Today’s question is both philosophical and practical. It’s a question each of us wishes to avoid, yet we know it must be answered. It’s this: How do you prepare for the unexpected? The “unexpected.” If you don’t expect it, how can you prepare for it? Preparation, itself, suggests you know what’s going to happen and you can do something to affect the outcome.
Six decades ago this weekend, something few expected, happened. December 7, 1941. On a quiet Sunday morning, at a place called Pearl Harbor, an unexpected attack occurred; and we found ourselves at war – a terrible war that began with death from the skies and ended with the total destruction of two cities by two bombs.
Some two thousand years ago, a different kind of unexpected event occurred, an event we celebrate on December 8th of each year. We call this event “the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” It’s an event brought about by God in preparation for his incarnation, for the birth of his only Son.
Once again, we are concerned with preparing for the unexpected. Once again we have choices between death and life. For some, the choices have national and international consequences. For the rest of us, we have our own daily decisions to be made about the unexpected. For you see … none of us can know what the next moment brings. For each of us, the “unexpected” is the only thing we can expect.
Although we seldom admit it, we really do not have as much control over our lives, and the lives of others, as we may want to think we have. For some of us, this realization comes when we spoke certain vows to the person we love more deeply than any other human being. Some of us have said: “… I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.” When those words are spoken, each lover expects there will be only “good times.” But those of us who have lived a while realize there are “bad times” as well – and that the “unexpected” can occur. It’s then that the remaining vows take effect: “… I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.”
Some twenty-seven centuries ago, the prophet Isaiah spoke other words of love to the Israelites who had been held captive in Babylon. “Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem … here comes with power the Lord God … like a shepherd he feeds his flock, in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”
Yes, after years of being held captive, the unexpected was about to occur. King Cyrus was about to release the Israelites voluntarily from bondage. They’d be able to return to their homeland – like a flock led by a shepherd who had not deserted them. And for a time, events went well for those who made it safely back to Jerusalem. But once more, unexpected events occurred, and the people found they were again controlled by those who did not acknowledge the power of their Lord God. Once more they sought release from bondage.
However, there was one who realized that the true bondage holding them, was not a foreign power but rather their own sinfulness, their own turning away from the Lord God. A new prophet appeared in the Judean desert. He proclaimed a path of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He urged those who listened to him … to change their ways … to return to the Lord God … to follow another who would, indeed, lead them back to the Lord God. As a sign of their change of heart, this prophet poured purifying water over them.
But this prophet, clothed in camel’s hair, who fed on locusts and wild honey, knew that the “one who was to come” would be greater than any mere prophet. The one whom John the Baptist expected would offer the forgiveness of God through a baptism by the Holy Spirit and not by mere water.
And the expected Messiah did come. He taught. And he suffered as Isaiah had foretold. But then – the unexpected again happened. This Messiah, this Anointed One of God, God’s own Chosen One, not only suffered. He was crucified, died, was buried and rose again. His friends who had followed him had now expected he would remain with them, the Kingdom about which he spoke would be fulfilled in their presence. Yet once more, the unexpected happened. He left them. He left them, but with a promise he would return. He would come again.
Peter, his closest companion, believed him. Peter agreed he did not know the time nor the place of the return of the Christ, the anointed one. But Peter did know that “new heavens and a new earth” would come. Peter also, knew that time, itself, did not matter. After all, for the Lord, there is no earthly time. For Christ, “… one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day.” Thus, the Lord can afford to be patient with us: … to wait for us to change … to become true to his teachings … for us to realize that we have been forgiven … that our future is to be with God.
Yes, in human terms, we have a mere two weeks to prepare for the celebration of the Incarnation of our God, the celebration of his Coming to us as a babe in a manger. But, in divine terms, we have as much time as each of us needs to prepare for the expected return of the One who never really left us.
A few minutes ago, I asked how we are to prepare for the unexpected: those events over which we have no real control. However, a more important question also concerns another event over which we have no control, but one that is our greatest expectation. Using the words of Mark that we heard a few minutes ago: How are we to prepare for … “the beginning of the gospel, the good news, of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?”
Second Sunday of Advent: December 8, 2002
Is 40:1-5,9-11; 2 Pet 3:8-14; Mt 1:1-8