An Advent Message

The Gospel of Matthew for the third Sunday of Advent finds John the Baptist, the Forerunner, in prison. Unjustly held in Herod’s dungeon, awaiting the execution that he knows will surely come. The great herald of the advent of Christ makes one last inquiry. 

We recall that John spent his formative years in the wilderness as an ascetic, set apart, different from the world in his hair shirt, eating locusts and wild honey. Until the day John baptized Jesus, he had but one meeting with his Lord, while he was yet in his mother’s womb, six months along, The Blessed Virgin, having just conceived by the Holy Ghost, visited her kinswoman, the aged Elizabeth. The pre-born John recognized Jesus then, and leapt for joy in his mother’s womb. Just as the scripture attests, that while we were yet in our mother’s womb, the Lord knew us, He came to us, He called us. 

At the appointed time, in the fullness of time, John came forth from the ascetic life in the desert to fulfill the words of Isaiah – A voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Having pointed the way to Jesus, having foretold Christ’s sacrifice, instructing his followers, “Behold the Lamb of God,” John told them, I must decrease and He must increase.  Ever is the way of the Christian. 

Now, in a dark and dreary cell, with the executioner whetting his sword, John asks for a little reassurance. This was his one shot to do what his whole life was molded to accomplish. Had he done the right thing? Had he made the right choice? Was this young man, about his age, really the prophesied Messiah?

Two of his disciples were sent to ask on his behalf, “Are you truly the Christ, or do we await another?” 

Jesus is not offended. Rather, with great compassion He answers John with the very things that would resonate in John’s heart. John was permeated with the words of the prophet Isaiah. They defined whom he was called to be, and they painted a picture of the Messiah that formed John’s heart. 

“Tell John”, Jesus said, “that the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who is not offended in me.” 

The Advent rings for this tired world the bell of hope. It is a season to remind us that there is indeed hope. This third Sunday of Advent with its lighter color and message is like the calm before the storm, the deep breath before the plunge, the color in the east, after a long dark night, telling us that the daystar will indeed arise. 

Advent tells us to take up John’s message, to prepare the way of the Lord. Beginning in our own hearts, we must be set apart, different from the world, like John. Make straight the path the prophet proclaims. The high places must be brought down and the low places raised. Whatever is exalted in us, as our pride, must be leveled by humility. Whatever is low, is beaten down, wounded, must be lifted up and healed. Our low, base passions must be lifted up and transformed; such as our hate becomes love, our envy becomes joy for others, and our anger becomes meekness in Christ. Our lives become an even path and open door for the coming of Christ. 

Advent gives us the hope that because God became incarnate, we may become like Him. It tells that on one dark night, Salvation leapt down from heaven, and by the portal of the Blessed Virgin Mary, became man. What a marvelous thing this is! What great mercy God bestows upon us! With the death, resurrection, and ascension, now a man sits enthroned at the right hand of God. Fully God, and yet fully man. And at the glorious and dreadful day of His Second Advent, it is a man who will descend in the clouds, that we might be caught up to be with Him. This God and Man will be the Judge of that Day.  

Likely you look forward to that Day and, as the scripture says, hasten its coming. There you will be with your talents to say, “Lord you gave me five and lo, I have made you ten!” “Well done good and faithful servant!” the Judge will pronounce. However, I will be at the rear of the line, wiping the dirt from my freshly dug up talent, in want of great mercy. 

This is why I love the prayer of St Ambrose – Fountain of Mercy, to Thee do I hasten to be healed. Thee, before whom as my Judge I cannot stand, I long to have as my Savior. 

Because of the incarnation we have hope of salvation, and we give hope to the world. And that hope is ‘Christ in us, the hope of glory’ as St. Paul teaches. 

Therefore it is to us, as the very body of Christ, the Church and her members in particular; that the world, and our own personal world, comes to ask – “Are you the Christ, or do we wait for another?” Is Christ incarnate here? Does He indeed live in this flesh, and in this body, or should the world look somewhere else? 

We are, by God’s mercy, a part of THE Holy Orthodox Church. We are the ancient Church, not one choice among many denominations, we are pre-denominational. We have the truth and the means by which the Holy Spirit throughout all ages has ever formed men to be living vessels of the incarnation. If we allow our lives to be a crucible set apart to be filled with His life. It begins, and is completed, by the words of St. Mary when she became the gateway of Heaven, “Be it unto me according to Thy word.” 

So do we answer with Christ:

Ø      Tell them that the blind see - Is our light set on a candle stand, not under a bushel? Does it so shine before men that they glorify God for what they see in us?

Ø      The deaf hear - Are we careful about what comes out of our mouths? Is it the Word of Truth that people hear in our speech, or do the filth and lies of the world slip in? Does the Incarnate Word breath in us to open the ears of the deaf world around us?

Ø       The lame walk - Advent gives us pause to observe, to look behind and see what track we have left. How is my walk? When we walk the straight and narrow path, when we walk aright, not swerving to the left or right, others, lame by lack of example, learn to walk.

Ø      The Lepers are cleansed - The lust, the greed, and the corruption of our society make lepers of all who partake. We stand as beacons of healing, when we keep ourselves pure from the world’s stain.

Ø      The dead are raised - The Truth of the Incarnation, with great mercy wrapped in the package of our lives, brings salvation, the raising of those once dead in trespasses and sins. Certainly so, as they follow us into the Church, where with her Holy Sacraments, genuine life is breathed into the dead. Will we stand before the tomb of our world and cry with the voice of Christ, “Come forth!”

Ø      The poor have good news preached to them - Here is the message of Advent. We live surrounded by those who are in spiritual poverty, while we have such a great treasure. Will we share what we have? Or, will we be like the rich man who fared sumptuously while poor Lazarus sat at his gate with the dogs licking his sores? Will we give the bread of life to the hungry? Will we become Christ placing His healing hand on the leper that the outcast may hear of the Love of God, even for him?  

When we respond to the call of the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord, we become set apart. We cleanse our hearts, and become vessels of His Incarnation, and by God’s mercy we become the hope of Advent for the dark world around us.  – Deacon Joseph