’s plan, which completes the message of the prophets and is now revealed to all nations. This plan for salvation, now open to the Gentiles, is not manifest according to human timetables, but “at the command of the eternal God.”

With an aura of solemn wonder and joy, Luke’s annunciation narrative describes the beginning of the fulfillment of the long-awaited time of salvation.  In the style of birth stories in the Old Testament, the angel Gabriel announces Jesus’ birth and destiny to Mary, as he had previously done for John the Baptist to the doubting Zechariah (see Lk 1:5-23).  The scene is filled with improbabilities.  The site is Nazareth in Galilee; there has been no Davidic court in Jerusalem for almost 600 years.  The recipient is a virgin, who is “deeply troubled” by the angel’s greeting and later has to ask, “How can this be since I do not know man?”  Rather than normal human conception, the child will be conceived by the power of the Most High, and the confirming sign that Mary’s baby is indeed to be called Son of God is that her kinswoman Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age.  In language reminiscent of the annunciation of Isaac’s birth to Abraham and Sarah (see Genesis 18), Gabriel ends by affirming “nothing is impossible to God.”  In contrast to the incredulous Zechariah and her laughing and doubting ancestress Sarah, Mary acquiesces to the mysterious divine plan. “I am the maidservant of the Lord.  Let it be done to me according to your word.”

Christmas Midnight

Christmas Midnight A B C

Readings: Isaiah 9:1-6  Titus 2:11-14  Luke 2:1-14

            The readings for Christmas at midnight proclaim the joyous, yet humble, arrival of Jesus as the light of the world.  He comes to bring peace to all and calls Christians to live temperate and just lives as they await his return in glory.  Let us rejoice as we hear the angel’s proclamation to the shepherds: “’Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.’”

Isaiah’s messianic oracle expresses the hope for a king in the Davidic line who will bring peace in the aftermath of an Assyrian invasion of Israel.  The prophet prefaces his description of the king’s just rule by praising the Lord for delivering the nation from the Assyrian yoke.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;/ Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone./ You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing./ For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder,/ And the rod of their taskmaster/ You have smashed, as on the day of Midian.”  Isaiah believes this liberation is only the initial act of a two part drama.  He expects that “the zeal of the Lord of hosts” will raise to the Davidic throne a king who will rule with wisdom, power, paternal care and peace.  Although Jesus did not assume a worldly throne, we Christians believe he is the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s oracle though his life, preaching, death and resurrection, and return in glory (see Peter’s sermon in Acts 2).  Jesus has begun the Kingdom of God that will ultimately triumph in the peace and justice Isaiah so urgently awaited.

The Titus reading presents us with the whole mystery of salvation: the appearance of God’s grace in Christ’s offering salvation to all, the challenge of the Christian life, and our hope for the final appearance of God’s glory and our savior Jesus Christ.  Even on the feast of Christmas, the Church does not lose sight of the demands of our renewed life and the urgent expectation of the second coming.  As the letter to Titus proclaims, all have been cleansed and redeemed in Christ, but we still wait in hope, as did Isaiah, for the appearance of the full glory of God’s kingdom.  In the interim, we are called to reject godless ways and to live temperately and justly.

Luke’s beautiful nativity story is best understood in relation to the major themes of his gospel, especially his insistence that Jesus is a universal savior, who was prophesied in the Scriptures and will overturn worldly expectations for greatness.  This universality is most explicit in the angel’s greeting to the shepherds which is the center piece of his entire narrative. “’I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.’”

By dating Jesus’ birth in the reign of Caesar Augustus, Luke contrasts the powerful Roman emperor with the lowly Jesus who is born as an exile.  Luke’s initial readers were aware that Augustus had inaugurated the Pax Romana and that many entertained messianic expectations about his rule.  For Luke, however, Jesus’ humble birth is the joyous beginning of the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s promises of salvation in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Salvation and peace will not come from the emperor who has the power to order a census of the whole world, but from Jesus whose parents must obey the emperor’s commands.

Luke’s special emphasis on the fact that Jesus has come for the lowly is evident in the role of the shepherds.  In Jewish tradition, they were considered disreputable and their testimony was invalid.  Yet in Luke’s account they receive the initial annunciation of Jesus’ birth and even function as evangelists.  When they proceed to Bethlehem, they witness the truth of the angel’s message and then make it known to others.  Likewise, when they return, they glorify and praise God “for all they have heard and seen.”

Other details of Luke’s story make symbolic allusion to Jesus as the unexpected fulfillment of the Scriptures.  The swaddling clothes recall a saying associated with King Solomon who says: “I was nurtured in swaddling clothes, with every care./  No king has known any other beginning of existence” (Wis 7:4-5).  Despite the lowly circumstances of Jesus’ birth, he is already a king like the great Solomon.  The manger (feeding trough) also has more that literal significance.  Isaiah had criticized his generation’s failure to understand the Lord in the following oracle: “An ox knows its owner,/ and an ass its master’s manger./  But Israel does not know, my people has not understood” (Is 1:2-3).  In contrast to the senseless people of Isaiah’s time, the humble shepherds, representative of a renewed people of God, go in haste to the infant lying in the manger who is food for the world.  Setting aside our pride, let us follow the shepherds to adore the Christ-child.

Mass at Dawn

Christmas Mass at Dawn A B C

Readings: Isaiah 62:11-12      Titus 3:4-7       Luke 2:15-20

            The Christmas Mass at dawn has a special character.  It is meant to be celebrated only at or near dawn because its theme is Christ the sun of justice and the light to the nations.  The words of the responsorial psalm best express the uniqueness of this special liturgy. R. “A light will shine on this day: the Lord is born for us./ The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice;/ let the many isles be glad./ The heavens proclaim his justice,/ and all the peoples see his glory./ Light dawns for the just;/ and gladness, for the upright of heart./ Be glad in the Lord, you just,/ and give thanks to his holy name” (Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12).

            The Isaiah reading is from the conclusion of a larger song (Is 62:1-12) which celebrates the restoration of Jerusalem, or Zion, after the Babylonian exile.  Combining images associated with Jewish wedding customs and the celebration of the grain and grape harvest at the joyous feast of Tabernacles, the prophet envisions daughter Zion being visited by her savior God who remarries his forsaken bride and repopulates the once abandoned city. “Say to daughter Zion, your savior comes!/ Here is his reward with him,/ his recompense before him./ They shall be called the holy people,/ the redeemed of the Lord,/ and you shall be called ‘Frequented,’/ a city that is not forsaken.”

            The short reading from Titus is a succinct summary of the central tenants of Paul’s gospel.  Like the reading from Titus for the Mass at Midnight, it is a joyful proclamation of the full Christian mystery. In the course of reminding Titus that Christians are to be responsible citizens, the Pauline author speaks of the change effected in them by the coming of Christ and their baptism.  Formerly, he says, “we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another” (3:5).  But now through “the kindness and generous love of God our savior” and without any merit on our part, we have been saved “through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” that was poured out on us “through Jesus Christ our savior.”  The next section insists that this transforming “bath of rebirth” should make Christians “devote themselves to good works.”

            The Gospel reading for the Mass at Dawn is the continuation of the Gospel for the Mass at Midnight.  The shepherds, most unlikely candidates for God’s revelation, become the first apostles of the Christian message.  They decide to go to David’s city to verify the message that the angels have given them.  “’Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’”  When they find “Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger,” just as the angels had announced, they understand “what had been told them concerning this child,” namely that he is destined to be “a savior . . . the Messiah and Lord.”  Not content with keeping this news as a private revelation, the shepherds report it to others, and we are told “all who heard of it were amazed.”  As the shepherds return, they glorify and praise God “for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.”

            Mary’s reaction is singled out and distinguished from the others.  Luke notes that she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  The verb translated “reflected” is dielogizeto which is also used by Luke to describe Mary’s reaction to Gabriel’s initial greeting in the annunciation scene (1:29) and later her response to Jesus’ saying that he must be in his Father’s house in the story of his remaining behind in the Temple at the Passover festival when he was age twelve (2:51).  It has the sense of intense deep thought which returns to the subject time and again.  In Luke’s theology Mary is a model of discipleship.  She hears God’s word, reflects deeply upon it, and then acts in accord with it.  This is most clear in her acceptance of Gabriel’s message at the annunciation where she responds by saying, “’Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word’” (1:38).  Later in the Gospel, Jesus also says, “’My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it’” (8:21).

Christmas Mass during the day

Christmas Mass During the Day A B C

Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10  Hebrews 1:1-6  John 1:1-18

            The readings for Christmas Mass During the Day have a note of unrestrained joy over God’s final act of salvation in the coming of Christ, the very word of God, who has come in the flesh to share and redeem our fallen humanity.  This mood is most evident in the lyrics of the responsorial psalm. R. “All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God” (Ps 98:3c). “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds;/ his right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm” (Ps 98:1). 

            The Isaiah reading is a joyful poem addressed to the Jewish exiles living in Babylon whose situation appears to be hopeless.  Their homeland is in ruins; the Temple has been destroyed, and they have been living in bondage for several decades.  Despite the bleakness of their situation, the prophet announces the joyous, good news of the restoration of Jerusalem.  The artful poem moves through three stages.  First, the prophet rejoices over the arrival of the messenger who brings “the glad tidings” of peace (shalom) for Zion as the God returns to the city in triumph as their “king.”  “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings,/ announcing peace, bearing good news,/announcing salvation, and saying to Zion,/ ‘Your God is king!’”  Secondly, he envisions Jerusalem’s watchmen raising a cry and shouting for joy as the Lord begins to restore Zion.  “Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry,/ together they shout for joy,/ for they see directly, before their eyes,/ the Lord restoring Zion.”  Finally, he invites the “ruins of Jerusalem” to “break out together in song” because the Lord “comforts his people” and “redeems Jerusalem.”  The prophet’s vision is not limited to a narrow nationalism.  Jerusalem’s salvation is meant as a revelation to “all the nations.”  “The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations;/ all the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God.”

            The second reading from the beginning of Hebrews emphasizes the completeness and finality of God’s spoken word through the Son (Jesus), in contrast to the “partial and various ways” of revelation “in times past . . . to our ancestors through the prophets.”  Hebrews is more of a homily than a letter, and it asserts that with the coming of Jesus, “the final age” has arrived in which God’s saving acts have come to their completion.

            In this opening section, Hebrews insists on Jesus’ superiority to the angels, whom some were tempted to revere above Jesus because they had not been contaminated by descending into this material world of impermanence and change.  Using many of the same concepts as the evangelist John, the author of Hebrews stresses the Son’s unique greatness, power, and closeness to God.  Like Lady Wisdom in the Old Testament, the Son is the agent of creation (Prv 8:30; Wis 7:22), “the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being” (Wis 7:26), and the “mighty word” which sustains all things.  Although Jesus did descend into the world and “accomplished purification from sins,” he now has taken “his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high” where he has received the titles “Son” and “heir” which make him superior to the angels who are commanded to worship him.

            The Gospel reading is the prologue of John which is a hymn to Jesus as the incarnate Word (Logos) of God and the Light that has come into a darkened world.  It celebrates the whole sweep of salvation from creation to the coming of the Word in the flesh.  Periodically, it is punctuated with asides about the role of John the Baptist as witness to Jesus, the light (1:6, 7, 15).  The first two strophes speak of the Word’s relation to God (1:1-2) and to creation (1:3-5).  John uses several allusions to the first creation story in Genesis: the opening words, “In the beginning,” creation through a word of command, and the references to light and darkness (Gen 1:1-5).  Just as in the initial act of creation light entered a darkened world, so in the re-creation of the world darkened by sin, the Word as “the light shines in the darkness,/ and darkness has not overcome it.”  The third strophe (1:9-13) speaks of the Word’s relation to humans in the world.  It evokes rejection and acceptance, death and rebirth.  Although the Word is “the true light, which enlightens everyone,” and “all things came to be through him,” the world did not know him and “his own people did not accept him.”  But to those who do accept him, the Word gives the power “to become children of God.”  The final strophe (1:14, 16-18) concentrates on the Word’s relation to believers.  Like God’s presence through the Tabernacle and the Law in the Old Testament (Ex 25:8-9; Sir 24:4-8), the Word has “made his dwelling among us” and revealed “his glory.”  But this presence in the Word become flesh is superior to the law given through Moses.  It is a revelation of “grace (love) and truth.”  The law was inscribed on tablets of stone (Ex 31:18), and Moses was not allowed to see God (Ex 33:18-23), but now the Son, who has been with God from all eternity, has revealed him. “From his fullness we have all received,/ grace in place of grace,/ because while the law was given through Moses,/grace and truth came through Jesus Christ./ No one has ever seen God./  The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.”

            On this feast of the Incarnation, let us rejoice in God’s coming to us in our humanity with all its pain and suffering, joys and delights, sin and hatred.  And let us take hope in the continued presence of God with us through the incarnate Son.

Advent III B

3^rd Sunday of Advent B

Readings Isaiah 61:1-2,10-11  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 

 John 1:6-8,19-28

“My soul glorifies the Lord,/ my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.”  These words of Mary’s canticle (Luke 1:46-54) are the responsorial psalm for the Third Sunday of Advent that celebrates the task of proclaiming the Lord’s salvific work.  Like John the Baptist in John’s Gospel, we Christians are called to witness to the light, Jesus God’s incarnate Son, and to rejoice in his presence without claiming any exalted status for ourselves.

The first reading is the commissioning of the anonymous prophet whom scholars call Third Isaiah.  In the opening verses, he is anointed to bring good news to the discouraged exiles who have just returned from Babylon.  They are the `anawim, the poor of Yahweh, who are totally dependent upon God for their justice.  In Isa 61:3-9, which are not included in our reading, the prophet announces a glorious future for the returnees.  With the help of strangers and foreigners, they will rebuild the ancient ruins of Jerusalem. Instead of the shame and degradation of exile, they will experience the Lord’s justice when they become priests in the midst of the world’s nations who now honor and acknowledge them as a nation blessed by the Lord.

In the last two verses of our reading the prophet sings a psalm of thanksgiving rejoicing for restored Zion, now “wrapped in the mantle of justice,/ like a bridegroom adored with a diadem,/ like a bride bedecked with her jewels.”  With unassailable confidence, the prophet announces that the Lord God will cause “justice” and “praise” to spring up like plants from the earth.

The second reading is from the conclusion of 1 Thessalonians in which Paul addresses the Thessalonian Christians’ anxiety over a number of problems connected with the delay of Jesus’ expected return in glory.  Some were anxious that those who had died would not participate in the general resurrection at Jesus’ return; others had degenerated into immoral or irresponsible behavior.  Paul assures them that the dead will participate in the resurrection and exhorts the community to live vigilantly as “children of the light.”  In our passage, Paul gives a rapid fire series of exhortations before closing.  The community should live in joyous, as opposed to anxious and fearful, expectation of the Lord’s coming.  With great confidence, Paul prays that the Lord will preserve them in wholeness until he comes.                 

In the Gospel reading, John the Evangelist presents John the Baptist as a joyful witness who gives testimony to the Jewish leaders that the light is in their midst, although they do not recognize him.  The first part of the reading is taken from John’s prologue, a great hymn to Jesus as the Word of God who is the light which has now entered the world.  In a kind of aside in the hymn, we are reminded that John the Baptist “was not the light,” but was only a witness to the light.

In his actual testimony, John takes almost perverse delight in giving negative answers to the questions of the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem.  He refuses to accept for himself the titles of Messiah, Elijah, or prophet.  His sole task is to be “a voice in the desert, crying out: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord!’”  When asked why he is baptizing if he is not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet, John points to Jesus’ unrecognized presence and speaks of his unworthiness to even unfasten the strap of his sandal.

In the other appearances of John in the Fourth Gospel, the evangelist continues to present the Baptist as a joyful witness to Jesus.  On the very next day when John sees Jesus, he gives the testimony: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  John has seen the Spirit of God descend upon Jesus, and now he can testify to him.  On the third day he allows two of his disciples to leave him and follow Jesus, and later when he learns that Jesus’ disciples are also baptizing, he rejoices and says: “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven.  You yourselves can testify that I said I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him.  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.”  (Jn 3:27-30)                                                       

Advent II B

2^nd Sunday of Advent B

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11    2 Peter 3:8-14            Mark 1:1-8

Semper paratus! “Always prepared!” This motto describes the mood of the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent.  John the Baptist, the messenger and herald in the wilderness, alerts us to be prepared for the arrival of the One who will bring God’s creative Spirit to make all things new.  With confidence, let us pray the lyrics of the responsorial psalm.  “The Lord will make us prosper/ and our earth shall yield its fruit.  Justice shall march before him/ and peace follow his steps” (Ps 85:14).

The first reading is the commissioning of the prophet scholars call Second Isaiah.  He is given the task to prepare the weary Jewish exiles in Babylon for God’s glorious action in bringing them home to Jerusalem.  Without the preparatory message of this “herald of glad tidings,” the exiles might never have understood that their release from Babylon by Cyrus, the King of the Persians, was God’s saving action in their behalf.  The prophet is called to ready this people by proclaiming “comfort” to Jerusalem which has paid double for her past sins and will now see her Lord God bringing home his flock like a shepherd gathering his lambs.  In the imaginative poetry of the prophet, the way home from Babylon to Jerusalem will be a super highway across the Arabian desert.  “In the desert prepare the way of the Lord!  Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!”

Sometimes an event which we most eagerly anticipate is delayed by circumstances beyond our control, causing us to lose the fervor of our initial anticipation.  The Second Peter reading challenges those who are disappointed by the delay of Jesus’ expected return in glory.  Some Christians, concluding that Jesus will never come in judgment, are leading dissolute lives (see 2 Peter 2).  Second Peter reminds them that God’s time table is different from humans and that what appears as a “delay” should be grasped as an opportunity for “all to come to repentance.”  In the time of waiting, the letter exhorts Christians to be people of exemplary conduct whose lives hasten the arrival of God’s kingdom, the “new heavens and new earth where, according to his promise the justice of God will reside.”

Mark’s presentation of John the Baptist in our Gospel both calls us to repentance in preparation for the arrival of God’s kingdom and alerts us to expect the mighty action of God’s Spirit with the coming of Jesus.  Although Mark attributes the opening prophecy to Isaiah, it is actually a combination of elements from Exodus 23:20, Malachi 3:1, and Isaiah 40:3.  John the Baptist is identified with Elijah, the messenger expected in the apocalyptic Book of Malachi, who will return to prepare the way for God’s final judgment by his sudden appearance in the Temple.  Contrary to Malachi’s expectations, John appears in the Judean wilderness where his message is like that of Second Isaiah: “Make ready the way of the Lord,/ clear him a straight path.”  But John’s “baptism of repentance which led to the forgiveness of sins” is only preparatory to the theme of his preaching. John proclaims: “One more powerful than I is to come after me. I am not fit to stoop and untie his sandal straps. I have baptized you in water; he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”

John’s proclamation is the beginning of the “gospel,” the good news of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.  It prepares us for the powerful wonders Jesus will perform in the early chapters of Mark’s Gospel where he will authoritatively gather a group of apostles and begin to attack the evil dominion of Satan with the healings, exorcisms, and the proclamation of forgiveness to outcasts.  At this stage, the initial reader would never guess that the story of this gospel will entail the violent deaths of both John, at the hands of Herod Antipas, and Jesus, at the hands of Pilate.  Later in the Gospel, Jesus will explicitly link his fate with John’s.  When Peter, James and John descend from the mount of transfiguration, they ask Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”  Jesus answers, “Elijah will indeed come first and restore all things, yet how is it written regarding the Son of Man that he must suffer greatly and be treated with contempt?  But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written to him.”  In choosing to follow John and Jesus we choose the path that leads to the cross.