ADVENT: Sunday II - year C

 

Baruch 5:1-9

Psalm 126:1-2,2-3,4-5,6

Philippians 1:4-6,8-11

Luke 3:1-6 

 

Baruch's prophecy is a Strange, wild, yet beautiful piece of poetry calling on the Israelite people to put aside their mourning in exile- They were mourning the fall of Jerusalem at the beginning of the sixth century BC. They were carried off to Babylon. Such a transformation from mourning to instant,joy is psychologically very difficult, yet that is what the prophet asks. The prospect of flattening mountains and filling in valleys and gorges was equally impossible at the time of the Israelites. (They did not have our modern technological capabilities.) Baruch, knowing this, has God promise the impossible.

The beauty of the poetry in this text is the balancing of the sorrow of the first line of our text with the joy of God's glory in the last line. Let me read it:

"Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery..."

"God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company."

Glory is combined with mercy and justice.

As a response we pray Psalm 126, all six verses of the psalm. It is a prayer following a time of exile or personal difficulty. God's people look back to his past deeds, recalling their former glorious fortune, a time filled with laughter and singing for joy (vs. 2). After acknowledging the great things God did for them (vs 3), they petition: "Restore our fortunes, 0 Lord" (vs. 4); do now for us what you did in the past.

In praying this psalm in Advent, we express gratitude to God for what he did for us in the past, and we now look forward to the new marvelous things that will be ours because Holy One of God is coming to dwell among us.

Another thought:

It is in the wilderness that the glory of God is to appear, and God's salvation is to be made known to all . It was in the wilderness that God's saving presence was proclaimed by John the Baptist, and there that God's salvation was seen. Isaiah's prophecy meant that God was to come to a deserted place, inaccessible from the beginning. None of the pagans had any knowledge of God, since his holy servants and prophets were kept from approaching them. The voice commands that a way be prepared for the Word of God ... so that our God may find a highway when he comes. Prepare the way- of the Lord: the way is the preaching of the gospel, the new message of consolation, ready to bring all mankind the knowledge of God's saving power. -- Eusebius of Caesarea
Advent in the Prophets and the Psalms
Rev. Charles Yost, scj
Nesbit, MS
Thoughts for the First Sunday in Advent