Dec. 5: Second Sunday of Advent

‘Jerusalem, my destiny’

Bar 5:1-9; Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6; Phil 1:4-6, 8-11; Lk 3:1-6

Taking his cue from the Gospel of Luke’s emphasis on the fateful journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, the Catholic songwriter Rory Cooney composed the beautiful hymn “Jerusalem, My Destiny.”

Its opening lines evoke the spirit of Jesus’ final journey as a foretaste of each Christian’s life journey: “I have fixed my eyes on your hills, Jerusalem, my Destiny! Though I cannot see the end for me, I cannot turn away … We have set our hearts for the way; this journey is our destiny. See, I leave the past behind; a new land calls to me … Here among you now I find a glimpse of what might be. … Here among you I awoke to unexpected dawn.”

The Old Testament reading for this Second Sunday of Advent is from Baruch and it, too, dreams of Jerusalem as a place renewed by God’s grace. It was probably written around the time of the Maccabean revolt some 150 years before the birth of Jesus. This was a time of intense crisis in Israel as it threw off the shackles of the Seleucid dynasty ruling Israel from Syria. 

Against all odds, the Jewish rebels were able to restore Israel’s freedom. The Jerusalem temple had been desecrated and the city itself shattered. But now there was hope of restoration and renewal — a liberation still celebrated by observant Jews during the feast of Hanukkah, which takes place during Advent.

Then, as now, Jerusalem represented the best of Jewish hopes for peace and beauty, the place where God dwelled in a unique way, a place meant to symbolize Israel’s unity and security as a people. 

The author of Baruch addresses the city directly: “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery, put on the splendor of glory from God forever. … Up, Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy one, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. … The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God’s command; for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company.”

In the same spirit, responsorial Psalm 126 is filled with exuberant hope and a sense of liberation: “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. When the Lord brought back the captives of Sion, we were like people dreaming. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing!”

We should also remember Paul’s exquisite words in his letter to the Philippians: “This is my prayer for you: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception to discern what is of value.”

These beautiful biblical texts offer us another way of thinking about the season of Advent. When we look around our world today, there are enough troubles to shove us into spiritual exile and despair: angry divides in our country; the unending misery of refugees on the borders of Poland and Belarus; people starving in Afghanistan and Sudan; the unyielding threat of the pandemic. Take your pick!

Advent invites us to look deeper into the reality of our world with the eyes of faith; to contemplate its beauty; to remember the acts of graciousness and generosity we have witnessed; to think of our gifts from God that have kept us alive and given us joy.

Such contemplation of God’s grace in our lives is not a matter of hiding under a blanket to avoid reality, but rather an invitation to renew our spirits and our strength so we can live justly in our world and offset the effects of sin that threaten us.

The reason for all this is proclaimed in today’s Gospel selection from Luke. 

John the Baptist’s announcement of the coming of Christ into our world to embrace it with divine love is linked to brutal political realities in Jesus’ day: the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the procurator Pontius Pilate, the cruel Herodians Antipas and Philip. But, despite them, John announces “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”