Advent: Awakening to God’s Hour

Second Sunday of Advent

Matthew 3:1-12

As we return to the beginning of our liturgical calendar, we evaluate the progress of our life of faith in light of the expectations of the Kingdom of God.

Advent is the time of God’s hour, the hour of salvation. Christ will renew His passage through history, keeping alive our hope that the Kingdom of God and the transformation of our hearts are possible.

The Church and Christians are the prophets of this hour, called to “go into all the world and preach the Good News,” rekindling hope that is often frustrated by our failures. We must proclaim change and conversion so that hope may be transformed into effective love, drawing us out of ourselves and into the brotherhood of God’s

children. John the Baptist is a sign of the prophetic church.

“The kingdom of God is near,” he said. His promises are true, and our hope is not in vain. “God can raise up children of Abraham from these stones ...”

According to Jesus’ testimony, John is greater than a prophet (Lk 7:26). John inaugurates the Gospel (Acts 1:22; Mk 1:1-4); before him, there was only the Law and the Prophets. John’s role was to proclaim himself a mere precursor (Lk 2:15). He is not worthy to untie the straps of the sandals of the One He precedes (Jn 1:19-20; Lk 3:16ff). John proclaims Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

John’s language is strong and prophetic: “Repent.” Otherwise, the liberating Christ becomes the judging Christ. “Who has taught you to escape the wrath to come? ... Bear the fruit of repentance, and do not delude yourselves ... The tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire ...”

So why did so many people flock to him? Why were they attracted to a prophet who challenged their traditions and way of life? John embodied the conversion he was calling for, and his actions conveyed the imminent arrival of God’s hour. It would have been impossible to live and act like that unless the hope he proclaimed was true.

“John wore a garment of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.” While the details of his austerity are not important, we must translate them into attitudes for our time.

The Gospel recorded these events as symbols of John’s faith, freedom, spirit, radical poverty, and self-denial, and the people followed him (Mt 11:16-17). “Have you gone out to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”

Jesus said that “among those born of women, no one was greater than John the Baptist” (Lk 7:24) and that “the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he” (Lk 7:23). Therefore, we must understand the significance of our role as prophets of the kingdom, as we are anointed “members of Christ the Priest, Christ the Prophet and Christ the King” (Liturgy of Baptism).

Advent challenges us to reflect on our role in the life of the Kingdom. Our witness will be the infallible measure of our faith.