Second Sunday of Advent 2011 (Year B) December 4, 2011 Use this resource alone or with other people. Used with others, read the reflections aloud, pausing between paragraphs. Invite each member of the group to take a turn reading, or prepare readers in advance for larger groups. Share with each other your Advent commitments and promises, keeping within the silence of your own heart those things which belong only there. Opening Ritual and Prayer Light a candle. Open your Bible and set it beside the lit candle. Prepare the room for prayer, even if you are alone. Quiet music can help to settle yourself and others after a hectic day. Leader: My friends, let us pause and spend a few moments in prayer as we prepare to listen to the Word of God contained in the Sacred Scriptures. All: Amen Leader: By signing ourselves with the cross in blessing, we also make a commitment to live in such a way that others might see the goodness in us that is God s presence. All: May all who see us making this sign be reminded of our commitment to the presence of God in our lives. Leader: Let us bless the Lord. All: Now and forever more. Leader: God be with us as we journey throughout this Advent. All: Amen.
Scripture Readings for the Second Sunday of Advent Read aloud to yourself or have various members of the group read the assigned Scripture readings for the Second Sunday of Advent (Year B): Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11 Psalm 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14 2 Peter 3:8-14 Mark 1:1-8 Here are some insights on the first reading, the psalm and the second reading: The leader uses these notes to help participants understand the readings. Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11 The people are to be heralds of good news, announcing that the victorious God is coming, and, in so doing, mountains will be made level, valleys filled in and rough terrain will be made straight. The passage is a prophetic commissioning: God summons a group of people to speak God s own words of comfort. The passage closes with the image of God as a shepherd who feeds his flock carrying the lambs in his arms and holding them close. God will do the same with his people. Psalm 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14 This is a community hymn of a people confidently waiting to see God s love, truth, justice and peace. 2 Peter 3:8-14 The central theme of this reading is that Christians should not grow weary of waiting for God, nor should they become careless in their waiting. Gospel Acclamation Leader: Alleluia, alleluia. All: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths; all flesh shall see the salvation of God. All: Alleluia, alleluia. Read Mark 1:1-8 Journey through Advent Year B Week 2 Art Zannoni Page 2
The leader invites group members to read these sections aloud, taking turns. Getting started It is very easy to slip past the opening sentence of the Gospel of Mark, yet the opening sentence offers a view of the entire Gospel. It starts in translation with a phrase: the beginning of the Gospel Interestingly in the Greek text, beginning has nothing in front of it, neither the article the, nor a. What can we make of this? Mark wants to recall the opening of the Old Testament s first phrase in Genesis: In the beginning, the moment of creation. This then is the moment of Mark s creation. The Gospel is something newly created: a new work of God as original and as stupendous as the creation of the universe. The Good News The Greek word for the English word gospel is euangelion. It means good news or joyful tidings and in ancient times often referred to a festive occasion like the birth of an emperor. Mark s announcement of the beginning of the good news is a resounding proclamation that now in Jesus, the long promised visitation of God has begun. What is the content of this good news? In brief, it is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Voices from the Old Testament Mark brings together here three voices from the Old Testament. The messenger (angelos) who goes ahead suggests the angel that God sent to lead his people to freedom in the story of the Exodus (23:20). The messenger sent to prepare the way suggests the figure God promises through the prophet Malachi (Mal 3:1). Malachi identified the messenger with the great prophet Elijah, whose reappearance would signal the events of the last days (Mal 3:23). The voice of one crying out in the wilderness is the herald described by Isaiah who is to give comfort to God s people (Isa 40:1). The messenger here is John the Baptist, functioning as Isaiah s voice of one crying out in the desert. Our own Advent journey calls us to walk in the sandal prints of Isaiah, Malachi and John the Baptist and become forerunners of Jesus. Symbolism of the Desert The desert is the place of deprivation, loneliness, and the stripping away of comforts. It is also the place of encountering either the devil or God. The Jews would have well remembered the desert as the place of testing where their ancestors had wandered for forty years after the Exodus from Egypt, often murmuring and rebelling against God. Journey through Advent Year B Week 2 Art Zannoni Page 3
John the Baptist: An Advent Prophet If a liturgical season were to have a patron saint, John the Baptist would be the patron of Advent. When John began his ministry there had been for centuries no prophets to speak God s word to the people of Israel. John now appears, preaching a baptism of repentance. This made a powerful impact. Repentance (Greek metanoia) means literally a change of mind. Like the prophets of old, John was calling the people to a wholehearted return to the Lord, a deep, honest, interior conversion through the acknowledgement of their sinful state and their need for forgiveness. John s message met a spiritual hunger in the people, attracting crowds from throughout the region of Judea. Baptism: A Call to Adult Faith As a prophet, John baptized people. Baptize is a Greek word that means to dip, to plunge, or to immerse in water. Why dip people in water? The Jews were familiar with repeated ritual washings that symbolized interior purity. But John s invitation to a one time immersion in the Jordan River was more than a cleansing. It was an adult rite of commitment to the faith of Judaism. In addition, the Jordan River had great symbolic significance for the Jews. After the Exodus and wandering, the people of Israel had entered the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan on dry land, led by Joshua (Jos 3). It was a rite of passage from a former lifestyle of semi-nomadic wanderers to a new lifestyle of living in the land God had promised. John s baptism was a call for adult Jews to reaffirm their identity as God s People, to come into the desert with God once more and symbolically re-enter the Promised Land through water. It was an adult rite of passage. A new Exodus was occurring not from captivity in Egypt and to Pharaoh but from captivity to sin. John the Baptist and Elijah The description of John has him resemble Elijah, who is similarly dressed in the Second Book of Kings (1:8). This is a signal that John is a new Elijah. The locusts and wild honey that he eats evokes the plagues in the Book of Exodus, where they represented God s judgment on sin (the plague of locusts, Exodus 10:13-15) and God s promises to his people of a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8). The Baptist will not mediate plagues, but rather a repentant people who will return to God. John the Baptist and Jesus By interpreting John as another Elijah, the Gospel of Mark indicates John s greatness as a prophet. Elijah passed on his gift as a prophet to a successor Elisha; so here in Mark, John the Baptist, himself a prophet, will be succeeded by another prophet who is Jesus. In the Elijah-Elisha stories, however, Elijah is pictured as the greater prophet; here, John s proclamation about Jesus reverses that order. The Elijah-Elisha context places Jesus in the tradition of the prophets, with their penchant for pressing for religious reform. John sees himself as only a predecessor, not even worthy to perform the task of a slave for the one who is to come, to loosen the thongs of his sandals. In the Gospel of Mark, John the Baptist s sole role is to point to Jesus and to highlight his unique status and role. Journey through Advent Year B Week 2 Art Zannoni Page 4
John contrasts his own baptism as an outward sign of repentance with the mightier One who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. To baptize or drench in the Spirit evokes the biblical promise that in the last times God would pour out his Spirit like water (Joel 3:1-2; Zech 12:10), bringing about the transformation of heart that would finally enable God s people to respond to him. Joining Our Voices with that of John the Baptist Like John we must be voices crying out to prepare the way of the Lord. What we are doing with our lives now is critical, as critical as what John the Baptist was doing to announce Jesus first coming. The way we live our lives makes a difference, since we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and already share in God s divine life. Thus, we are to announce God s reign to others. The role of John the Baptist is now transferred to us. The most effective announcement of and preparation for Christ s coming is living our lives in such a way that we are without spot or blemish before him (second reading). The fullness of this way of the Lord will only come when this world will pass away (second reading). But nonetheless, through the Holy Spirit, we now share in this goodness of life God wishes for us. The way of the Lord begins now and is completed when we reach what is described in today s second reading as the new heavens and a new earth. Have you ever lost your way? What was it like? How did you find your way back? Describe what is meant by the phrase the way of the Lord when it s used here in these readings. What does that way look like? What do I find most challenging about living the way of the Lord? Who are the people in my life who model the way of the Lord? What would I have to do by Christmastime in order to live this way more fully? Activities for the Second Week of Advent For Parishes and Families Identify the area(s) in your community where the poor, abused and disenfranchised are Journey through Advent Year B Week 2 Art Zannoni Page 5
being neglected. Write a group letter or send a group e-mail to your local elected officials or your state or federal legislators, asking them to provide the necessary funds and programming that these people need. For Families This week purchase an extra bag of groceries (be sure to include toiletry items) and donate it to your local food shelf. As a family, try to live out the way of the Lord this week by praying Sunday s responsorial Psalm 85. It has fourteen verses and you can pray with and reflect on two verses a day. For Individuals Biblically speaking, prophets are spokespersons for God. Decide for yourself how this week you can be a spokesperson for God to your family, your co-workers and your community. As an attempt to live the way of the Lord, provide transportation for a shut-in or take an elderly person to a medical appointment or take them shopping. For Children Take some of your allowance money and accompany your parent(s) to purchase clothing or a toy for a child who is in need and then donate it to a local charity. Leader: Let us prepare to meet God in everyone we meet this Advent. All: May we recognize God in all of them. Leader: Let us be prepared to forgive and be reconciled with those with whom we have been alienated. All: May God help us with the process. Leader: Let us be prepared for and open to new revelations from God in our lives. All: Amen Exchange a gesture of peace with all who are present. Journey through Advent Year B Week 2 Art Zannoni Page 6