Homily for 3d Sunday of Advent

Homily for the
3rd Sunday of Advent
Dec. 12, 2010
James 5: 7-10
Christian Brothers, Iona College, N.R.

“Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5: 7).

In the 2d half of the 1st century, when most of what we call the New Testament was written, many, if not most, of the disciples of Jesus expected his return, his 2d Coming, soon. More than a little bit of the epistles and of the gospels is taken up with addressing the nature of his return, its timing, and its apparent delay. That seems to be what St. James is talking about today, at least in part.

If Christ is supposed to come back soon and complete our redemption, what’s taking him so long? “Be patient, brothers and sisters.” Like a farmer waiting for his crop to mature, “you too must be patient” (5:7-8). Patience doesn’t come easy to us; but God requires our patience while his plans unfold. Whatever he does, he does in his way, in his manner, in his time (if we can speak of time in his regard), and not on our schedule. If we judge by today’s gospel reading (Matt 11:2-11), even John the Baptist had to learn this lesson, for the Christ didn’t come in the way that John had preached about, e.g. last week, with ax in hand to hew down the barren trees or with a firebrand to incinerate the chaff of wickedness (Matt 3:7-12).

Yet, in spite of what seems like delay, James also assures his readers that “the coming of the Lord is at hand” (5:8). He adds, “The Judge is standing before the gates” (5:9). Those are relative statements, certainly from our perspective if not from the writer’s. St. Paul also wrote to the Romans, “Our salvation now is nearer than when we first believed” (13:11). The Lord’s coming again is closer at hand than in the days of the patriarchs and prophets, than in the period immediately after Pentecost, than when the various churches 1st believed in Jesus. We are in the last days, the final stage of God’s plan for our redemption. The Judge—he who “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”—is already “before the gates,” possibly a reference to where the town elders gathered and decided any disputes that arose among the citizens, i.e., the place of judgment. Christ is at your town gates already, passing judgment on your life.

While we await the Judge’s appearance, we have to carry on with our lives. James today offers 2 specific bits of advice, 2 ways of living the virtue of patience while we wait: “Make your hearts firm” (5:8) and “Don’t complain about one another” (5:9).

“Make your hearts firm,” following the example of the patience of the prophets in bearing hardship and persecution (5:10). James is aware that the followers of Jesus were a despised minority in most of the towns and cities where they lived. Firm hearts and patience were necessary not only in the day-to-day strife of family life and earning their livelihood, but also in being faithful to Jesus when that was unpopular if not dangerous and potentially fatal. We can imagine James offering the same advice today to Christians in Pakistan, China, parts of India, among other places, maybe even to young Christians on a lot of college campuses and in the boardrooms of our country.

“Don’t complain about one another.” Since he adds “that you may not be judged” (5:9) James evidently means more than mere complaining. He means don’t pass judgment on one another’s words and actions. Don’t condemn your brothers and sisters. He echoes Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount: “Judge not, that you not be judged” (Matt 7:1). A huge part of the patience that we’re called to practice has to do with bearing with one another’s faults, one another’s weaknesses, one another’s sins, one another’s differences of style, one another’s different gifts, one another’s different charisms. Yesterday we heard Jesus lamenting the different, always critical reactions that he and John the Baptist received from many of the people of their time: John was criticized because he was austere, Jesus because he wasn’t austere. We’re so quick to judge and condemn those who are different, who disagree with us. I’m not talking about Democrats and Republicans in Congress or Albany. I mean in our own households, in our own families, in our own community. James is warning us to prepare for the Lord’s coming by being more patient, gentler, more tolerant, more understanding of one another.

Besides God, besides others, we also have to be patient with ourselves. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is the edifice of our sanctification. Well and good for St. Paul to call us “God’s building…God’s temple” (1 Cor 3:9; cf. 3:10-17). But it takes time—a lifetime—for that building, that temple, to be erected and brought to the perfection of holiness. Our failings, our sins, are apt to discourage us if we’re in any wise serious about Jesus Christ. So we need patience—the patience that doesn’t give up, the patience that keeps working at the virtues we need to practice…and practice…and practice, as much as any athlete or musician.

Jesus defined his messianic mission for John the Baptist and his disciples as one of healing and good news (Matt 11:4-5), echoing the words of Isaiah prophesying Israel’s redemption from the Babylonian exile, e.g. in our 1st reading today (35:1-6,10). That mission of healing and good news is addressed also to us. The Divine Physician is working to heal us, and we’re all old enuf to know that healing takes time. While the ailments of our bodies may turn out to be incurable, it’s not so with our souls, with our characters, with our very selves. So we who are the patients of that Physician must indeed be patient, take his prescriptions, and let his healing power work in us—however long that takes, even our whole lives. “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it….” (Jas 5:7).

For a different take on today's readings, see Deacon Greg Kandra’s homily at http://www.patheos.com/community/deaconsbench/2010/12/11/homily-for-december-12-2010-3rd-sunday-of-advent/