Advent Explained

As we begin the holy season of Advent, one of the temptations we should strive to avoid is the tendency to reduce Advent and Christmas to a homey and sentimental seasons. Advent, in reality is a kind of preparation for revolution. If you look at the biblical figures like Isaiah, Mary and John the Baptist that are highlighted in the liturgical readings for this season, you will notice that they are saddled with the energy and electricity of revolution, and not comfort at all. Readings from Prophet Isaiah which are used throughout Advent deal particularly with the return of Israelites from exile in Babylon. The return was a very important event for ancient Israel because the destruction and loss of Jerusalem was such a disastrous calamity. The Babylonians, in 587 BC had destroyed Jerusalem. After bringing the temple town, they carried the brightest and the best Israelites into exile. The experience was like September 11 multiplied by a thousand times for Ancient Israel. The temple’s destruction was more consequential because it was seen not only as a political defeat (the capital city was destroyed), but also a defeat of Yahweh. God’s dwelling place on earth was destroyed. For the Jews., the temple was much more than a shrine to Yahweh, it was Yahweh’s home on earth with his people. So, after the destruction of temple, the Jews faced the biggest theological dilemma ever— how could the Lord, the Creator of the universe and everything in it be defeated? But when the exiled, 75 years later returned, Prophet Isaiah saw that as a great victory, meaning that the King of Israel, Yahweh, has proven himself stronger than the king of Babylon. After the return, Israel was oppressed again by the Greeks and the Romans. So, from the heart of the nation comes the great cry: Lord when will you again show the might of your arms? About 500 years after the exile, there appeared in Judean desert a strange figure, dressed in animal skins, eating locust and wild honey— John the Baptist. What is his message? He returned right back to Isaiah and declared: I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: prepare a way for the Lord. He is going right back to the idea of Isaiah preparing the highway for the return of the exiled, and Yahweh the King of Israel will be leading his people back. John the Baptist is saying that the definitive victory of Yahweh is about to happen. So, prepare a highway for God. 

When John said I must decrease and he must increase, who did he point to? He points to a young Galilean rabbi whose message was very simple and unambiguous: The Kingdom of God is at hand. There is a temptation to spiritualize his message, but before you do that, see it as a backdrop to what we have been talking about. Jesus is now saying that in him, in his own person, Yahweh is emerging definitively and victoriously as King. He has now come to rule the world. He supersedes the kings of the world. Interestingly, the Gospels show us in multiple ways what happens when Jahweh is King. Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus engages in open table fellowship invites the outsiders, the insiders, the healthy, the sick, the acceptable, the unacceptable. With that he acts as a King gathering his tribes. He also forgave sins. To the paralyzed man Jesus said, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” With those words he called from exile those who have been estranged by sin. In his own person and through his teaching about love, compassion, peace, non-violence, he is exemplifying what it looks like for Yahweh to be King. Sadly, the powers of the world  came after him. They got him arrested, lynched him in a Roman style by putting him on the cross. But his momentum happened when Yahweh raised him from the dead. He comes back from the dead, and convinced those who saw him that he is indeed the triumphant Warrior, Yahweh the King. That he is indeed what John the Baptist said he was: “Prepare a highway for the Lord” for the return of the King. He also vindicates what he himself said: “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” As he comes back risen from the dead, he shows himself to be the victorious King of Israel. St. Paul and other first century Christians went to the Roman world announcing that the Risen Jesus is Lord. He is the Davidic King who has come to rule Israel and the world. When we read in the Scriptures or declare with our own lips that Jesus is Lord, we take it for granted. But the watchword of the time was “Kaizer Kyrios,” (Caesar is the lord). With unnerving boldness and uncommon conviction Paul rejected the lordship of Caesar and in its place declares, “Jesus is Lord,” meaning that Jesus the God of Israel  is victorious over the kings of the world.

St. Mark was a companion of St. Peter, the leader of the Church. He came most likely from Palestine to Rome with St. Peter. He was also a friend of St. Paul as the Acts of Apostles tell us. He knew both Peter and Paul, two great evangelists of the early Church. And both Peter and Paul were killed during Emperor Nero persecution around the year 65 AD. Mark wrote his Gospel around the year 70, that is a few years after the martyrdom of Peter and Paul. How did he begin it? The opening line of his gospel is “The beginning of the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” When we read it today, we brush it off because we know it, we believe it, it has been mentioned time and time again that Jesus is the Son of God. We hardly pay attention to the significance of those words. However, every one of those words is a provocation. The gospel of Mark’s opening statement is a paradigm shift with a huge historical consequences. “The beginning of the good news…” In Greek term it is “euaggelion,” which means, glad tidings or glad news. It was used by the Roman Emperor when he is victorious in war. He would send evangelists out ahead of him carrying the good news that Caesar has won. St. Mark was distinctively and consciously being provocative when he said he has the good news (euaggelion). But his good news is not about Caesar, but about someone who Caesar killed and who God raised from the dead. He is the one who has real imperial victory. His name is Jesus Christ— Yeshua Hamashiach. Hamashiach means the anointed one. The anointed one before him was King David. So, Mark is saying the true and real King is Yeshua (Jesus). As if that was not enough, at the end of his gospel’s opening statement, Mark called him “the Son of God” (Yios Tou theou). Again, in those days, it was a deeply provocative declaration to make because Yios Tou theou was a Roman imperial title. The emperor was the son of God, a sign of the emperor’s supposedly divine status. But in a provocative manner, St. Mark is saying that the emperor is not Yios Tou theou; rather Jesus is the Yios Tou theou (the Son of God). Mark’s fighting words was a substitution of the Roman Emperor. But it does not mean that Jesus would relocate to Rome and rule from there, rather he is the One to whom final allegiance is due. He is properly the Lord. Those old kings no longer matter, the One who matters from now moving forward is Christ Jesus the King. 

This is why Advent— which is a preparation for the coming of the Lord is not a homey interior feast, rather a preparation for a revolution. Many of us, consciously and unconsciously fall and submit our allegiance to the kings of this world, and this submission has brought about hatred, violence, oppression, domination etc. But Mark and other gospels say that the true way is the way of the King of Israel, the way of Jesus, the Son of God, the crucified and risen Jesus. So, change and repent. Incidentally, Jesus’ opening declaration is “Repent for the Kingdom of God is close at hand.”Yes, a kingdom is at hand and a new King has emerged. Therefore, change and live under his lordship. That is the potently permanent and revolutionary message of Advent.