2nd Sunday of Advent - Year B - A Joyful Expectation & “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns”
Friends, you will notice that the Responsorial Psalm for this second week of Advent paints a dreamlike scene—a road filled with liberated captives heading home to Zion (Jerusalem), mouths filled with laughter, tongues rejoicing. It’s a glorious picture from Israel’s past, a “new exodus,” the deliverance from exile in Babylon. It’s being recalled in a moment of obvious uncertainty and anxiety. But the psalmist isn’t at all feeling nostalgic. Remembering “the Lord has done great things” in the past, he is making an act of faith and hope—that God will come to Israel in its present need, that He’ll do even greater things in the future.
This is what the Advent readings are all about: we recall God’s saving deeds—in the history of Israel and in the coming of Jesus. Our remembrance is meant to stir our faith, to fill us with confidence that, as today’s second reading puts it, “the one who began a good work in [us] will continue to complete it” until He comes again in glory. Each of us is like Israel in her exile—led into captivity by our sinfulness, in need of restoration and conversion by the Word of the Holy One. The lessons of salvation history should teach us that, as God again and again delivered Israel, in His mercy He will free us from our attachments to sin if we turn to Him in repentance.
That’s the message of John, introduced in today’s Gospel as the last of the great prophets. But John is greater than the prophets. He’s preparing the way not only for a new redemption of Israel but for the salvation of “all flesh”. John quotes Isaiah (40:3) to tell us that he’s come to build a road home for us, a way out of the wilderness of sin and alienation from God. It’s a road we’ll follow Jesus down, a journey we’ll make, as today’s First Reading puts it, “rejoicing that [we’re] remembered by God.”
As we continue our journey through Advent, we would like to share our latest video “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns”, a Christian hymn infused with the imagery of morning light typical of early Greek hymnody. The Advent text by John Brownlie stirs hope in the hearts of all who look forward to the return of Christ. The text concludes with a paraphrase of the ancient prayer of the church-"Maranatha," or "Lord, come quickly".
Video can be watched by clicking here or on the picture below:
