HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR B (4)
HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR B.
HOMILY THEME: WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE
BY: Fr. Gerald M Musa
HOMILY:
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea…A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.’ In simple terms, the wilderness means a desert or an uninhabited bush. John must have chosen to live and preach in the wilderness because of the spiritual significance of the wilderness. A wilderness has the following qualities:
A Place of Transformation: The wilderness is a place in which people undergo transformation. John the Baptist’s life in the desert was a prophecy of the transformation, which will take place at the coming of the Messiah. The dry land would become springs, a pool of water and a fruitful field when the messiah comes. He, it is, who will transform the world and make it a better place (Isaiah 41:18; 32:15).
A Place of Test: In going to the Promised Land, the Lord chose the way of the wilderness for his people as a test of their power to endure. It is a place of temptation (Hebrews 3:8) and where people experience a kind of hardship that will effect a positive change in their lives A Place of Humiliation: The wilderness is also a place of humiliation, which humbles us and qualifies us for the kingdom of God. Thus the book of Deuteronomy says, the ‘Lord took you through wilderness to humble you (8:2).
Hunger and Thirst: It is a place where people not only experience physical hunger but a deeper hunger, which is spiritual. People who have experienced spiritual hunger can understand the words of David when he exclaimed in the desert of Judah: ‘My soul is thirsty like a dry-weary land without water’ (Psalm 63).
A Place of Prayer: The wilderness is a place to encounter God and this explains why the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 1:1; 9:1). Moses made a request to Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to go to the wilderness to worship God. Before Jesus commenced his ministry, the spirit drove him into the desert where he prayed and fasted for forty days (Mark 1:12). When people go for retreats and spiritual recreation they experience the wilderness in which they encounter God. An Incorruptible Place: The wilderness is also a place where God’s creation (nature) is still at its best. To be in the wilderness therefore means to be distant from the corruption and confusion of the world.
Unpopular: The way to the wilderness is a road less travelled, but those who have chosen the way of the wilderness are those who are not after the things of the world nor after power or popularity.
Solitude: Being in the wilderness also means to stand alone with none but God in different moments when we are abandoned by family and friends. During this Christmas we should think of people who are in the wilderness of loneliness and spend some time with them: the sick, elderly, the bereaved who have lost spouse or children, the physically challenged, the broken- hearted and those who are homebound.
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Mark 1:1-8; Second Sunday of Advent/ Year B
