1st Sunday of Advent A
Isaiah 2:1-5 Psalm 121:1-2. 4-5. 6-9 Rv. 1 Romans 13:11-14
O House of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
May peace reign in your walls, in your palaces peace.
The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon.
The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
37 The coming of the Son of Man will be like what happened in the time of Noah. 38 In the days before the flood people ate and drank, men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat; 39 yet they did not realize what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes. 40 At that time two men will be working in a field: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind. 41 Two women will be at a mill grinding meal: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind. 42 Watch out, then, because you do not know what day your Lord will come. 43 If the owner of a house knew the time when the thief would come, you can be sure that he would stay awake and not let the thief break into his house. 44 So then, you also must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.
Do you know Jesus is at your side?
Noah must have felt a fool. He stopped doing his normal work and began building a boat in the desert. People must have passed many a cynical remark. They were busy making money and a good life. But in the end Noah was right. Suddenly the rains came and they would not stop. One by one ‘the clever people’ were swept away. Only Noah and his family were safe. He had listened to the Word of God. It meant ridicule but in the end he was grateful. Jesus says ‘Listen to the Word of God. You will not regret it’. Advent is a wake-up call. We can so easily become engrossed in making a good life like the people of Noah’s day. We can slip into the ranks of those who put God in a back seat. Jesus tells us not to take life at its face value. Though we are in the world, making a living, yet there is a secret to life, unknown to many. Thieves don’t normally send warnings. Jesus is kind – not that he is a thief coming to do us harm but he warns us to be ready because he will come when we least expect him. He wants to find us awake and waiting for him so that he can ‘reward’ us. However life appears, Jesus will as surely come as the rain in Noah’s time.
There is an even greater secret and that is that Jesus has come already. We can come to know him now and be his friend. His coming will not then be unexpected. He will just remove his disguise. Advent is as much a call to discover Jesus now as it is to look forward to his coming in the future either in glory or possibly more relevantly at our death.
To many it seems as foolish as building a boat in a desert but the great task in life is to search for Jesus, to get to know the real Jesus. If we do that then the inevitable happens. We fall in love with him. He becomes the person around whom our life turns. His friendship transforms us. We begin to radiate his peace. Where we work and live we become a quiet beacon of his love. The more we put on Jesus, the more people notice something special about us – a love, joy, peace, patience kindness and all the other fruits of Jesus living within us. May you find Jesus this Advent. May your neighbour find Jesus in you. Advent is the time to wake up to life. Jesus is life. Is he your’s?
Father, may Jesus living in me radiate his love, joy and peace to all who live around me.
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