Make Haste: the Lord is Coming!

2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

[ Mark 1: 1-8 ]

   St Mark the Evangelist: his hastiness and his sense of urgency.

Come, Lord Jesus.

The Gospel reading for the 2nd Sunday of Advent (Year B) is taken from the Gospel according to St Mark, Chapter 1, verse 1 to 8. St Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospels in the Holy Bible. The Bible scholars have observed that this Gospel seems to have been written with a ‘hasty’ and ‘urgent’ undertone – the Greek adverb ‘eutheos’, which means ‘immediately’ or ‘right away’, occurs forty-one (41) times in this shortest of the Gospels.

Unlike the other evangelists, St Mark begins his account of Jesus ‘immediately’, ‘right away’ and straight to the point: ‘The beginning of the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ For St Mark, he has no time for a heart-warming Christmas story, he is writing a testimony about Jesus Christ, the GREATEST news to all humankind.

St Mark the Evangelist: his hastiness and his urgency.

   St John the Baptist: his proclamation.

Echoing Prophet Isaiah’s prophesy in the First Reading, St Mark begins his Gospel with St John the Baptist. St John stands as the intertestamental prophet, the prophet who bridges the Old and New Testaments. He is the forerunner who ‘goes ahead of the Lord to prepare His way before Him’ [Lk 1: 76].

A powerful yet eccentric figure, St John was in the desert preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He invited people to straighten the path for THE ARRIVAL OF THE LORD and make themselves ready for the NEW ERA that was about to dawn [Mk 1: 7-8]: “Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am… I have baptised you with water, but He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”

St John the Baptist: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” [Mt 3: 2]

   Advent: Are we really READY and WORTHY for the One who is to come?

As we enter into the Second Sunday of Advent, our ‘waiting’ continues... As Christians, we are waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The insistent question is: are we really READY and WORTHY for Jesus Christ who is to come?

   Make haste like St Mark.

God-incidentally, the Advent season this year is the shortest: only twenty-two (22) days counting down to Christmas. Perhaps, it is a wake-up call for all of us that TIME IS RUNNING OUT: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” [Mt 3: 2]

With the hastiness and urgency of St Mark, we must stay awake and be vigilant, and always be ready and worthy when the Lord comes for the Day of the Lord will come like a thief… [2 Pet 3: 10] With prayerful watch, we must continuously renew our minds, our hearts and our lives in conformity with the mind, the heart and the life of Jesus our Lord – to live without spot or stain [2 Pet 3: 14].

St John the Baptist came proclaiming ‘a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’. If we do not repent, confess our sins and change our ways, we will never be ready and worthy for Christ.

JESUS IS HERE! Let us MAKE HASTE to go and meet Him! [cf. Mt 25: 6]

Let our fervent prayer be:

   “Dear Jesus, may I be always ready and worthy to welcome You.”

Let us also pray that God’s justice, peace, truth and love may prevail in Malaysia, Israel-Palestine, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua.

   [Note: The Advent penitential service for Church of St Francis Xavier, Petaling Jaya is scheduled on Monday, 11 Dec 2023, 7pm.]