Place Our Hope in the LORD 上主是我們的希望

Second Advent Sunday, Year C
Theme: Place Our Hope in the LORD 上主是我們的希望

The Jews are an intelligent people but they are also extremely stiff-necked (Exodus 32:9, Deuteronomy 9:13 and Acts 7:51 etc.) Despite their chequered history, many Jews have contributed to different areas of human civilizations: philosophy, science, music, literature and banking etc. It proves that they are truly intelligent! When I was young and naive, I wondered why Jesus was not a Chinese but a Jew. I was confident that Chinese are as good as if not better than Jews. Nowadays, I am satisfied to be able to unearth traces of revelation the Lord God has left in the Chinese civilization. To a certain extent, Jews are a difficult, if not the most difficult people to deal with among humanity. If God is able to unfold His mercy, His salvation project through them, what other peoples is God unable to work with?

The first reading today is taken from the book of Baruch who was the secretary of Jeremiah the prophet. The text was a piece of consolation for the Jews during Babylonian Captivity as well as other times of persecutions in the future. The writing style was very Jewish. It made use of “Jerusalem” as a symbol of Israel. The glory of Jerusalem, viz. the First Temple which was built by King Solomon was burnt down and many Jews were exiled to Babylon which was in the East of Judah. But the text we read today already prophesizes the conquerors from the West! “Rise up, Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from east to west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God” (Baruch 5:5). Of course, you may argue that the Jews were conquered by Babylon in the east. Many Jews were exiled to Babylon but some were dispersed to the west. When time came, they returned to Jerusalem from east and west. But in history, Persia conquered Babylon, then Greece in the west conquered Persia and later the Roman Empire replaced the Greek one. Jews were truly dispersed, not necessarily exiled as before. You may argue that history is only repeating itself. But I have the freedom to read Baruch’s text as a piece of prophecy too! The LORD God speaks through Baruch to console Jews in captivity as well as future believers, be they Jews or not, that Yahweh shall not give up humanity. He shall deliver them from the bondage of sin. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome were but manifestations of human greed and pride.

Actually, Baruch’s message is in harmony with Isaiah’s which we will hear again later. “For God has commanded that every lofty mountain and the age-old hills be made low, that the valleys be filled to make level ground, that Israel may advance securely in the glory of God” (5:7). Sounds familiar, right? Yes, you have heard a similar message in Isaiah! “Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low; the rugged land shall be a plain, the rough country, a broad valley” (Isaiah 40:4, Luke 3:5). When the prophets were talking about mountains and valleys, they were using these images to symbolize the pride and depression in our hearts. Fast forward to Jesus’ time. When John the Baptist began his mission, he attracted many Jews who were expecting the promised Messiah to liberate them. Such a huge following alerted the attention of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council, in Jerusalem. They needed to ascertain whether the Baptist was the Messiah and took action if necessary. Of course, the Baptist knew what God had sent him to do. He was only “A voice of one crying out in the desert” (Luke 3:4). His mission was to prepare the hearts of the Jews to receive the Messiah properly. It was an essential step because “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (3:6)! God intends to save all but humanity need to prepare their hearts properly in order to receive God’s salvation.

We know that pride prevents us from approaching God in humility which is essential for our salvation. But how would autism, depression, inferiority, introverts, low self-esteem, and slave mentality etc. prevent people from obtaining God’s mercy? Indeed, the LORD God is the embodiment of the truth and “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The LORD God is free and we, as images of God, should also be free from any form of slavery. Yet, freedom carries with it a moral burden that can be hard for people, namely that we are accountable for whatever we do. Without freedom, we can ignore the small voices of conscience within. That is how Erich Fromm explains in his book “The Fear of Freedom”, which was published in 1952, the rise of Nazism in Germany. On one hand, freedom is essential for us to fulfil our potentials but it can cause fear, anxiety and alienation. On the other, without freedom people would commit unimaginable atrocities without qualm! Though it sounds paradoxical, many people all over the world welcome authoritarian governments out of a fear of civil wars! No wonder many Israelites demanded Aaron to build them a golden calf to lead them back to Egypt, to the land of slavery instead of venturing into the Promised Land (Exodus 32:1-6)! They had accustomed to and were comfortable with slavery whereas the Promised Land was an uncertainty, and would cause a lot of anxiety in their hearts. Thus, not only do “mountains” in our hearts prevent us from approaching God, but “valleys” in our hearts also block us from turning back to the Father! How do we jump out of this plight?

Among the churches St. Paul set up, the Philippians had been the most successful. Despite a lot of hardship, Paul found consolations and joy in this church. He wrote to them in such words, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Paul was admirable because he acknowledged God’s work while many people would take credit of whatever insignificant so-called achievements they have attained. In fact, no man is able to guarantee that his achievements would last. Only God is able to. Therefore, in order to jump out of the plights of “valleys” in our hearts, we need to invoke God’s mercy and help. We place our hope on Him because He is almighty and faithful. Yahweh honours His pledges. Paul reminds us that God will guarantee the completion of what He has started in us. What work did God begin in us? To start a new life in Jesus Christ. Why is this work, namely leading a new life in Jesus Christ, good? It is good because leading a new life in Jesus Christ, we become a source of blessing for all the people we meet. Hopefully when people see our love and our good deeds, they will glorify our heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16). When they do, they will surely receive the Father’s blessing! In other words, we have become a source, a channel of blessings for the others.

Now we know that God is happy to show us mercy. But how often does God answer our prayers? I am sure everybody is familiar with this God-not-answering-prayers experience. How then can we be so certain that the Father will do something to alleviate our pitiful situation? The gospel reading today sheds light on this issue of God’s absence in the world! In fact, God is actively participating in our daily lives. Unfortunately, we are living in a world of information explosion. We bathe and submerge ourselves in a sea of information for relaxation and communication with people. The situation has become worse with the rise of Artificial Intelligence. The content providers on the Internet deploy AI to compute our likes and dislikes to push contents through the social media to us. We are constantly bombarded by filtered information which we have shown interests in. Our attention is saturated and the background noises are making God’s voice inaudible. In the gospel reading today, we heard of “During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert” (Luke 3:2). Indeed, there are too many noises in the city: commercials, political propagandas, fake news, gossips and video shorts etc. to drain out God’s voices. We need to find our own wilderness where there is no WiFi and no electricity in order to listen to what God is speaking to us. Only then can we invoke His mercy to deliver us and to strengthen us so that we may become a genuine channel of God’s blessing to the world. Amen.
God bless!

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