Advent II

Advent II

2014 – Cycle B Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Psalm 85; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8

What good is hearing about comfort when you are comfortable? What good is hearing about pardon and freedom if you are not guilty and imprisoned? What good is hearing about the coming of God with power and strength if you trust in yourself?  What good is hearing about forgiveness if you don’t recognize that you have sinned?

Without the context of exile and punishment today’s tenderly spoken words of comfort have no meaning.

Advent is not a sentimental greeting card all warm and fuzzy. Advent is not for the timid and fearful.   Advent does not offer us “comfort food” with which to avoid our feelings of inadequacy or sadness as we sit on couches watching television stuffing ourselves with ice cream. Nor does Advent place us in a familiar “comfort zone” where we can be at ease. At Advent’s roots are strong words and images of promise and hope that emerge out of the pain, suffering and deaths of the human experience. But these are words that can only be heard and grasped by the heart of a people who are imprisoned and far from home.

• The secure person, protected behind self-imposed bars of gated communities, their prejudices and psychological masks;

• the self-satisfied and over indulged person fattened on the grains of self-importance;

• the unreflective person who wanders through life like a shadow;

• the libertarian who does not recognize how trapped they are by their life of license; …these people only hear the words of the prophet as a cartoonish, “Wah, wah, wah!” It is the veritable casting of the “pearls before swine” [See Matthew 7:6].

Hearing that a punishment is ended, that guilt is cast aside, that the landscape is mastered to create a highway for God to approach them can have no meaning. How can it, when these people trust in themselves?

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God…speak tenderly to Jerusalem…” [Isaiah 40:1-2]

Are these not the words of a parent holding a sick, crying child? Are these not the words of a nurse at the bedside of a dying patient? Are these not the words of a lover whispered into the ear of the beloved as they glide across the dance floor? Are these not the words of a parole board to an inmate? Are these not the words of a immigration agent to a refugee?

What is God, who comes as mother and father, as care-giver and lover, offering us? If these words can only be heard by the exiled and imprisoned; if these are words that arise out of suffering, pain and death, then who needs to be comforted?

• The United States has one of the largest imprisoned populations in the world. Conversely, are we not imprisoned in the illusion that we are free women and men? What exactly is freedom? What is freedom in Christ?

• Exiled immigrants from oppression, drug cartels, war and violence continue to come to our shores. How many of us are exiled from ourselves?

• Realizing you can be on all the social media you can afford and in the most teeming of shopping mall, sports stadiums, public squares and work places, how many of us are lonely?

  • Is being technological connected a real relationship?

  • Is being in the midst of a crowd of like-minded people mean you are connected

  • How much the does unacknowledged loneliness in our lives lead to the multitude of addictions in our society?

Who needs to be comforted?

• The imprisoned in loveless and often abusive marriages and relationships.

• The addicted: pharmaceutical and hard core drugs, pornography, the need to acquire more things, technology, food, work… I suppose anything in this wonderful world can become an addiction.  What are your addictions?

• Those exiled and imprisoned under the judgment of prejudice, slander and the lies of others.

• Those who are sick and dying; those mourning the death of loved ones, dreams, institutions, their youth, the loss of their mental and physical abilities, and futures that will never be because life has taken a different turn.

Who needs to be comforted?

• People bound by fear and mistrust.

God speaks to those who are exiled and under sentence. They can hear God. Who needs to be comforted among us? Do you?