Sunday 4 December 2011

2nd Sunday of Advent Year B

There is a certain tyranny in relevance makes the writing of homily daunting. Why? One has to find something relevant to say. Until one remembers, we are to preach Christ in and out of season.  We began a journey into Mark’s Gospel last Sunday and the key to the whole Gospel of Mark is found right the beginning: It is the Good News about Jesus Christ.
Mark’s Gospel at the beginning makes it clear that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God and unlike the other Gospels that established credentials either before creation or in time through the Infancy Narratives, he gets straight down to the business of proclaiming the good news of the same Jesus Christ the Lord.
We live, for all intents purposes, in a world where money can buy just about anything and yet it is a world which is markedly joyless. In this worry weary world, what is so good about Jesus Christ? How can He be good news when we face before us, brokenness, misery and loneliness? Nonetheless, before we dismiss the Gospel as irrelevant, both the Prophet Isaiah and John the Baptist give us a vision of how this news is good.
Isaiah consoled the people by recalling them to how God would bind the wounds of those whose sins have been forgiven. John recalled those who came in repentance to wait for the only One who could baptise with the Holy Spirit.
We are presented with this vision of a future world which, if we think about it, is one which calls us to make ourselves ready for it. In short, this vision will not come to fruition if we are not prepared for it. Again, in a world of silver platters where we expect all good things to be served on, this sounds like a little letdown. Perhaps, our idea of good fun may help illuminate our attitude towards gratuity. For us, fun means as little effort as possible with the maximum return in pleasure. When something is given free, we believe that we are entitled to it without any effort. In other words, God’s gratuitous gift is not as free as it seems. The truth is, grace may be given freely but it will never violate our freedom to accept or reject it.
In that way, the vision proposed by both Isaiah and John the Baptist is not without our effort. We have a part to play which is why John the Baptist said, “Make straight your path”.
Today, we are encouraged to prepare the way so that God’s vision of a world which He can recognise and in we can flourish may come true. It requires that we change so that the world can change. It is about conversion. But change is not easy.
You remember the Catholic Business Fraternity drive last week or so? They were trying to get more Catholics to register so that Catholic businesses can reach the wider Catholic audience. Firstly, the way I said it made it sound ghettoish. Secondly, I did mention, whilst promoting the drive last week, that I tend to give my business to Catholics. Usually, I am partial to ours as the Teochews would say, “Ka ti nang”… “Our own people”. Consider it a weakness which I easily give into.
Now, this happened two years ago. I was on the way back to Maranatha Retreat House because I had come down for a wedding. It was along Jalan Kuching and the road was jammed. A car behind me on my left tried to switch lanes and as it did, I braked because the cars in front braked. Consequently, the switching-lane car rammed into me. I pulled aside and when I got out of the car, I saw the ubiquitous rosary hanging from the usual rear-view mirror. I was relieved and I was actually willing to forget the whole thing. Catholic-Catholic… but, the two men who got out of their car, were confrontational and they blamed me for their carelessness. In fact, they sounded threatening. That time, I told myself, “To hell with you” and told them that it would be better if we settled it by making our respective police reports. They did not show up at the police station and I subsequently made a claim against their insurance.
What is the moral here? Jesus did say in Matthew 5:46ff: For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even tax collectors do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The vision of the world proposed by Isaiah and John requires that much change. But, we are unwilling to. It is a way of behaviour that goes a mile or even more further. When I think about the incident, I am not proud of it. We forgive even when people cannot forgive us. We love when people cannot love us.[1] Our change cannot be merely reciprocal in the sense that we react to people. Our standards must be Christ’s.
When we think that it is only our efforts that can bring about such a conversion, then we would have failed. The standard has been set by Christ and therefore the grace will be His to supply. As I have said it before, hope is eschatological in the sense that it is always one step ahead of us. That is why we celebrate Advent every year. The cycle reminds us that conversion is not an event. It is like you go for confession and voila you will not sin again? No, the minute you step out of the confessional, you see someone you do not like, you sin… It is a journey and a process. Nevertheless, St Peter exhorts us to continue to live saintly lives. As we change ourselves, we hope, we pray and we wait for God to make true what we on our own cannot achieve.


[1]There is a nuance here which is important. I am not advocating that you sit down and allow, for example, your fundamental rights as citizens are taken away. I am referring to my sense of “revenge”. Have you ever experience “unequal” forgiveness? You want to forgive and move on but the other party refuses. And you become righteously angry that he or she refuses. It is that kind of revenge or anger….