Beginning with the End in Mind (Advent I)

This Sunday we enter into the season of Advent - a time of anticipation, of joyful waiting focused primarily on the upcoming celebration of the birth of Christ. But as a time of waiting, Advent also anticipates the second coming of Jesus at the end of time. This dual nature of the season is reflected in the readings of this first Sunday of Advent.

The Gospel reading comes from the last chapters of Matthew. In it, Jesus refers to the last days by comparing them to the fate of Noah and his contemporaries. Only the good and faithful were saved from the waters of the flood, Jesus reminds His disciples. The others suspected nothing of their fate until it was upon them. The Son of Man will also come unexpectedly He tells them.

A similar cautionary tale is told in each of the other Gospels, informing our understanding of Advent as a time both of waiting and being prepared, lest the end of times should come upon us.

In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah the narrative is reversed, from waiting as best we can for the Lord to come, to journeying together towards what the Lord has prepared for us. 'Come let us go together,' it says. 'Let us walk into the light of God.'

To some, these two lessons might come across as a contradiction - are we waiting for the Lord, preparing ourselves, or heading off to seek the Lord and what has been prepared for us?

If we understand our faith as the basis of a relationship with God, with the give and take that a relationship involves, the answer is both. In joyful anticipation, and desiring to be in union with the fulness of God, we set out to seek the Lord who is also seeking us. By following the example that has been set for us by Christ himself.

He who became incarnate like us, so that by following His example we might become more like Him.

In this way our celebration of Christ's beginning is joined together with our consciousness of the end.

As we enter into this remarkable season of Advent then, let's embrace the contradiction, and begin with the end in mind.

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