C Cycle – 2^nd Sunday of Advent 24

Bar. 5:1-9

There are two hundred and fifty promises of God in the scriptures and if we would believe any one of them, we would experience a freedom and a joy beyond measure.  Perhaps that is why Jesus said to us, “if you believe, you will see the glory of God” (Jn. 11:40).  In today’s first reading from the prophet Baruch, we are told we will not only see the glory of God, but we will also put on that glory.  We will wear that glory as a garment as a royal robe.  It is a promise of restoration, revealing to the world the holiness we were created to share with our creator. 

We have only to believe in the eyes of God, we are more loved, cherished and worthy than we believe we are.  We have allowed ourselves to be deceived into believing we are unworthy because we have fallen short of God’s standard of holiness.  Have we learned nothing from the stories in the New Testament?  Listen to Paul in today’s epistle as he encourages us to “grow in discernment so as to perceive what is of value.”  What we need to grasp is how Paul, a persecutor of Christ’s disciples became a major force in the growth of disciples. He believed because He experienced the mercy and love of Christ. 

Something changed within him, after that encounter and after Annias prayed with him to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17). That is God’s mercy as Paul did nothing up to that point to deserve restoration.  It was his destiny, his reason and purpose of his life.  In the same way, there is a meaning and a purpose of our lives, and we are called to live in it (Eph.2:10).  Like Paul we become holy by the work of God, but we must submit to His plan for our holiness.  We must put ourselves in a position to receive that transforming power and receive what Paul received.  Paul is telling us to discern what is of value so that we may be pleasing to God. 

Baruch, speaking the words of God, is pointing the way to discern what is pleasing to God and that is to stop our “woe is me” “for I am a sinner” breast beating stance and remove that mantle of unworthiness because we were worthy of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins.  We were worth the price God paid for our restoration and now it is time for us to embrace our salvation.  To become believers in what God had offered us and that is our restoration. That restoration comes at a price we refuse to pay because we are convinced by the deceiver that we must earn it.  That is the lie which destroys our belief in God’s promises.

Advent is inviting us to do something different.  Yes pray.  Yes, be reconciled to God.  Yes, do something extra ordinary but change our reason for doing those things.  Do them our of gratitude for taking on the penalty for our sins.  Do them because we want to give glory to God out of thanksgiving not from a desire to please God.   Do them because they flow from our hearts as disciples not as uncertain but hopeful seekers of God’s grace.

What do we expect to happen if we offer God our hearts as a sacrifice this Advent.  Surrendering to His plan for our holiness instead of following our carefully crafted structured practices to encounter God.  It is time for us to take our own journey on the road to Damascus without any plan but expecting an encounter with Jesus. Allow God to surprise us and He did Saul of Tarsus.  Saul was focused and determined as he began his journey.  But God intervened and totally changed Saul’s determination to spread the gospel rather than to pervert the gospel. 

Did you ever consider God has a different intention for your life as we walk our own journey of faith?  Hopefully, we are seeking to build a relationship with God, but have we ever considered God is more intent on our restoration.  God intends to build on a new foundation not the old one we are building our spiritual life upon.  So here is a thought for you to consider these last three weeks of Advent. Read the first letter of John.  It is a short epistle penned by John so that “…you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1Jn.5;17). 

This knowing John is speaking about is not an intellectual knowledge of Christ.  It is an experiencing the person of Jesus calling you, speaking to you, healing you and empowering you.  Why, so you would reflect the glory of God to those who have lost hope.