If a farm has ever seemed like it would be a dull experience, my own time has proven that it is usually anything but boring. Without fail, we were often subjected to all sorts of surprises. A cow got into our fields from the neighbors? It has happened. Cows getting out from our fences? Also a possibility. Even the chickens at times proved they could escape and wreck havoc in all sorts of various ways. Yes, farming was never dull- and it sharpened a particular skill that every farmer must have in ready supply: vigilance. We had to watch and be aware of what was going on! Even in the times we may feel we finally got all of the fences patched and everything should be good- it was usually at those moments a new hole would appear within hours.
Being vigilant is not so much of an idea reserved for a particular way of life, however. If you are a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, a parent, or even an athlete, you have to be vigilant, and you have to be watching! If you don’t, you may miss a moment that is good, or that is critical, or something that is just enjoyable to be a part of! And now, we enter into the holy season of Advent. Advent, as we know, comes twice. It is a season of waiting for the coming- Advent being the word that means “coming.” Jesus comes at Christmas- a season that starts December 24, and He will come again. We deal with the past coming, the present moment, and the future coming as well. Can we be more vigilant, as we await this “coming” though?
The first reading comes to us from the book of the prophet Jeremiah- truly a prophet of hope and encouragement. Jeremiah always works to get the Israelites, who have fallen upon rough times, to think about the positive things that are coming. It is no different here. He tells us in the course of this reading- the days are coming- when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. What is that promise? To raise up a leader. A shoot. A ruler from the house of David. In those days- everything will finally be secure and as we so desire. This is the time to look forward to- and a time that they would have hoped for to be sure! They will call upon the Lord as their justice- a name they would not realize would later be applied to the Messiah. The message, though? The days are coming!
The second reading comes more as an encouragement to right living, coming from Saint Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. He encourages the Church in Thessalonica to increase and abound in love for “one another and for all” just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts to be blameless in holiness before God, and at the coming of Jesus. So, the encouragement is to concern themselves in right living. Really, this is another way to say that we should live out the two great commandments, so that we can be in God’s presence forever, and at Jesus’s coming we will not need be ashamed.
Finally at the Gospel, we arrive at Luke 21- and Jesus is speaking about the end times again. The end of times, by what He is telling us, will not be peaceful, but will be a time of severe upheaval. Even the sun, the moon, and stars, will perform signs. There will be so much fright- and anticipation- that people will outright perish because of the strain. Then the Son of mM an will come in a cloud with power and great glory.
This sounds very intimidating, but what does Jesus encourage us to do? Stand erect and raise your heads- because your redemption is at hand! Further, Jesus wants awareness! Do not let your hearts become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness- from anxiety- so that the day catch you like a trap- or by surprise! That day will come to everyone! So be vigilant and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man! What is He saying, in short? Be vigilant and pray for strength- for virtue- and for holiness- so that when your time comes to appear before God- you may be saved!
Yet, this is an entire season devoted to this! So what does this week encourage us to do in preparation for our God?
The Gospel, likely gives us the greatest amount of encouragement as far as a task to carry out this week- to be vigilant and to pray. To watch and to be in discussion with God. Are we there at this moment, or are we trying to scrape at and celebrate Christmas well before the season even begins? It’s a tempting prospect! And why is it tempting? Look around, brothers and sisters! I’ll say it again! Look around you! Look at the world today. What do you see? There are a lot of things to observe, but look more closely. Because, if you look with care- you will find a lot of people who are struggling. People with no hope. People that, if you asked them, are actually very empty inside. Who knows, perhaps many of us feel that at times as well! By in large, what do we see as a culture? People have given up on God, and so what do they do? They throw up lights and say “maybe these shiny things and the sentiment of the season will make me happy and solve my problems!” Maybe if I throw them up even earlier this year, I’ll finally cure my heart and it’s brokenness! Maybe all the memories will help fill this emptiness inside of me.
Or maybe they won’t. Honestly, the sentiment or the lights and glamour of the season without the actual reason for it- whether explicitly made known or not- will soon lose their meaning. Without Jesus, Christmas is nothing. So, this begs a deeper question- where is the place that each of us is tempted to cover up by “drunkenness or anxiety”? Where are the places we need to medicate ourselves- perhaps with substances, maybe with technology, perhaps even with impurity, or drunkenness, or crippling anxiety, or with anger, or money, or so many other things? The thing is, brothers and sisters, each of us are broken! Each of us are hurt! Each of us have places where we don’t understand or we sorrow or we grieve- and all too often we want to medicate it with things that are other than Jesus. But when we appear before Him- how are we going to explain that? How are we going to say “oh, Jesus, you just weren’t giving me enough!” That wouldn’t be a good look! Whatever your deepest fear or insecurity is- Jesus can fill and heal that place! Nothing else- no trip, no vacation, no sport, no money, no thing you can buy will ever fill it. Let me say it again for those in the back- if you are settling for something other than Christ to make you happy- you’re fooling yourself. When it all comes to be- it will be too late- and you definitely won’t be happy then!
That is why the encouragement our Lord gives us today is so important! Don’t drowsy yourself with “stuff” or events. Don’t fill yourselves with the drunkenness of vices or ego, nor with the anxieties you were supposed to give to God. Be vigilant and pray- give yourself over to Jesus! Don’t let the cattle get out and catch you by surprise! This Advent, and every advent, be vigilant and pray that you have strength to stand before our Lord, and our God.
Come, Lord Jesus, come.
