Advent I 2009

There are two crucial aspects of Christian life that must always be confronted honestly. The first is the need to enter in the life of the Crucified One.  The second is the demand to rise up into the resurrected and glorified Saviour. Many people, of course, would rather enjoy the latter while ignoring the former. St. Marcarius said long ago, “Very many wish to be vouchsafed the Kingdom without labors, without struggles, without sweat; but this is impossible. If you love the glories of men, and desire to be worshipped, and seek comfort, you are going off the path. You must be crucified with the Crucified One, suffer with Him that suffered, that you may be glorified with Him that is glorified.

The second follows the first, and the sense of release and freedom that the second affords is only possible with the first. Now this may all sound like complicated theological babble. Let me put it another way. Redemption and Salvation come to us through the life and death of Jesus Christ. Our Lord’s death on the cross was unjust, but we must remember that he willingly gave himself for us. Jesus died on the cross; in the process his living love was crucifying sin and its child-death. In addition, in his dying, he defied the tempter who was determined to sever him from the willing and desiring of the Father. Remember that in his dying, he is loving and giving. Jesus is the way; he faced sin and death, and they will have no ultimate hold on him.

When Jesus ascended to the Father he was forming and molding his new body, the Church. The Father was sending his Holy Spirit into the hearts and minds of the Apostles as they became the members of Christ’s new Body. The Apostles thus began truly to enter into the crucifying power of the Lord, that uncreated energy which destroyed their sins and any thought, word, emotion or deed that might sever them from the love of God. They entered into the crucifying power of Jesus Christ, and simultaneously they entered into the resurrecting power also. First they and their sins would die, while at the same time Christ would be coming alive. They were always dying in order that Christ might always be living.

Advent is a season of penitence. In Advent we prepare for the coming of Christ. We make ready not only for the tiny babe born of the ever-Virgin Mary in time past. In addition we prepare for the birthing of love and truth in us that will start growing as the life and love that overcome sin and death. Advent is a time for preparation. In it we reflect inwardly on our sins and ask the Lord to give us death. This crucifying process is necessary preparation for the rising joy and hope that Christmas brings, in the birth and growth of God’s love and righteousness through Jesus within us.  

©W.J. Martin†