Christ is Coming to Call Us to Harvest the Fullness of Life - Saturday of the First Week of Advent

As we conclude the first week of Advent, we are to be aware of and prepared for not only the coming of the incarnated Christ but what he will bring to our lives mired with sins.

Though God certainly punishes His first-chosen people, the Israelites, for not obeying Him (Isaiah 30:1-17). Nevertheless, God hears their cries and deliver them from predicament (Isaiah 30:18-26). The First Reading (Isaiah 30: 19-21, 23-26) is taken from the part where God promises to relieve them of punitive predicament.

Though He once called the Israelites “rebellious children”(Isaiah 30:1), God now consoles them and speaks of their bright future (Isaiah 30:18-26).

As God of mercy and justice is patient with His beloved Israelites even though they have been defiant to Him so that He can show His graciousness to them at a right time (Isaiah 30:18). Thus, the Prophet Isaiah spoke on behalf of the merciful God of justice:

You shall no longer weep; He will be most gracious to you when you cry out; as soon as He hears He will answer you. The Lord will give you bread in adversity and water in affliction. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you: “This is the way; walk in it”, when you would turn to the right or the left” (Isaiah 30:19-21).

Because God is merciful and gracious, He will not abandon His beloved in adversity and affliction forever, though they are subject to His just and right judgement. So He listens to and responds to their cries with compassion. Therefore, God takes care of their needs with His provisions, symbolically represented with bread and water (v.20). And He, the Teacher, assures that they will see Him more clearly in their own eyes and understand His teaching better in their own minds, as they repent their sins and turn to Him with contrite hearts (v.21). They did not see God the Teacher and could not understand His instruction because their hearts were harden in the past, as His teaching was not meant easily understood for such people (i.e. Isaiah 6:9-10).

Seeing God the Teacher and understanding His teaching is a sign that we are no longer living in darkness and drowsiness of sin but in the light of God, being sober and alert (i.e. Ephesians 4:8-14). And this reflects an Advent call to be awaken and vigilant from the Gospel Reading of the First Sunday of Advent (Matthew 24:37-44(A); Mark 13:33-37(B); Luke 21:25-2, 34-36(C)).

As we are awaken, come out of the darkness and drowsiness of sin, we reject any sinfulness, including idolatry (i.e. Isaiah 30:22). We do not need idols. We do not need to seek material satisfaction and sensual gratification anymore because we are fully content only with what God provides, which is made available to us through our cooperative work according to God the Teacher’s instruction, and our lives are restored in fullness, as enemies’ power will fall down  (Isaiah 30:23-26). And this is echoed in the Responsorial Psalm (147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6). Yes, God of justice and mercy not only restores our broken lives into fullness (Isaiah 30:26; Psalm 147:3) but also graciously fill our needs even in time of adversity and affliction (Isaiah 30:20).

The Gospel Reading (Matthew 9:35-10:1,6-8) shows how the prophecy for the fullness of life after adversity and affliction in the First Reading (Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26) can be fulfilled. It is the incarnated Christ, the Son, Jesus, who brings this fullness of life, through the mission works of his disciples, in juxtaposition to the fullness of harvest. It means that the one, whose coming to our hearts, we are preparing for, during Advent season, will call us and instruct us to do the “harvest work” by our works of mercy, spiritually and corporally, to redeem those who have been lost in darkness of sin, and to restore broken lives in fullness, as we listen to our Teacher, Lord Jesus Christ.

The incarnated Christ is coming to leap the harvest of God’s grace for our lives restored and nourished in fullness, commissioning us to work for him. The question is, are we aware our Advent preparation will lead to be sent out for this “harvest work” for the sake of the fullness of life? The one whose coming we prepare will say to us, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest”(Matthew 9:37-38).