COMING & PREPARATION – 1st Sunday of Advent, Year C
Coming and preparation go together. We live more fully in the present when we have a hope and expectation of a good future event. Advent, which means coming, reminds us of great spiritual events and comings. When we have a strong sense of faith, knowledge, conviction and belief in future spiritual events, we live differently spiritually in our present. We want to be prepared for the spiritual events of our life.
The great spiritual events of the past affect our present and future today. The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed a great future coming spiritual event. “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.” The promise was the coming of the Messiah, “The Lord our justice”. We know that promise to have been fulfilled in Jesus.
That event affects our present and future. Having received the Lord Jesus in our past, and receiving Him in our present, we know we have yet to receive the fullness of Jesus into our lives. So we live in the present continually preparing to receive Jesus more fully into our lives.
We are familiar with this reality in our human relationships. We are continually receiving more fully into our lives people who are already present to us, but can be received more fully. So too we receive the Lord more fully. The way people go to other people and the way they are received affects future comings.
The Lord comes to the world as the world is ready. The Lord comes to us as we are spiritually ready. We can hope to grow in our love and strength to receive our Lord into our life. “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His holy ones.” Paul exhorts us to always make progress in our receiving the Lord who comes to us, and in being prepared for future spiritual events.
Just as the Old Testament people looked to the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send the Messiah, so we look to the future fulfillment of the Lord’s promise of Jesus’ return at the end of the ages. Our faith in coming spiritual events affects the way we live.
If someone thinks they are going to live forever on the earth, they may not do any preparation for their meeting the Lord in death. If someone is not aware of the Lord’s presence in their life, they may not be too concerned about keeping the Commandments, living a life of faith, or being concerned about the spiritual comings of the Lord.
The Lord Jesus has promised to return in the future. This great second coming of the Lord will have a great impact on the world, just as the first coming did. Jesus spoke of “signs in the sun…nations in dismay…”. He said: “People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the earth” when the Lord comes with “great power and glory”.
For those who are ready, it will be a glorious time. For those who are unprepared, it will be a terrifying time. For those who live in the present with the expectation of meeting the Lord in their life now, in the future, and in death, the future is full of hope. For those who live in the present and unprepared for their spiritual future, the future becomes a terrifying one.
Our beliefs about the future coming of the Lord to the world and the Lord’s personal coming to us affect what we do in spiritual preparation and living. The words of Jesus in light of His return admonish us to get prepared for the future spiritual events, which give us energy, courage, and motivation in our present.
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and the day catch you by surprise like a trap.” The coming of the Lord is for everyone. “For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth.”
The way we live in the present affects our preparation for the coming of the Lord to us in the present and future, just as surely as the way we live toward others affects their present and future comings to us. “Be vigilant at all times…pray that you have… strength…to stand before the Son of Man.”
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