AND THE COMING OF OUR SAVIOR JESUS ​​CHRIST

The first Sunday of Advent is the gateway to a new liturgical year, this time designated with the letter «C», in which the Sunday Gospel passages will be taken from the Gospel of Luke …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The first Sunday of Advent it is the entrance door to a new liturgical year, this time designated with the letter «C», in which the Sunday Gospel passages will be taken from the Gospel of Luke.

This writing constitutes the first part of a single work, the second of which is the Acts of the Apostles. By building this literary complex, Luke wanted to show that the life of the Church is rooted in Christ and finds its center of gravity in him. It is no coincidence that the Acts begin by summarizing the third Gospel in this way:

«In the first story, Theophilus, I covered everything that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day he was taken up into heaven, after having given instructions to the apostles whom he had chosen through the Holy Spirit" (At 1,1-2).

And among "what Jesus did and taught" there is the eschatological discourse, the one about the last things, from which the pericope of this first Sunday of Advent is taken. Let's read it:

"During that time, Jesus told his disciples: «There will be signs in the sun, in the moon and stars, and on earth the anguish of people anxious about the roar of the sea and the waves, while men will die from fear and waiting for what will happen on earth. Indeed, the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and glory. When will these things start to happen, Rise up and raise your head, because your liberation is near. Be careful of yourselves, may your hearts not be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness and worries of life and that that day does not fall on you suddenly; in fact it will fall like a snare on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Keep watch at all times praying, so that you have the strength to escape everything that is about to happen, and to appear before the Son of man" (LC 21,25-28.34-36).

The chapter 21 of the Lucanian Gospel, built around the eschatological discourse of the chapter 13 by Marco, it is an example of that literary genre also present in other writings of the New Testament and in particular in the last book of the Christian canon: the Apocalypse. It is a way of presenting reality that should not scare us, but neither should we distract ourselves from the message it carries and sometimes conceals. To find a musical comparison, it's like the A day of wrath from the Requiem Mass by Verdi. First all the strings intervene and the percussion emerges, drums and bass drums. Then they suddenly stop the sound and behold, Finally, the meaning of what was done:

«Watch and pray at all times, so that you have the strength to escape everything that must happen, and to appear before the Son of man" (LC 21,36).

All this movement, in today's song, starts from an apparently harmless appreciation made by some disciples, al v. 5: “While some spoke of the temple and the beautiful stones and votive offerings that adorned it, [Jesus] he said:

“There will come days when, of all that you admire, there will not be stone upon stone that will not be destroyed".

So Jesus instead of tuning into the aesthetic question of the beauty of the temple begins an eschatological discourse on the ruin of it and of Jerusalem, on cosmic catastrophes and the return of the Son of Man which covers the entire chapter up to the verse on vigilance which we mentioned, which closes it.

In all of this talk Jesus explains that the destruction of the temple is not a sign of the end of the world (LC 21,5-9), but the beginning of the "times of the people" (cf.. times of nations of Luke 21,24), which are the times of history, which will end with the coming of the Son of Man. Saint Luke quickly mentions the parousia – “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and glory” (LC 21,27) – since he rather prefers to focus on men's reactions to eschatological events. If the emphasis is on history, because it is the place where the believer is called to hope, watching and praying, in the midst of tribulations, the glorious coming of the Lord is seen by Luke through the reactions it produces on men. Catastrophic events in nature or history, in heaven or on earth, which will be a cause of anguish and confusion, of anxious waiting, of fear and death for many men; for believers, instead, they could be the sign of the approach of salvation: «Rise up and raise your heads, because your liberation is near" (LC 21,28). Raising your head also means raising your eyes and seeing what remains invisible to many, that salvation that advances amidst the tribulations that unfold over time. That "Kingdom" that emerges from behind the rubble of history, founded on the promise of the Lord which remains steadfast even in the accumulation of ruins "on the earth" (LC 21,25). So no pessimism, no need to make natural and historical catastrophes coincide, no matter how devastating, like wars, the pandemic, ecological crises, with the end of the world, but also no cynicism, no escape from the pain and absurdities of reality to take refuge in a spiritualistic or naively optimistic vision.

For San Luca everyone, believers and non-believers, they are subjected to the risk of being overwhelmed and crushed by the events that are to happen, especially believers if they do not watch and pray (cf.. LC 21,34). Collective fears, the planetary anxieties that enslave men and women, making them prey to what may happen – «men will die from fear and from waiting for what will happen on earth» (LC 21,26) – they constitute an eschatological drama that affects the entire ecumene (oikoumene: LC 21,26 cf.. «the face of the whole earth» by LC 21,35), even the disciples.

The exhortation to vigilance At that time (LC 21,34.36) it is first and foremost an appeal to clarity, to sobriety, not to seek ways of numbing and immunizing oneself from the weight and pain of reality and not to let oneself be dulled by the "noise" of events and also by the seduction of certain narratives, which takes advantage of fears and anxieties to distort reality by presenting an alternative, as we experienced during the pandemic period or now with the ongoing wars. It's worth repeating; these catastrophic events which will be taken as a sign of the "end" by many and therefore a cause for confusion, anguish, fear and death for many people, for believers they could be a sign of the approach of salvation and a new beginning in life, "because your liberation is near" (LC 21,28). The believer stands up in the attitude of one who possesses the hope born from the Resurrection of Christ; and thanks to the Lord's reassurances he glimpses the meaning of everything that happens. Jesus reminds disciples who can let themselves be overwhelmed by fears and anxieties: «Watch out for yourselves, may your hearts not be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness and worries of life". They are words that recall what the Lord had already announced in a parable, reported in the chapter 8 by Luca, about the seed being suffocated by worries.

I end here by reporting the words of Pope Benedict XVI that, commenting on this passage of the Gospel, called Christian testimony into question, similar to a city in plain sight:

«The Word of God reminds us of this today, tracing the line of conduct to follow to be ready for the coming of the Lord. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says to the disciples: “Do not let your hearts become heavy with dissipation, drunkenness and worries of life... keep watch at all times praying" (LC 21,34.36). So, sobriety and prayer. And the apostle Paul adds the invitation to "grow and abound in love" among us and towards everyone, to make our hearts firm and blameless in holiness (cf.. 1Ts 3,12-13). In the midst of the upheavals of the world, or to the deserts of indifference and materialism, Christians welcome salvation from God and testify to it with a different way of life, like a city set on a mountain. “In those days – announces the prophet Jeremiah – Jerusalem will live peacefully, and she will be called: Lord-our-justice” (33,16). The community of believers is a sign of God's love, of his justice which is already present and operating in history but which is not yet fully realized, and therefore it must always be awaited, invoked, sought with patience and courage" (Angelus 2.12.2012).

From the Hermitage, 1° December 2024

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