During the season of Advent, we read extensively from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is the Advent prophet; for, In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we are attentively to Isaiah’s message to Israel. But in order to understand his message, we need to know about the context—what was Israel going through to need a message like the one they receive from Isaiah?
So, let’s consider the context: things had gone from bad to worse for Israel. A few hundred years prior, the twelve tribes had been united under single king. But after just a few generations that unity had begun to suffer. The united Kingdom of David had been divided into the southern kingdom where the Davidic King continued to rule in Jerusalem, and a rival northern Kingdom. The King of the North, not wanting his people to travel to Jerusalem for the Jewish Feasts, started what was basically a new religion, he built a rival temple, instituted new feast days. And as the northerners strayed from the religion of their forefathers, they soon fell into immorality and they became vulnerable to their enemies. And in the year 740 BC, that northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians.
Witnessing what happened in the North, the Prophets of the South pleaded with the southerners to remain faithful to God: if it could happen in the north, it could happen to us. And you’d think, they’d have less reason to stray from God: after all, they had the holy city of Jerusalem, the True Holy Temple, the True Religion was being taught. Yet, within a few generations, even the southerners began to slip and stray.
Prophets like Obadiah, Joel, and Habakkuk, who are painted on the edge of our ceiling, warned the south that the disaster which befell the North would soon befall the South if they did not reform their lives and teach their children to walk in the ways of righteousness.
This is why, in the first reading, Isaiah calls the southerners an “unclean people” their deeds “like polluted rags”, their nation “withered like leaves”. And, just as the prophets had foretold, as the south strayed from God, they too became vulnerable to their enemies. In 605 BC, the Babylonians captured the South; in 589 Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem culminating with the destruction of the city and the Temple in 587. The remaining Jews, as Isaiah foretold, were “carried away by the wind”—most of the Jews of the South were carried off in chains, marched into Babylonian captivity. They were exiled from their homeland, from their temple; loved ones were separated. It was the darkest point in Israel’s history.
Imagine how shaken the Jews must have been. No doubt, they thought, How could God allow this to happen to his chosen people, his holy city, his holy temple. Why has God allowed us to fall into captivity?
Who can’t identify with that sentiment. Who hasn’t felt captive at some point in their life? Who hasn’t felt captive at some point in the last 10 months? Who hasn’t felt like things had gone terribly wrong in their life? In our country? How could things have come to this? The political turmoil, the civil unrest, the grave immorality all around us, wondering when, O Lord will you show yourself? When will there be justice? When will there be mercy?
Isaiah then verbalizes some of Israel’s frustration: “oh that you would rend the heavens and come down with the mountains quaking before you.” Israel was desperate for God to show himself, and do something, and save them.
This is the sentiment that begins the season of Advent—not on a very cheery note, but a realistic one. Right at the beginning, we recognize how much we need God—how much we need a Savior. Our families need Him. Our nation needs Him. I need Him. And if you don’t sympathize with that…If that need for God doesn’t resonate with you. Than a little spiritual tune-up is needed.
For, we get into spiritual trouble, don’t we, when we forget that we need God? When we fall into what the scripture calls spiritual slumber. Look at what happens in my life when I don’t’ pray as I should…when I don’t keep the commandments of God always before me, as I should…when I don’t keep the example of my Savior always before me. A division between me and God begins to grow. Where there was once prayer now there is some earthly distraction, some selfish pursuit, my spiritual life suffers, my moral life suffers. And I’m certainly not filled with the joy that comes from a vibrant living relationship with God.
And so Advent begins with this stark warning. Don’t let what happened to Israel happen to you. Recognize your need for God. Repent. Don’t be carried off by the winds of this godless culture. Plead with God, daily, in the words of the Psalm, “Turn our eyes toward you O God.”
For when we go through life without lifting our eyes to God, without recognizing our need for God, the activity of our life becomes vacuous—empty—undirected by anything but our whims. But when we rightly look to God throughout our day, beginning our day with prayer, engaging in our daily activity prayerfully, finding some time to reflect on the Word of God throughout the day, and ending our day in prayer, our lives become full of God’s presence.
Our lives are fuller when we turn our minds and our hearts to God, than they are when we neglect prayer or when we fill our lives with selfish pursuits. We are happier, we are more joyful, our lives have more meaning, when our faces are turned toward God, when our hearts recognize our need for God.
This week, let us undertake two tasks. First, take stock of your spiritual life. Identify one activity that needs to be replaced with prayer, or at least one that needs to be undertaken with more prayer. And make a holy advent commitment to God, concerning that activity, that the Lord may keep you “firm to the end” in the words of St. Paul today.
Secondly, identify a person who you know, who has fallen away from church and prayer and religion and the sacraments. Pray for them. If you have the courage, at the opportune time, reach out to them. Remind them that it’s advent, invite them, perhaps to watch mass or even attend mass with you. And keep them in prayer throughout this holy season. Pray in the words of our psalmist “turn our eyes toward you O God”.
For any healing, or peace, or unity we hope to see in our families or in our nation, will only when happen when our eyes are rightly turned to God, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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