Two Comings – The kingdom of heaven is in Christ

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. I The scriptures speak of Jesus the Son of God as yet to come. That He is still in His mother Mary’s womb.

The supernatural has penetrated the natural. The work of the Holy Trinity on man’s behalf is still hidden. The natural is the forceful ambition of man where as the supernatural is the humble submission of God.

In the first three readings we are told of the promise and in the Gospel the promise is realized, but not yet with us.

The prophet Micah speaks of Bethlehem as too small to be among the clans of Judah. Bethlehem is the city of David. Where from came His Father Jesse. The prophets and St. Paul spoke of the messiah as coming from the root and stock of Jesse. “In keeping with the humble submission of God, the Son would be born in a small out of the way place whose name Bethlehem means house of bread.” Jesus, savior came to be bread, spiritual food for men. For the word, “His greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; He shall be peace.” Jesus would later say that He had not come to bring peace to the world and it is in this that we, with our natural eyes see a contradiction. But the supernatural vision is in John 14:27 where Jesus says “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.”

Christmas peace, the peace beyond all understanding that he gives to us, is found in the will of God who is justice and love. Not as the world gives do I give to you.

And so we see that the place that God chose to come into the world is too small to be among the clams of Judah. That He will come as a weak and helpless babe and that our salvation came to us because His mother who was a young Jewish maiden who said yes to the fulfillment of the Holy and perfect will of God in her body, God was to bring forth in Mary the kingdom of heaven.

In Mt. 13:31 Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. This indeed is the smallest of all the seeds; but when it grows up it is larger than any herb and becomes a tree” and in the context of Christmas, the tree of life so that the birds of the air come and dwell in it’s branches.

In Lk17:6 we read, “and the apostles said to the lord, ‘increase our faith’ and the lord answered, if you have faith even like a mustard seed, you will say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it will obey you.” And in 12:32, “Do not be afraid little flock, for it has pleased your father to give you the kingdom, sell what you have and give alms, make for yourselves purses that do not grow old, a treasure unfailing in heaven where neither thief draws near nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is there will your heart be.”

Faith in God is a theological virtue. It is a gift and that gift can be lost. We must continually exercise our gift of faith for it is the beginning of eternal life here on earth.
In Mk 16:16 Jesus said to the eleven, “go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” This is repeated in the Catholic Catechism paragraph # 161.

An example of an act of faith is this “My God, I believe in you and all that your church teaches because you have said it, and your word is true, Amen.”

We have been reflecting on the humble submission of God in his first coming, in the insignificance of the place of His birth, of the youth of God’s mother and the greatness of her faith and finally of the necessity of active faith in us if we are to enter Christ who is the kingdom.

It is now the second of the two comings of Christ that draws our attention.

In the Gospel Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is written of, “Mary made haste to the hill country after receiving the news from the angel Gabriel and receiving the incarnation. Upon entering the home of Zachariah she spoke to Elizabeth who said, “As soon as your greeting reached my ears the babe in my womb leaped for joy.” She said, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. Mary’s faith was absolute and unconditional.

Mary and Elizabeth both believed for nothing is impossible with God.

Elizabeth was to be the mother of John the Baptist who was to be the Herald of Jesus when once he came.

The first coming of Christ has taken place and we celebrate it annually. God’s gift to man of Himself as man. The purpose of His coming is to draw mankind to Himself and to make him holy. The Psalm response today is, “Lord, make us turn to you. Let us see your face and we shall be saved.” The second verse is this, “once again, O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven and see; take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted, the Son of man whom you yourself made strong.”

The 15th chapter of St. John’s Gospel is titled, “Union with Christ”, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he will take away and every branch that bears fruit he will cleanse, that it may bear more fruit. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remain on the vine, so neither can you abide in me.” “I am the vine you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing.” This is the promise of Christmas. The word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Jesus, Son of god and Son of Mary is eternal life, is the fullness of God the Father, is the kingdom of Heaven. As a hand fits into a glove or a foot into a shoe so must we abide in Christ. And so allow Him to abide in us, by way of sanctifying grace.

To bear fruit we must have the simple faith of Mary, “That what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled”. We see that in Bethlehem, the house of bread, our bread, our Eucharist has come to us in littleness and simplicity.

The Lamb of God, pointed to by John the Baptist, in his manhood will ascend the cross in obedience to the will of His Father, and thereby become and restore the tree of life.

The last word of the last book of the Bible is Maranatha, “Come Lord Jesus”.

This is the last day of Advent, Jesus, has sent His angel to testify to you these things concerning the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star and the spirit and the bride say come. And let Him who hears say come, and let him who thirsts come and He who wishes, let him receive the water of life freely.

It is true, I come quickly- Amen, come lord Jesus.

Marantha!