Blessed Second Sunday of Advent my friends! The Scriptures introduce John the Baptist in the readings today. Christians see The Baptist as the last of the Prophets and the great Forerunner of the Christ. John comes to announce the coming Savior and the Kingdom that will come. The impression provided by the Gospels is that many were expecting this coming Kingdom to be an earthly reality similar in experience to the Kingdom of Israel under David.

That Kingdom was incredibility short lived in its full conception. The 11 tribes and the two half-tribes were united under Saul, then a civil war occurred between the tribe of Judah and the other tribes with the rise of David. After the death of Saul the tribes are rejoined under David and remain united under his son Solomon and then fractured again with the tribes of the north becoming Israel and then Samaria while Judah and Benjamin become united under the banner of Judah. In the time that followed Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians and eventually Judah is exiled by Babylon but returns under the Persians. The “kingdom” never returns as it were. “King” Herod of the Gospels is a client monarch of the Roman Republic and then in the Empire. The people of Judah never really saw him and his heirs as legitimate kings. The Kingdom of David, the good old days, does not return.

While some may long for the political reality of the Kingdom, the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus will be an interior reality that leads to an eternal existence. Conversion is the path to eternity. On this Second Sunday of Advent we are called to conversion by the Baptist and prepare the way of the Lord. The imagery is one of massive transformation as mountains are leveled, valleys filled in and crooked ways are made straight. Make a highway for the Lord who is to come!

The Gospels are meant to enlighten our path in this existence and equip us with the senses and organs to live in eternity. Christianity is not just a pie in the sky when you die religion. It is about living in this world in such a way as to be mindful of the next. The transformation of attitude and action is the essential challenge. While Disciples acknowledge that the Master does the heavy lifting, our role in the experience of Redemption is not passive, we are saved by Jesus and sanctified by the Spirit. That last part is the challenge. Disciples walk a path between living the Gospel and avoiding sin. There are the active evils we are to avoid; Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth, Gluttony, Avarice & Lust, and the passive evils of self-absorption and indifference that will lead to our inability to actually love one another as Jesus loved us. Prepare the way of the Lord! Blessed & Belated Sunday fellow Disciples and other Seekers!