Christ is Coming and We are Going toward His Kingdom – Monday of the First Week of Advent

As Advent season has begun, we are now preparing ourselves to welcome the incarnated Christ, Jesus, born of Mary the Blessed Virgin and the Immaculate Conception, into our hearts. He is on his way to come out of Mary’s womb. Christ the Son had come through timeless journey from the heaven above to the earth, as sent by the Father (Galatians 4:4) so that he can come to us, upon being incarnated (John 1:14) by the power of the Holy Spirit, in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:35).

The scripture readings of Monday of the First Week of Advent (Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 8:5-11), however, give an impression that it is us who go on journey to meet the incarnated Christ. In the First Reading (Isaiah 2:1-5), where people of all nations are streaming toward is the House of the Lord on the highest mountain. So Isaiah prophesized on this with these words:

In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it (Isaiah 2:2).

And the above words of Isaiah correspond to these words of Jesus in the  Gospel Reading (Matthew 8:5-11):

I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11).

What is described as the House of the Lord (Isaiah 2:2) is projected into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 8:11). In fact, John the Baptist calls us to repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, as he was preparing people for the coming of Christ by baptizing them (Matthew 3:2). When Christ comes and begins his public teaching, he also proclaims the Kingdom being at hand, calling us to repent (Matthew 4:17). This indicates that we cannot enter the House of the Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven, unless we repent our sin. Furthermore, entering the Kingdom requires us the strengths to withstand tribulations (Acts 14:22). The point is that though we juxtapose the coming of the incarnated Christ to us streaming toward the House of the Lord (Isaiah 2:2) in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 8:11), only those whose faith is strong enough to endure tribulation can make it to be assembled in front of the throne of Christ the King in his Kingdom (Revelation 7:14-17).

Christ speaks about many coming toward the Kingdom of Heaven to dine with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at the heavenly banquet (Matthew 8:11) in response to the impressive faith of the Roman centurion in Capernaum, for coming to see him all the way, asking him to heal his sick servant (Matthew 8:5-10). The centurion could have sent another one of his servants to Jesus. But rather, he himself come to Jesus for his servant. What a compassionate centurion he is! And he felt too bad to bother Jesus. So he said to him:

Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, “Come here,” and he comes; and to my slave, “Do this,” and he does it (Matthew 8:8-9).

The centurion does not expect Christ to come all the way to his house, where his sick servant is in. He just humbly asks Christ to send his word of authority to heal him, trusting Christ’s authority, as a man of authority himself. And he puts Christ above him, in terms of Christ’s divine authority and his Roman military authority.

In response, Christ says:

Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth (Matthew 8:10-12).

In other words, many from east and west will come toward the Kingdom of Heaven, as many from all nations will stream toward the House of the Lord on the highest mountain. However, not all of them can actually enter the House of the Lord in the Kingdom, because only those whose faith is strong enough to endure tribulation and whose faith keep them humble and compassionate can make it.

So what is a lesson from these readings (Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 8:5-11) for Advent?

In order to welcome the newborn incarnated Christ the King into your heart on this  Christmas, do you have the kind of faith that the Roman centurion has? Is such faith of yours keep you humble and compassionate, besides prompting you to keep your heart clean?

Blessed are those whose Advent preparation makes their hearts welcoming and warm place for the newborn Christ to dwell and grow, for they are the ones to enter his Kingdom and see him at his throne in the House of the Lord.