Homily for the Second Sunday
of Advent, Year A: 2010
There was a man who owned a big parcel of land. He did not know
how
to take care his land, so the weeds grew up everywhere when the rain
came down. He could not harvest any thing good because of the weeds.
He hired workers to root out the weeds, but the weeds came back again
and again. He was frustrated. A friend suggested him to grow sugar
cane on his land. The man listened and planted sugar cane in his
field. Amazingly, when sugar canes grew into strong bushes, they
choked the weeds, so the weed died, and the rich man did not have
problems with the weeds anymore.
What is the point of the story? The land represents our soul, the
weeds are our bad habits or sins, and sugar canes are good things we
do for others. So the story reminds us that we can only eliminate bad
things from our soul by good things. Virtues and good works can
eliminate our weaknesses, and our bad habits. The more good works we
accomplish, the fewer- bad things we will do.
John the Baptist delivered the same message today:
“Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Or to the Pharisees and Sadducees, he
said: “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.” John’s
message is so bold for most of us. He used the image of the threshing
and winnowing of grain to describe the coming judgment of the Lord.
Threshing involved beating the grain heads until the grain kernels
separated from the surrounding stems and husks. Winnowing tossed the
grain into the breeze so that the lighter chaff separated from the
heads of the grain. To John, repentance, like winnowing, is rigorous
but liberating. How can we repent according to John? First, we have to
be sincere with ourselves and with God. We ourselves know what kind of
hills, valleys, or crooked ways are dominating our hearts. They may be
our bitterness, jealousy, selfishness, lust, greed, or pride. We have
to identify them and get rid of them from our soul. It is not easy if
we rely on ourselves. We have to rely on those gifts that we have
received them through baptism and confirmation. They are wisdom,
understanding, counsel, knowledge, and fear of the Lord. We have to
prosper them through our good works and prayers.
Some people accepted John's teaching; others did not. What will we do?
Will we wait until the last day to clear the way for Jesus? Or will we
decide that the process of keeping our roads clear and straight is
something we can practice now, everyday?
Living in harmony and peace with others is the vision of prophet
Isaiah, but also the goal of Christ’s disciples. Before Jesus goes to
Heaven, he sent his disciples to go and make disciples; go and build a
kingdom of peace on earth. During the Advent season, we renew our hope
in our Lord. Although we are living in a broken world, we still have
hope. Although we are dealing with all kinds of problems in our
families or in our community, we can still have hope. Our hope is that
when our King comes again in glory, he will make all things new, all
thing perfect, and only those who have faith in him will share with
him eternal life.
