Second Sunday of Advent

Lectionary: 5 ​

John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

 

 

John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul sound a mighty roar in today's readings, warning us to repent before That Day comes. Both believed it was immanent; it must happen soon, very soon! If it's delayed there's a reason, and Paul explained: 

...he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Repentance, atonement, sorrow and reparation for sin: if Christian life were a choral arrangement these would be the middle tones of our music. Our joyful praises of the Triune God, Mary, the Saints, and Angels are the sopranos. The good news of God’s mercy for his people provides the foundational bass, the assurances of our faith and the motives for our charity. Penance adds the rich, dark tones, the scuro of chiarascuro. 

That virtue is not lost to our religious tradition but it seems to be seriously overlooked today. Even during Advent and Lent there is little demand for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Many Catholics, like their Protestant kin, don't see the point. They enjoy the entertainment of the God's praises; they revel in the Good News of God's mercy; but they don't accept the duty and privilege of remorse for sin. They do not hear and cannot appreciate the extraordinary privilege and luxury of our faith.  

At least part of the problem is the ideology of individuality. Most of us live rather humdrum, ordinary lives, rarely venturing into ridiculous kinds of sin or crime. We pay our taxes, do our work, observe the ceremonies and celebrations of family and citizenship, pay half a mind to politics, and spend much time with idle entertainment. Reminded of the mandatory practice of penance I ask, "Have I sinned? Where? When?"

Penance, as we find it in the Bible, addresses more than my particular offenses, great or small. They should be addressed, of course, but penance is also concerned for the sins of the Church, the family, race, tribe, and nation. It's profoundly aware of the traditions of sin which we inherit and no single person can change. 

As Psalm 106 reminds us: 

We have sinned like our ancestors;

we have done wrong and are guilty.

Our ancestors in Egypt

did not attend to your wonders.

They did not remember your manifold mercy;

they defied the Most High at the Red Sea.

When Jesus insisted that Saint John baptize him, he had no need to repent of his own sins; he had none. Rather, he accepted the guilt of his ancestors from Abraham to Joseph; and the guilt of the Church from his day forward. He took upon himself that grave responsibility which was only satisfied by his passion and death.

The penitential seasons of Advent and Lent invite us to renew the Baptism we share with Jesus. We do penance by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. If we do not endulge in neurotic shame and remorse, we can nonetheless feel profound sadness and regret for the violence that is done, often in our name, by systemic forces in society, business, church, and government agencies.

The scriptures describe in excruciating detail the complicity of government, religion, family, disciples, and friends in the death of Jesus. They remind us of "everything done on (the earth which) will be found out!"

The same scriptures assure us of his personal forgiveness as he rose from the dead, gathered his disciples, and sent them to the world. During Advent, grace allows us to enter the dark, cold despair of winter, to feel revulsion at the violence which is carelessly visited upon the vulnerable, because we are sustained in our prayer by the tympani, bassoons, and tubas of the Gospel. If the tenors and sopranos are silent at the moment, we have every confidence of their reemergence at Christmas.