Ken Overberg, S.J.

Third Sunday of Advent, Dec 16, 2007

“Come, let us walk in the light.”  The wisdom of Isaiah guides much of our Advent prayer.  Isaiah of Jerusalem exercised his prophetic ministry in and around Jerusalem from about 740 to 700 BCE.  These were terrible times of war and devastation.  Assyria, the superpower of the time, had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and destroyed much of the southern kingdom.

Parts of the Book of Isaiah are from much later--but just as difficult--times: Second Isaiah spoke to the people in exile in Babylon 150 years later, Third Isaiah to the people back in a desolate Jerusalem after the exile.

Today’s passage offers a promise of salvation, a message of comfort and hope for a people in need of liberation—just like us!

In today’s gospel, Matthew’s Jesus borrows some of Isaiah’s images to describe God’s reign breaking into the world.  Jesus is addressing the disciples of John the Baptist, described in our gospels as the one who prepares the way for Jesus, but perhaps an even more famous prophet whose many followers lasted hundreds of years.  Indeed, there remains a small group in Iraq today.

Let’s listen to God’s word of hope and liberation!

*****

“Suffering and moral evil stalk our world unhindered” (p.141).  Jon Sobrino’s sober words in his book “Where Is God?” hardly offer an Advent theme, it seems.   Rather, as he himself says, they express “the painful reality without sugar-coating it.”  But this reality IS part of Advent.

Surely Sobrino’s words could have been proclaimed by all three Isaiahs—in siege and war, in desert journeys and exile, in desolation and destruction.  Jesus too could have spoken this way, living in an occupied land, experiencing a massive gap between the few rich and the many poor, knowing that much life was cheap—indeed one more crucified Jew would mean nothing.

Still, in this context, the Isaiahs and Jesus speak words of hope, even joy.  Peoples will destroy their weapons of war and shape tools for life, lion will graze with lamb in the peaceable kingdom, water will break forth in the desert, lepers are cleansed, and the poor hear good news.  Advent themes in the midst of turmoil!  Not a pie-in-the-sky optimism, but a radical trust in the gracious acts of our loving God.

People can trust in God because of the reliability of God, the fidelity of God.

Sobrino also addresses this other side of his sober realism, affirming that God “suffers” in silence with all who suffer.  He adds: “Love always creates hope… and that hope gives life” (p.150).  “Hope does not die, and in hope God remains mysteriously present” (p.137).

Surely we the people of Bellarmine can affirm Sobrino’s sober realism.

We don’t need to repeat the litany of examples of suffering and moral evil in our ordinary lives.  Can we also hear and live all these words of hope and liberation?  Past, present, and future, God comes to save us, strengthening our hearts with abundant love.  This week in Advent offers a perfect time to ponder: In what people and events do you find signs of God’s reign?  How do you contribute to God’s empire?