HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK IN ADVENT SEASON, YEAR B

HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK IN ADVENT SEASON, YEAR B

THEME: Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him

BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA

READINGS OF THE DAY
Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4,9-12
Psalm 79:2-3,15-16,18-19
Matthew 17:10-13

LITURGICAL COLOUR
PURPOSE

INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate Saturday of the second Week in Advent Season Year B.

FROM OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today, we heard the exhortation on the prophet Elijah, who came before Isaiah and was sent to the people of Israel in the northern kingdom. If we read through the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles we can clearly see the kind of works and labours which Elijah had done for the sake of the Lord and His people, all the hardships and challenges that he had to endure in the face of opposition, stubbornness and rejection from the people of God. The prophet Elijah laboured for many years, enduring hardships and even threats to his life, amidst everything that he had done for God’s glory.

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FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
On the mount of transfiguration, the disciples saw Jesus in conversation with Moses and Elijah. In today’s gospel reading, the disciples are coming down the mountain and the disciples ask Jesus about Elijah and the tradition that he would come to prepare God’s people for the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the Lord. If Jesus is Lord and Messiah, where is Elijah, they wonder. Jesus informs his disciples that, in reality, John the Baptist was the promised Elijah. Furthermore, Jesus declares that the fate that John suffered, execution by Herod Antipas, anticipates the fate that he will suffer, ‘the Son of Man will suffer similarly’. It must have been difficult for Jesus’ disciples to hear him talk about his coming suffering, having just seen him in glory on the mount of transfiguration.

CONCLUSION
Dear brethrens, what people would do to Jesus would be reversed by God. God the Father would bring his Son through death to a new and glorious life. What God did for Jesus, he can do for us all. God can bring new life out of our own experience of death, whether it is the death at the end of our earthly lives, or the various experiences of death and loss that we have in the course of our earthly lives. If we keep entrusting ourselves to God in those dark times of loss, as Jesus did, then we will find God to be trustworthy, as Jesus did. God is always at work bringing new life out of our various deaths, which is why we can always be people of great hope, and hope is the virtue that is associated in a special way with this season of Advent.

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