2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

Isaiah 11:1-10

Psalm 71

Romans 15:4-9

Matthew 3:1-12

Waiting For Peace And Restoration

Advent is a season of waiting and anticipation. It is a time of hope. And today’s readings are vivid representation of this hope. In the Gospel, St John the Baptist, the forerunner, preaches in the desert calling the people of Israel to repentance, for “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He challenges the Sadducees and Pharisees to show fruits of repentance, conversion and renewal because God’s judgment is imminent. The long awaited Messiah-King and just Judge is at hand. God’s promise to his people, of which we hear in the first reading, is about to be realized.

The prophet Isaiah announces the coming of God’s Anointed One. Full of the Holy Spirit, this Messiah-King, a descendent of king David, is coming to restore peace, harmony and God’s glorious kingdom of truth and justice on earth. In his days, justice shall flourish; happiness and fullness of peace for ever. This beautiful prophecy of Isaiah may be difficult to accept in our contemporary world characterized by violence, conflicts, discrimination, injustices, corruption, political upheavals, wars, and so forth. In front of this reality, we may simply say that this prophecy is a utopia and unrealistic; that it is a dream. 

Indeed, this prophecy reminds us of the famous discourse of Rev. Martin Luther King Junior, which he made in 1963: “I have a dream”. Isaiah’s prophecy, in fact, anticipates the fulfillment of God’s wondrous plan for us. It announces the full realization of the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus Christ is coming to restore at the end of time. And this cannot but inspire hope in us, just as St Paul tells us in the second reading. 

He reminds us that the Sacred Scripture aims at instructing us and inspiring hope in us, because it reveals to us God’s saving plan for us. Thus, he invites us to live in harmony, tolerance and patience despites all our differences, while we await the full realization of God’s plan with courage and perseverance. Therefore, let the words of John the Baptist sound once more in our ears: “Prepare the way of the Lord;” for he is coming and he will not delay. He is coming to save us. And like Martin Luther King said: “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair”.