After his authority for cleansing the Temple and justifying it by citing the Scriptures (Matthew 21:12-16) was questioned by the chief priests and the elders (Matthew 21:23-27, the Gospel Reading of Tuesday of Third Week of Advent), Jesus spoke of the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32). And this parable is the Gospel Reading of Tuesday of Third Sunday of Advent.
In the parable, a man with two sons asked the first
son to work in the vineyard. The he replied to his father’s request with “no”.
So, the man asked the other son to work in the vineyard, as his first son said
“no”. He said to his father that he would go to the vineyard and work there.
What was unbeknownst to the man was that the first son actually changed his
mind and worked in the vineyard, though the other son never did. So, Jesus
asked the chief priests and the elders, who questioned his authority, which of
the two sons did their father’s will. And they answered that the first one did.
Then, Jesus rebuked the chief priests and the elders,
who questioned Jesus’ authority with these words:
When
John (the Baptist) came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe
him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even you saw that, you did not
later change our minds and believe him (Matthew 21:32).
By this statement, Jesus reminded them that their
disbelief of John the Baptist and him (i.e. Matthew 11:16-19, the Gospel
Reading of Friday of Second Week of Advent), which made them to question Jesus’
authority (Matthew 21:23-27, the Gospel Reading of Monday of Third Week of
Advent) , is comparable to the other son in the parable who did not do the will
of his father but lied to him. In contrast, the repenting tax collectors (i.e.
Luke 3:12) and prostitutes (cf. Luke 7:36-50) believed John the Baptist and
sought to be baptized by him to start a new life with a fresh hope for Christ’s
coming.
In the context of Third Week of Advent, a lesson to be
taken to our heart from this parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32) is who
are changing their hearts from sin to God’s promise of Christ with contrite
hearts, as the first son in the parable changed his mind and actually did his
father’s will, working in the vineyard and who are not, like the other son,
like the chief priests and the elders who were blind to the Christological
truth, including heavenly authority from the Father, in Jesus, at this time of
Advent Season.
Christ has been already incarnated since the time of
Annunciation (Luke 1:31, 35; John 1:1, 14). He is getting ready soon to make
his first theophany through his human birth, which we celebrate as the Nativity
of the Lord (Christmas). Just as a pregnant mother can feel the movement of her
baby in her womb as her pregnancy advances beyond 18-20th week, we
can see the real presence of the incarnated Christ getting ready to be born of
Mary, though still hidden from our physical eyes. Nevertheless, through our spiritual eyes of
faith, we can see the hidden Christ inside Mary’s womb, as St. Lucy was able to
see even her eyes had been gorged out. As we increasingly recognize that his
coming is drawing nearer and nearer – just as a pregnant mother on later third
trimester (27th-40th week) can feel even more the
activity of her child inside more and more vividly.
By now, we must have spiritual eyes of faith like St.
Lucy as a result of our vigilant and diligent Advent works so far. And these
eyes works like the sonar echogram, enabling us to see what is hidden from our
physical eye sight. It means that we must grow in faith as the day of the
incarnated Christ’s coming draws nearer. And our advent hope, joy, peace, and
love – all of which are factors of the fruit of the Holy Spirit – grow
altogether.
And attaining spiritual eyes of faith to see the
hidden incarnated Christ in the womb of Mary is contingent on how well we make
the way of the incarnated Christ’s coming straight (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew
3:3//Mark 1:3//Luke 3:4), removing obstacles not only out of the way of the
Christ’s coming (i.e. Isaiah 40:4) but also out of our eyes to see (i.e.
Matthew 7:5). Being unrepentant – not removing
our sins through absolution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation means keeping
obstacles in the way of Christ’s coming and keeping us blind to see the truth
and the incarnated Christ hidden in Mary’s womb. This is why John the Baptist
emphasized to repent and be baptized (Luke 3:3).
And this is reflected in the First Reading (Zephaniah 3:1-2,
9-13).
Through the prophecy of Zephaniah, God called sinful
Jerusalem gone far and astray from God (vv. 1-2). Then, God’s promise to gather
the just anawim, the remnants upon
God’s judgement from all nations to Him in repentant and purified Jerusalem for
the renewed life in the sanctuary of God (vv.9-13).
Those who are assembled to the presence of God find
their refuge in God (Zephaniah 3:9-13) and God’s anawim – purified and humbled. This refuge in God, where God’s anawim are gathered is, indeed, the
Kingdom of Heavens (i.e. Matthew 5:3).
This prophecy of Zephaniah reflects Josiah’s spiritual
reform, known as the deuteronomic reform, during his reign as king of Judah
(640-609 BC), removing what had corrupted God’s people and purifying the
kingdom of Judah and people’s hearts to be prepared for the day of the Lord –
just as John the Baptist was preparing Judea and its people for the theophany of
the incarnated Christ. And those who obstinately remain sinful and unrepentant
are unable to see the Christological
truth, as in the case of the case of the disbelief of chief priests and the
elders on John the Baptist (Matthew 21:32), and as rebuked by Jesus for their
disbelief (Matthew 11:16-19). Because of this, they will be subject to due
punishment (i.e. Matthew 3:12; cf. Psalm 1:4; cf. Jeremiah 7:20; cf. Revelation
19:20; 20:10, 14-15).
This year, 2021, Tuesday of Third Week of Advent falls
on the memorial feast of St. John of the Cross. And it is no coincident but
rather providential, because like Josiah during the time of prophet Zephaniah
and like John the Baptist the precursor to the incarnated Christ, John of the
Cross, a 16th century Spanish Carmelite priest and mystic, worked on
reforming the Carmelite order, recovering its original spiritual purity and the
spirit of anawim.
One thing about St. John of the Cross is his view on
darkness. In his seminal work, Subida del Monte Carmelo (Ascent of Mount Carmel), John of the
Cross regarded the darkness as the active darkness for purgation of souls to
move us toward the joyful communion with God. The purgation process in the
active darkness removes all our worldly attachment so that we no obstacle to be
in union with God – to find a refuge in God (i.e. Zephaniah 3:12). And this
detachment-purification through the active darkness is reflected in Luke 14:26,
a part of the Gospel Reading for the memorial feast of St. John of the Cross (Luke
14:25-33). And as reflected in Luke 14:28-33, the active darkness is also a
time of thoughtful discernment and preparation.
Given this, what St. John of the Cross addresses as the active darkness
in his Ascent of Mount Carmel is what
Advent Season is about.
During Advent Season, the incarnated Christ is hidden in Mary’s womb. And the appearance of the incarnated Christ is prophetically juxtaposed to the rising of the sun of justice (Malachi 3:20/4:2; cf. Luke 1:78) to break the darkness.
As we light one Advent candle after another on each
Advent Sunday, the Advent active preparatory darkness gradually gives its tenebris to lux Christi. As symbolized with lightening the 5th
candle at the center of Advent wreath on the day of the Nativity of the Lord, it
is when adventus tenebris is replaced
with lux Christi because the
incarnated Christ is שֶׁ֣מֶשׁ צְדָקָ֔ה/semes
sedaqah (sol justitiae )(Malachi
3:20). And remember, when the light comes and dominates, with the coming of the
incarnated Christ, all wickedness cannot be hidden but will be exposed (i.e.
Ephesians 5:13). This is why we need to take advantage of Advent Darkness –
predawn darkness – as the active darkness to purify our souls, removing sins
and sinfulness as our Advent preparation, as reflected in Subida del Monte Carmelo (Ascent
of Mount Carmel) by St. John of the Cross – as proclaimed by John the
Baptist, as led by Josiah, king of Judah, and as expected by Christ, whose
arrival is now near. If we fail, we will
remain in the darkness of sin, leading to Christ’s fiery judgement upon his
return. In the meantime, those stubbornly unrepentant and sinful continue to be
blind not only the presence of Christ but to the Christological truth in him
and to be dishonest hypocrite, just like the second son in the Gospel Reading
of Tuesday of Third Week of Advent (Matthew 21:28-32).
There are two types of darkness: the active darkness
of preparatory purgation, as St. John of the Cross reflects and the darkness of
sin bound for Christ’s fiery judgement.
We need to go work vigilantly and diligently through the active
preparatory predawn darkness before the sun of justice, the incarnated Christ,
rises by coming out of Mary’s womb, turning away from the darkness of sin. This
is what Advent is about.
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