It amazes me sometimes how often the familiar Gospel theme of "reversal" appears in the Scriptures. We have heard Jesus say over and over again, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” (Matthew 20:16) However, that message is also present in the Hebrew Scriptures as well. Today we read again from the Prophet Isaiah who wrote long before the Gospels were composed. Our attention shifts from the mountain to the city. The Advent message of hope shows itself in yet another oracle that speaks of the reversal of fortune for those who trust in the Lord.
“He humbles those who dwell on high; the lofty city he brings down, brings it down to the ground, levels it to the dust. The feet of the needy trample on it—the feet of the poor” (Isaiah 26:5-6).
Our evangelical virtue of hope once again reminds us that though the darkness may seem to be overwhelming us, the light of the Messiah will see us through.
Of course there are those who maintain that Christ's second coming is a figment of our imagination, that we have been waiting so long that our hope is based upon a lie. St. Ephrem addresses this in today's Office of Readings: “If he had revealed the time of his coming, his coming would have lost its savor: it would no longer be an object of yearning for the nations and the age in which it will be revealed. He promised that he would come but he did not say when he would come, so all generations and ages await him eagerly. . . He has not made it plain for this reason especially, that no one think that he whose power and dominion rule all numbers and times is ruled by fate and time.”
Yesterday we heard news that has become all too familiar – another mass shooting in which fourteen people lost their lives. In the face of such news, we could lose hope of ever seeing the day of Jesus’ return to rescue us from the darkness of sin. The Season of Advent is a powerful reminder that we do have reason to hope, that we can expect our Savior to reappear. Though we have been waiting a very long time, let us not forget that the children of Israel waited an equally long time for the first coming. We hang on to the hope of Jesus’ return just as they did not lose hope in the coming of their Messiah.
Come, Lord Jesus. We await you with yearning hearts.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator