WAKE UP!!
In Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55) the writer grabs his listeners by the metaphorical lapels and shakes them out of their despair, longing, and complacency. They were far from home in exile, feeling crushed and forgotten. Jerusalem was sacked and the temple with the Ark was long gone. And the writer yells, “wake up. You are not forgotten. God is coming ready or not, and nothing will get in the way. It’s time to go home, time to start again. You are on the threshold of a new time. The time is urgent, and you need to get ready.”
John stands on the Jordan side of the Jordan, on or near where the Hebrew people ended the Exodus and crossed into the promised land. Below the hill Elijah was gathered up into heaven on a flaming chariot. On this place of thresholds John proclaims to those suffering under armies of occupation and the greed of the privileged few, “Wake up!! A new thing is happening. Have you minds blown by God’s forgiveness and grace. The time is urgent, so get ready.”
Mark starts his book about the beginning of the Good News of God found in Jesus using John to shout, “Wake up!!” To his community bewildered and traumatised by all that happened in the Jewish Revolt (66-70CE); the death and enslavement of so many, and the destruction of Jerusalem, he echoes Isaiah and John the Baptizer and urges, “the time is urgent. It is time to let go of our numbness and fear, our complacency and confusion. Wake up!! The time is urgent, God is coming ready or not, so get ready.”
On this second Sunday of Advent, as we get ready to celebrate the God who comes ready or not, bringing peace, hope, joy and love, how do we respond to the urgent call to wake up? How is the time urgent for us? What threshold do we stand on that needs us to be ready?
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