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12/07/2008
ReadingsIsaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8
A careful reader of the Bible will notice a certain peculiarity common to many of its books: an orientation towards the future; specifically, a hope of a future deliverance and an end to things as they currently are. As early as Genesis 3:15 we find a promise of the future defeat of the serpent and the coming of a savior. In Genesis 12:2-3 God makes his foundational promise to Abraham that He will build a great nation out of the patriarch’s future descendents and through that nation bless the whole world. Through all the pages of the Old Testament this promise of future blessings is evident: the writings of the prophets consistently foretell the delivery from sin by a coming Messiah.
Of course, these promises find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, whose story is told in the Gospels. Yet perhaps surprisingly, in the various letters of the early Church found in the New Testament such as those from Paul, John, and Peter, there are further promises of a future event that will end the current age and begin a new, even more glorious one. There will be a second and final coming of the Lord which will complete and fulfill the first coming. Thus, even now, after the entrance of the Lord into human history over 2,000 years ago, his followers are still to orient their outlook to the future.
Why is it that the followers of the true God are always looking to the future? Why are our eyes to be set towards things to come? St. Peter tells us directly that because of the future coming of the Lord, Christians should be “conducting [themselves] in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:11-12). Christ’s followers need to know that this world – redeemed, yet still imperfect – should not be considered the final destination in the path of life. This world is just a proving ground, in which the believer is to be tested and tried, forged by fire into the image of Christ the Lord. Nothing in the world gives complete and total satisfaction, and looking here for that final fulfillment is a futile exercise. The Christian must always remember that true fulfillment, which can be but dimly perceived in this world, will come when the “new heavens and new earth” (2 Peter 3:13) are revealed.
In the early Church, Sunday was often referred to as the “Eighth Day.” As the day on which Christ rose from the day, it represents that unending, eternal day, following the seven days of creation, in which all of Christ’s followers will live forever in union with him. Our participation at Mass each Sunday is a foretaste of this everlasting life, as we are mystically joined to the great liturgical worship of heaven while still living in the mists of this world. Until the fulfillment of all God’s promises are complete and the Lord returns in glory to gather his flock together, each disciple of Christ must live in “holiness and devotion”, and in so doing “prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” (Isaiah 40:3).
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