OUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH

A Modern Icon of Christ and the Fig Tree

A SERMON FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

INTRODUCTION

Beloved in Christ, we come now to the Second Sunday of Advent, when the Church directs us to lift our eyes toward the horizon of history and behold the nearness of our redemption. Advent moves with a double rhythm. It looks back to the quiet cave of Bethlehem, where the Word took flesh in humility, and it looks forward to the cloud of glory, where the same Lord shall appear as Judge and King. The first week calls us to awaken from slumber and cast off the works of darkness. This second week calls us to walk in the light with patience, sobriety, and hope, watching for the signs of the Kingdom in the trembling of creation and the stirring of the human heart. It teaches us the signs of the Apocalypse. Advent does not offer escape from the world’s sorrows. It teaches us to interpret them, to read the shaking of the nations as Christ’s own assurance that “your redemption draweth nigh.”

The propers of this week remind us that the Lord prepares His people through the witness of the saints who shone before us. On this past week we honored St. Nicholas of Myra, model of pastoral mercy, protector of the poor, defender of the oppressed, and courageous confessor of the faith. From him we learn that charity and orthodoxy are not rivals but companions, for truth without mercy hardens the soul, and mercy without truth dissolves into sentiment. We also commemorated the great Western Orthodox Father, St. Ambrose of Milan, who stood firm against imperial pressure and taught the Church that apostolic doctrine is not to be trimmed to the fashions of the age. His courage was not loud but steady, the courage of a shepherd who knows that the Word of God does not pass away. These saints accompany us across the landscape of Advent, teaching us that holiness is formed by both tenderness and conviction, by compassion joined to fidelity. Their lives bear witness that the God who comes in glory first comes to His people in the quiet shaping of virtue.

Tomorrow we celebrate the Conception of the Holy Theotokos, the blessed beginning of the life of her who would bear the Life of the world. We honor the feast with deep reverence, yet we do not follow the doctrine known in the Roman Church as the so-called "Immaculate Conception", for it teaches that the Virgin was preserved from the inheritance of our common nature. The Fathers of the Undivided Church knew nothing of such a view from the Apostles. They rejoiced instead that the Theotokos was wholly human as we are, sharing fully in our lineage from Adam, and that her holiness flowered within the very condition we ourselves inhabit - a choice to follow after God of her own free will. Her “Let it be to me according to thy word” was not the speech of one lifted above humanity, but of one who trusted God within humanity. The Ancient Church of the West holds that the wonder of St. Mary is not that she was excused from our condition, but that grace perfected her obedience within it. She stands as the first fruits of redeemed humanity, not by exemption from the human story, but by the sanctification of it. For this reason she strengthens our hope in the salvific power, not as a "Co-Redemptrix" but as one saved by the grace, mercy, and power, of her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What God accomplished in her by grace, He seeks to accomplish in us by His shared life, that we too may bear Christ within the frailty of our ordinary nature and present Him to a waiting world.

SCRIPTURES

Deuteronomy 1:6–18

The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: the LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!) How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.

II Thessalonians 3:1-13

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

Romans 15:4–13

Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers; and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Saint Luke 21:25–33

At that time, Jesus said unto his disciples: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

SERMON

I will say these things to you now, in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

+++

Beloved in Christ, in the brightness of Advent the Church gathers again before the mystery of time and eternity, where promise and fulfillment stand side by side as the mountains and valleys of the prophet’s vision. The season urges us to lift up our heads, for “the Lord is nigh at hand to redeem the nations, and in the gladness of your heart the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard.” So begins our Introit from Isaiah, and so begins the hope of the Church. Advent is not an escape into pious imagination. It is the clear-eyed recognition that God has entered His world before, that He enters it now by grace, and that He shall enter it again in glory.

Israel first heard this call in the wilderness. In our Old Testament lesson, the Lord speaks from Horeb: “Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: turn you, and take your journey.” Advent always begins by summoning us from the places where we have lingered too long. The people stood at the threshold of promise, gazing toward a land already given. Yet fear and complaint had slowed their steps. The Lord therefore raised leaders “wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes,” to bear what our father Moses could no longer carry alone. Their charge was not the cunning of the marketplace nor the power of kings, but righteousness without partiality, judging “the small as well as the great,” because “the judgment is God’s.” Here St. Ambrose would pause and remind us that the Church’s true governance begins with humility before divine truth. The shepherd of Milan insisted that the bishop must first be judged by the Word he proclaims, and only then fit to judge the flock. Advent calls us to such candor, lest we seek redemption while clinging to the shadows that bind us.

St. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, speaks with the same steadiness. His words have the cadence of a father who knows the frailty of his children and the strength of his Lord. “The Lord is faithful,” he tells them, and shall “stablish you, and keep you from evil.” Yet he also warns them to walk not disorderly, nor become weary in well-doing. Faith does not excuse idleness. Grace does not make the hands slack. As the early Fathers taught, there is no contradiction between divine mercy and human labor. St. John Chrysostom once said that God works salvation in us as the sun ripens fruit, but the farmer must still plough the field. In Advent the fields of the soul must be tended again, that the light of the coming Christ may find us ready.

In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle gives the Church her Advent posture. He speaks of the God of patience and consolation, who grants His people to be likeminded, “that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God.” Unity, then, is not the fruit of negotiation but the result of shared hope. The Scriptures, written for our learning, hold forth a pattern of divine promise that stretches from Abraham to the root of Jesse. If the Lord confirmed His word to the fathers, He shall surely confirm it in us. Christ came first to the circumcision, fulfilling the truth of God, yet in Him the Gentiles also “glorify God for his mercy.” The Church stands therefore as the living witness that God keeps His covenant, not with one people only, but with all who trust in the Son who draws the nations to Himself. St. Irenaeus called this the “music of salvation,” where the scattered notes of the human race are gathered into harmony under the hand of the Divine Composer.

At last, in the Holy Gospel, the voice of the Lord Himself breaks upon us with warning and promise alike. The heavens shake. The seas roar. The hearts of men tremble. No poet or dramatist of the ancient world painted the crisis of history more vividly than Christ. Yet He does not tell His disciples to flee. He commands them to look up. These signs, dreadful to the nations, are for the Church the first streaks of dawn. “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Scripture never invites Christians to await catastrophe with dread. It calls us to watch for Christ with longing. Dante, near the end of the Purgatorio, speaks of souls who stand on the threshold of Paradise, trembling yet radiant, because they know that Love Himself is drawing near. Such is the posture of Advent. The Judge is our Redeemer. The fire that descends is the fire that purifies. The cloud of glory bears the Son of Man who was first wrapped in swaddling clothes.

The parable of the fig tree reveals the tenderness hidden within these terrible signs. When the branches put forth leaves, we know that summer approaches. So too, when the sorrows of history deepen, the Lord assures us that the Kingdom is near. Heaven and earth may pass, but His words “shall not pass away.” Here Sts. Ambrose, Chrysostom, Augustine and the whole chorus of the Fathers join their voices as the "Consensus Patrum." For they knew that the stability of the Christian life does not lie in institutions or empires, but in the utter reliability of the Word made flesh. Empires crumble. Cultures shift. Yet the promise of Christ remains as sure as the sun that rises each morning.

The philosopher who searches for permanence among the things of this world finds only flux. The poet who listens for a lasting music hears only echoes fading on the wind. Advent answers both. It declares that the Eternal has spoken, that His voice still resounds, and that His coming shall gather all longing into joy. The Church therefore refuses despair. Even in grief she lifts her eyes. Even in the tumult of the nations she listens for the Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock, speaking again in tones of mercy.

Let us then take heart. The God of hope shall fill us with joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Our redemption is not a theory. It is a Person. It is the Lord who once came in humility, who comes now in sacramental grace, and who shall come again in glory.

A Reflection from the English Tradition

Let us, for a moment, reflect on this mystery, on this time of year, and on this deep theological meaning to our practical Christian lives. Advent is a time of contemplation, and this contemplation requires, silence, reflection, and stillness of the heart. 

A Hymn of Advent Light

Lord, in this watching, half-lit year,

When nights grow long and hearts grow cold,

We strain our eyes through doubt and fear

For promised dawns the prophets told.

The heavens shake, the nations roar,

Our little plans fall out of sight;

Yet on Thy word we look once more,

And find beneath the dark Thy light.

Then teach our fainting hearts to raise

Their heads where fig-tree branches stir,

And read in every sign of days

The silent step of Thy return.

Till, when the final morning breaks

And all this passing world grows dim,

Thy mercy, like the sun, awakes,

And every eye shall look on Him.

A Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent

O Lord our God, who hast taught us by thy prophets to lift up our heads and behold the glory that draweth nigh, grant that we, who walk amid the changes and chances of this mortal life, may stand fast upon thy gracious promises. Strengthen our hearts with the comfort of thy holy Word. Purify our desires, that we may look for the coming of thy Son with steadfast faith and holy joy. And when He shall appear in majesty, bring us with all thy saints into the everlasting light of His Kingdom. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.