1st Sunday of Advent, Year C (2024) – Homily
1st Sunday of Advent, Year C
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14 (1b)
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
December 1, 2024
In 24 days we will celebrate something wonderful, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. There is hope for Jesus comes to save us.
I said in 24 days. We aren’t there yet. Today we begin Advent as a time of preparation for what is to come.
Jesus speaks of what is to come, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world.”
Jesus speaks of the end of the ages and his Second Coming.
Does the thought of this leave you in dismay? Are you perplexedby what Jesus says? Do you dread the thought of the Second Coming happening? Do you die of fright at the thought of the Second Coming?
Why should you?
If you are living as Jesus teaches, there is nothing to fear about the Second Coming. If you are living as Jesus teaches, when the Second Coming happens, you will be taken up to Heaven. This is our hope. This is our faith.
However, if your hearts “become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life,” you will fall into sin and you will not be ready. One who is not ready, who is not living as Jesus teaches, has reason to “die of fright” at the thought of the Second Coming.
We need hope!
Those who live as Jesus teaches have good reason for hope.
Jeremiah most often preached a message that spoke of defeat by the enemy. The Israelites were not living as the Lord had taught them. So, God handed them over to their enemy. Israel would be destroyed and many were taken away in Exile. Many despaired.
In the midst of the prophecies that Israel would be defeated, at times like this passage, Jeremiah is given a message of hope to deliver. Which would you rather receive, a message of defeat or a message of hope?
Through Jeremiah, the Lord speaks of the days when He will fulfill his promise to raise up an heir to David who will “do what is right and just.”
This passage is fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus Christ that we will celebrate at Christmas. God keeps his promises. This is reason for hope.
As the Israelites needed hope when they were being defeated by their enemy the Babylonians, we need hope as we face the ultimate enemy, Satan.
Jesus fulfills the prophecies of a messiah to come. Knowing this, we can trust in Jesus’ words prophecies about his Second Coming.
If we give our hearts over to Jesus, He will make us “increase and abound in love…so as to strengthen your hearts.”
The challenge is that it’s a pretty big “if.”
There are people who outright reject God, denying his existence.
There are people who might acknowledge that God might exist but don’t live with any real belief. At most, they see God as the one who will let them into Heaven but they don’t get what is needed to enter Heaven.
There are those who profess some belief in the Lord. Perhaps they even try to live some of his teachings but they think can reject other parts of his teachings and still get into Heaven.
This leads me to think of the Lord’s words in Revelation 3:15-16, “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
I pray you aren’t looking to do the minimum.
Who does get into Heaven? Those who bow themselves and conduct their lives according to God’s commands.
Paul visited many lands. After he left, he would write letters to “earnestly ask and exhort” the communities he had led to Jesus to conduct themselves according to God’s teaching. I hope I do the same for you.
It is not enough to say we believe in Jesus. We need to live what He teaches. With this in mind, in our opening prayer for Mass today we prayed for “the resolve to run forth to meet” our Christ.
We ask the Lord to make his ways known to us.
We ask him to teach us his paths and to guide us in his truth.
We must strive to follow Jesus as the way and the truth and the life.
In our humanity we are weak. At times we sin. If we set our hearts on Christ, there is always hope. Even when we sin, we need not lose hope.
When you have sinned, look at Jesus on the Cross. See the one who has died for you. Don’t take this for granted but know He stands ready to forgive you if you truly repent in the depths of your heart and soul.
If you love Jesus, you will strive to live as He teaches. You will find hope in what He offers.
“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”