Let Us Walk In the Light Of the Lord: Sunday Reflection

This morning’s Gospel reading is Matthew 24:37–44:

Jesus said to his disciples:

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new liturgical year and the start of a new walk through the entire mission of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In fact, we can see our liturgical calendar as a parallel to the life of Jesus, from the Annunciation to the Passion, from the Ascension to Pentecost, and then all the way to the Great Commission and the mission of His pilgrim church. 

We start Advent as Mary and all of the Israelites did, in anticipation of the arrival of Christ. It starts with the promise of His coming, and the need to reorient our lives and our hearts to receive Him. It does not come with an expectation, but rather anticipation of a gift that comes in the Lord’s own time and in the form dictated by His wisdom. We must know the promise, have faith that God always fulfills his promise, and trust that he will do so in a form that shows His love for us. 

Our readings start today with a prophecy from Isaiah, whom the Lord blessed with the clearest sight of the Messiah amongst all His prophets. Isaiah professed the vision he received of the new Jerusalem and of the Savior who would deliver the “many peoples” of the world to it (Isaiah 2:5). Isaiah prophesied that the call to Jerusalem would go far beyond the people of Judea and Samaria, long before Jesus established his Church and gave it the Great Commission:

This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come, the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Isaiah preached this shortly before the fall of the Northern Kingdom/Samaria in the eighth century BC. The Israelites had divided roughly two centuries before that, and the Northern Kingdom weakened and fell first. It likely had reached a state of decline during Isaiah’s service as a prophet. The kingdom of Judea would fall two centuries later, then be restored, only to fall again for good in the following centuries to Greece and then Rome, which would utterly destroy Judea as a political entity in the first two centuries AD. 

The floods came for God’s people repeatedly, in other words. And yet Isaiah, like Jeremiah a century later or so, preached of hope and redemption. Isaiah expressly prophesied salvation for “many peoples,” not just for the Israelites, although that salvation would come through Jerusalem. Isaiah frames this salvation based on the Lord’s original command to the Israelites that they should build a holy city in Jerusalem and Mount Zion, from where all the world would receive “instruction and the Word of the Lord.” Isaiah then warns that “He shall judge between the nations and impose terms on many peoples.”

By Jesus’ time, however, Jerusalem had been captive for generations and fallen far from its days of the Davidic and Solomonic kingdoms. The Israelites had not given up hope for the Messiah, even if they had not grasped what form and mission the Messiah would take up. Rather than prepare in faith and make themselves ready, however, Jesus warns in today’s Gospel that too many of them had fallen asleep in their faith. It is not enough, Jesus warns, to know the prophecy. Unless one orients his life to meet its inevitable fulfillment, knowledge is meaningless. 

The people walked in darkness. If they waited until the light was upon them, Jesus warns, it would be too late. The people had to prepare for the flood so that they may be ready for salvation from it. “So too, you also must be prepared,” He explains the teaching, “for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

This is the purpose of Advent, the season of preparation and anticipation. Thanks to the Scriptures and the Church, we already know the mission of Christ and how His sacrifice offers us the salvation necessary for eternal life. But are we prepared for the light? Do we walk in the light of the Lord – or do we prefer the darkness, so as to cover our sinfulness and rebellions? Are we just content to know the promise, or do we try to live the covenant with Christ in our hearts, rather than just in our Christmas cards and nativity sets? 

Advent is a time of joy and anticipation, which makes this season special. However, if we are not approaching it as a season of real preparation, a way to reset ourselves and reorient our lives and hearts to the Messiah we anticipate, the flood will come for us as well.  

Previous reflections on these readings:

The front page image is “Prophet Isaiah” by Antonio Balestra, c.18th century. On display at the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona. Via Wikimedia Commons. 

“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature that looks at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.  

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