Fr. Richard Ver Bust

All people must hear Jesus' message

December 3, First Sunday of Advent

Happy New Year! Church year that is. We begin on this First Sunday of Advent the new liturgical year. During this year we will be hearing from Luke as he helps us deepen our relationship with Christ. This is the third of the three year cycle we follow in liturgical years. Vatican II had directed that the liturgical year be expanded that we might hear more of scripture. Up until then there was only one set of readings for each and every year.

Advent continues where we left off at the end of the last liturgical year. We are still looking at the end times, but now from the perspective of Luke.

We look back at the event of the birth of Christ and prepare for it during Advent but we also look forward to what the coming of Christ has done. It has prepared all of us for the coming and developing Kingdom of God.

We hear the Lukan Jesus speak about the consequences for Jerusalem in not heeding his message. We hear him tell how the rejection of Jesus and his teaching by the religious leaders will lead to the destruction of the temple. We also look forward to hear him speak of how he will be vindicated.

When Luke wrote the words of his Gospel the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple had already taken place. The horrors of that event must have made even the Gentile members of the church uneasy. Luke was writing primarily to such a community. They were Gentiles or non-Jews. Yet Luke in the scheme of his Gospel had seen all of history as being part of the plan God had in bringing salvation not only to the Jews but to all people.

The Christians to whom Luke was writing were actively, even if sporadically, being persecuted.

They were dying for their faith in Christ. Luke, like the other Synoptic writers, saw in the destruction of Jerusalem a sign of what the times were bringing. If Israel's leaders had failed to hear Jesus, then others too might have failed to do so. The message of Jesus was for all people and they all must hear him.

Luke, using Mark's language, spoke in cosmic terms. The signs in the heavens portrayed what might take place. People should be prepared. Be vigilant for your own call to redemption must be heard and heeded.

Paul speaks in similar terms when writing to the church of the Thessalonians. It might be one of his first letters. He knew the community there well and was seeking to give them advice. He prayed that God might bless them not only to increase in number but also that they might grow in love for one another.

He asked them to earnestly follow the instructions that he had given them in terms of how they must live. So not only should they acknowledge the grace of the message but also now live it fully. They should as he said "walk," the meaning of the word conduct, in a way pleasing to God.

Finally our first reading from the prophet Jeremiah also emphasizes a future time in which God's promises will be fulfilled. God will protect those to whom he has promised future help. This passage seems to put into hope what Nathan had promised David and that is, that there will be a future to the Davidic kingdom and God will be faithful.

Our first Sunday of Advent in the readings asks us to be faithful to the One in whom we have placed our trust. Live therefore being prepared to answer to the Lord for what we do.

(Fr. Ver Bust is professor emeritus in religious studies at St. Norbert College, De Pere.)