Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, a time of preparation and perhaps change in our lives. A time to reflect on how we are doing with our relationship with God, and to get ourselves ready to celebrate His birth, but also the promise of His coming again to us in the last days. Our readings today couldn’t be more clear on all of this, they are actually laid out in a map of sorts to guide us in this. The first reading from Jeremiah is the foretelling of Jesus coming to us as man and what this was to bring. The next is from Saint Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, where he exhorts us to look to our conduct in order to be found prepared for Jesus return. The Gospel reading is a new foretelling of Jesus coming, but this time as King and Judge and what we can expect and need to do in order to be found ready.
From Jeremiah we are told that the Lord will fulfill His promise to the house of Israel and Judah, and that justice and security will dwell in the land. One that would bring a new teaching, and a new way of looking at, and treating one another. A fulfillment of what God had promised us, but that we were not yet ready to receive until that time. A Son of David who would fulfill all these things and bring us salvation.
In Saint Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we are cautioned, and exhorted to be found blameless in the sight of the Lord so that we might be ready for His coming. This is not just a message to the people of that time, but to us, that we must remain vigilant and ready for our Lords coming, because we know not the time when this will happen.
In our Gospel from Saint Luke, we hear of the things that will happen when our Lord returns. We are told of the signs and the terror that will accompany some of these things, but that should look at things differently and busy ourselves to be ready and then to look to our redemption and embrace this. We are given again, what we must do to be ready, and also the things we must not do. We must be looking Jesus’ teaching and His commands so that when He comes in glory, we will be able to stand before him with the hope that we will then be with Him forever in His kingdom.
For us, on a practical level, we need to be asking ourselves, as we living in such a way that Jesus would look to us as an example of those fulfilling His commands, or as one who ignores them, or perhaps someone who is somewhere in between? If we fall into either of the two latter categories, we need to ask ourselves first of all, why, and then secondly what we can do to change in order to prepare for our Lord. What do we have in our lives that distracts or perhaps prevents us from following Jesus commands? In particular, the two commandments which He told us were greatest, to love God, and one another. To help figure this out, I have a small checklist that I try to go through. Is there anyone to whom I owe an apology? I hate to think that there is hurt that I have caused that is unresolved against someone created in His image. Is there anyone who I have not been in touch with, and could benefit from my companionship – especially during this time of isolation for so many? Have I made time for our Lord to show my love for Him through my prayers? These are just starting points, but now is the time to focus on all matters of this type, even if it is not comfortable, because we need to look to change. What tomorrow will be is never known, all of this is a reminder of what we need to do to be ready for that. To be prepared for the next coming of Jesus, as we celebrate His first coming to us as man, God, and Savior.
Podcast Link
The Deacons Bench 