Homily: 2nd Sunday of Advent - A New Beginning

On this second Sunday of Advent we read the opening lines of Saint Mark’s Gospel.  St. Mark’s Gospel was written between the years 60 and 70, just a few years after the deaths of Peter and Paul at the hands of the Roman authorities.  In fact, St. Mark had been a very close companion to the Apostle Peter, traveling with Him to Rome, where Peter was put to death.  Mark was not an eyewitness to the actions and teachings of Jesus; he learned the details of Jesus’ Ministry which he put into his Gospel from Peter.  Mark composed his Gospel most likely in Rome, in the heart of the city that put his friends to death, while his fellow Christians were being thrown to the lions in the Coliseum.

The Opening Lines of ancient texts, such as the Gospels, are often very important, encapsulating the author’s purpose for writing.  Listen again to Saint Mark’s opening line: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.”

The very first word of Mark’s Gospel is the greek word, arche—the beginning, found also in the opening line of the Gospel of St. John.  In arche ho logos, wrote Saint John, in the beginning was the word.  And the first words of both of those Gospels harken back to the very first word of the entire Bible itself in the book of Genesis. The first word of the entire bible is the Hebrew Word, Bereshyth – “in the beginning.”  “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth”—the story of creation.
And Mark uses this word purposely telling us that this Gospel is the story of a new creation—it’s a new beginning.

We know we live in a fallen world, a world torn apart by violence and sin and selfishness and perversity, a place where things are not as they should be, not as God intended.  The world is good, it is not completely fallen, but amidst the goodness of the world, we realize that things are off-kilter, people die before their time, good people suffer, wicked people prosper.

St. Mark’s Gospel isn’t merely a story about an inspiring ethical teacher who performed a few miracles. St. Mark uses this word, arche, intentionally to show that just as God brought creation into existence, through Jesus, God is bringing about a new order, a restoration, a healing of all of creation, and reconciliation between God and man.

The second word in the Greek, is the word euangelion  from which we get the word, evangelize.  The Greek word euangelion means glad tidings or good news, we translate it often, Gospel.  At the time of the birth of Christ, the Romans worshipped Caesar as a God, in fact, a title for Cesar Augustus was “Son of God”.  Caesar’s birthday was called the ‘Good News’ the Gospel.  To use this word in Rome, to apply it to someone other than the emperor, was very dangerous.

Euangelion in Mark’s time was also a word used to announce an imperial victory—when the emperor won a battle, the angeloi—the messengers—were sent around the empire announcing the euangelion—the victory message of the emperor.
And Saint Mark has the audacity to announce from the belly of the beast, from the heart of Rome, the capital of this great empire, that the true euangelion is not the birth of Ceasar, it has nothing to do with an imperial victory—the Gospel that St. Mark was announcing is the victory of Jesus Christ over the powers of sin and death—and the ushering in of God’s kingdom which is greater than any earthly kingdom.

St. Mark had tremendous courage proclaiming that Caesar was not the Son of God, it is not Caesar who is the anointed Christ of God, rather, it is Jesus of Nazareth.  It is his kingdom that will have no end. This is why the symbol for St. Mark’s Gospel by the way is a lion, a symbol of courage.

St. Mark’s opening passage continues, recalling the prophecy of Isaiah which we also heard today, of a voice crying out in the wilderness, in the desert, prepare ye the way of the Lord.  In the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, the prophet explains that the terrible calamity that had befallen the Jewish People is because of their unfaithfulness to God.  Because of their sins, because they did not uphold the ways of the Lord, because they did not teach their children to be faithful, they had become vulnerable to their enemies and had been captured and carried away into exile by the Babylonians.  Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed, the people marched into Babylonian captivity.

The 40th Chapter of Isaiah is also a new beginning; it begins Isaiah’s message of Consolation. The prophet describes a time where God will restore, he will rebuild, he will bring the exiles home.  St. Mark draws upon this image to show that the Gospel of Jesus Christ Son of God begins the definitive story of God bringing the exiles home.  Jesus is the consolation for which Israel longed; and all those who are lost in sin, all those who are captive to the powers of the world, will find freedom in Jesus Christ.  This is very good news, so Isaiah says, “Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice”.

The life of every Christian should involve telling others about the Good News.  Reaching out to people who feel enslaved, caught in the chains of addiction or fear or grief; they feel helpless, hurt by the selfishness of others, frustrated.

There are people out there who don’t know Jesus Christ.  Sometimes even baptized Catholics don’t know Jesus Christ.  Pope Francis and Pope Benedict have called them, baptized pagans: people who have been sacramentalized but never evangelized—who may have been baptized, but never really came to follow Christ.  Catholics who perhaps went to Catholic school for 12 or more years, yet get married outside of the Church, or stop going to Church altogether, or reject certain teachings of Jesus.  I think there have even been priests who make it through seminary without really encountering Jesus as Savior.

The season of Advent is to prepare our hearts for Jesus Christ to come into our hearts in a new way.  We make straight the paths of our hearts, we prepare our hearts to make  place for Him.  Through prayer, repentance, acts of charity we carve out a place in our hearts for Christ to dwell.  During Advent, especially, we need to set aside time every day for quiet prayer, for reflection.  We become quiet, that we may encounter the Lord.  Only then can we truly be filled with the glad tiding of Christmas, the good news of Jesus coming to set captives free.

St. Mark wrote his Gospel for people who feel exiled, captive, alone, afraid, frustrated, oppressed. He wrote his Gospel for the Church and all humanity who long for a deeper knowledge of Christ, who long for him to return again.  As an Advent meditation, I highly encourage you to read the Gospel of Mark, from beginning to end: it’s the shortest Gospel, taking maybe an hour to read.  If you can suffer through an hour of Browns football, you can set aside some quality time for encountering our Savior in the written Word of God. Read it out loud, feel the words of the Gospel on your lips. Believe what you read in the Gospels, and proclaim what you believe for the Glory of God and Salvation of souls.