Waiting in Hope: Advent Through Isaiah, Peter, and Mark

Julie South [00:00:10]:

Welcome to Your Catholic Corner. Merry Christmas. Oh, holy night. I'm your show host, Julie South. Your Catholic Corner helps Catholics spiritually prepare for each Sunday's Mass. Starting midweek each week, you can listen to Your Catholic Corner at yourcatholiccorner.com. Today we're uncovering the biblical gems hidden in the books of the prophet Isaiah. Second letter of Peter and Mark's gospel in Catholic speak liturgically.

Julie South [00:00:47]:

We're in the second week of Advent in year B. To make it easier for you and for me to better understand the Bible, we'll have a look at what was going on at the time these passages were written. Because you can't apply 21st century context to something that's thousands of years old, we need some historical context, so that's what we'll get. We'll listen to the passages, and then I'll share my insights and reflections. And today we're looking at metaphors on what God might be asking of us here in today's 21st century digital world. But before that, a quick word about Your Catholic Corner, just in case. This is your first time here. Regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey, whether you've only just heard of that man called Jesus, you're new to Catholicism or you're a cradle Catholic.

Julie South [00:01:49]:

My prayer is that Your Catholic Corner will help bring God's word to life in your heart through insights, reflections, and practical applications that help deepen your relationship with God. Every Thursday, we'll start preparing for Mass by uncovering the richness hidden in each Sunday's Bible readings, from Old Testament prophecies to Gospel parables. I invite you to join me and the parishioners of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton, New Zealand, sponsors of Your Catholic Corner, so that together we can hear God's word and echo. Samuel. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. Now let's get back to today's show. Merry Christmas again.

Julie South [00:02:35]:

On Friday the 8 December 2023, father Richard Lawrenson becomes the fourth bishop of Hamilton, New Zealand. I'm recording this ahead of his ordination. We've been told that if you want to attend in person, it'll be first in, first served. Seats wise, I'm sure like hundreds of other Hamiltonians, we're all praying that we arrive in plenty of time to get a seat. We'll see. Hopefully I can let you know next week whether I was early enough or whether I missed out and had to watch the live streamed event online. Have your ever given thought to the fact that liturgically, we're in the season of Advent? Why Advent? And why not just Christmas? After all, if those who aren't referring to this time of the year as the holidays, they're calling it Christmas. So what's the difference? After all, retailers have been Christmas focused some since way before Halloween even.

Julie South [00:03:51]:

Well, here's a quick overview of the main differences between Advent and Christmas. Advent is the period leading up to Christmas. We're in that now. It begins four Sundays before Christmas, so it started last week. And it's a time of both preparation and anticipation for the Christmas season. Whereas Christmas so that's advent. Whereas Christmas is the annual festival that commemorates and celebrates the birth of our Lord Jesus, celebrated on the 25 December in most Western churches, the Advent season focuses on expectation, hope, preparation and longing. The most common Advent themes include waiting, hope, faith, anticipation, preparation and, like I said, longing.

Julie South [00:04:45]:

Christmas celebrates birth, the arrival of Jesus as the incarnation of God. The major Christmas themes are celebration, joy, gift giving and family gatherings. Advent wreaths and calendars are used to count down the days until Christmas. The circular Advent wreath holds four or five candles that are lit progressively each Sunday leading up to Christmas. Advent calendars help count down the days, often with little treats or gifts behind each door or in each pocket. As an aside, rather than a wreath. At the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin. Marianne Hamilton.

Julie South [00:05:28]:

Our advent candles stand on the south cross. It was Father Sergi, may he rest in peace, a Swissborn priest who spent quite a bit of time in Hamilton before he passed away, sadly, of motor neuron disease in 2018. It was he who designed the Southern Cross Advent candlestand for the cathedral. This week, we'll be lighting two Advent candles on our Southern Cross wreath. And I use wreath in air quotes. Advent has a more solemn atmosphere about it, while Christmas is more festive. This is because Advent is a time for reflection, for fasting and simplicity in anticipation of Christmas. Christmas, as we know, is filled with parties, rich foods, bright lights, gifts and merrymaking to celebrate Jesus'birth.

Julie South [00:06:26]:

The colour for Advent is violet or purple, symbolizing royalty and penitence. Red and green are the colours of Christmas, symbolising the blood that Jesus shed and eternal life. So, as you can see, Advent prepares us for and leads us to the celebration and arrival of Jesus at Christmas time. Now, let's look at our three Bible passages for today on, well, the second Sunday of Advent. They're from Isaiah, from Peter and from Mark. What's their common unifying theme, actually? Is there one that connects all three or just the first Old Testament passage and the New Testament Gospel reading? Remember, I've just said that Advent is anticipatory. Therefore, I'm sure it'll come as no surprise to you to hear that we have anticipation going on between all three passages. We are in Advent, remember, so it's all about anticipation.

Julie South [00:07:37]:

Remember also that every Sunday we're reading from very sacred texts, ones that have rung true and through and throughout millennia. And here we are adding yet another year of solidity to them. That's a bit wow, don't you think? Like, really wow. With Isaiah, Peter and Mark, there's the familiar call that's rung out before. And here we are ringing it out again. And that's a call of preparation. It's a resonant call that echoes throughout the ages to be prepared. But it's more than saying, Just get ready.

Julie South [00:08:20]:

It's a clarion call, a call that's a strong and clear request for action, an urgent demand. You know, a clarion is like a trumpet. We're talking something akin to being like a summons or a rallying cry, something that's meant to inspire people to act. I'm sure you can imagine a medieval trumpet, a clarion that's got a clear and a shrill sound. Imagine the call for preparedness as being an urgent call for us to take action. That's what we've got going on this Advent. And then, parallel to this urgent call to preparedness, we have the prophet Isaiah speaking of comforting the children of Israel. He talks of hope, of forthcoming salvation as promised by God.

Julie South [00:09:14]:

Isaiah talks of preparing a path for the Lord, one that's a direct highway in the barren desert for our God. This ancient prophecy is revered as one of the foretellings of the Messiah's coming. But because this is God's coming that we're talking about here, his arrival is sacred, it's special, and it's so monumental. Looking at the writings of Peter, we have his reflection on the divine perspective of time. This reminds us that what may seem like millennia forever to us is but a moment to God. Peter urges us to lead lives of holiness and devotion. We need to be ever mindful of the day of God, who approaches with stealth, much like the thief in the quiet of the night here, and listen to those words because they'll come back up later. Here we have His Word, serving as the solemn reminder that the second coming of Christ is an event for which we must remain vigilant and prepared, not falling asleep like we were reminded last week, but instead our spirits attuned to the promise of Jesus'return.

Julie South [00:10:34]:

And then, in the Gospel reading, according to Mark, we meet John the Baptist. It's he who's embodying Isaiah's prophecy. John emerges as a voice in the wilderness. He calls out for humanity to forge a path for the Lord. John the Baptist, through baptism and his teaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, prepares the way for Jesus, whose arrival is on the horizon. In a way, John's ministry is setting the stage for the manifestation of salvation in human form for Jesus. The golden thread that weaves these passages into one single narrative is that of being ready, of being 100% prepared. Because we've heard the metaphorical call of the clarion to be awake for Jesus's coming, we also have trust, because God's time is Christos time, different from analog time and God's time.

Julie South [00:11:43]:

It happens when God is ready, not when we're ready. So we have Christos versus Kronos time. Christos, obviously, is God's time. These ancient and sacred passages are united in their call for us to self examine our readiness, their call for us to repent and to live in love in harmony with God, trusting Him to look after us because he wishes, god wishes only good for us in our lives, in your life. In my life. We've talked about Isaiah and what was going on in his time in previous episodes. Today, though, we're reading from the Bible passage known as the Second Isaiah. What I didn't realize until I started getting ready for today's episode through research and reading is that Biblical scholars have studied the Book of Isaiah and realized that there are some very important distinctions in it.

Julie South [00:12:58]:

Did you know this? They have determined that the first 39 chapters are believed to contain the prophecies of the historical prophet Isaiah, the man who lived in the 8th century BC. These 39 chapters, the first 39 chapters are often referred to as First Isaiah or proto Isaiah. Then we have chapters 40 through 55. Today we're reading from chapter 40, and these appear to feature an anonymous prophetic voice, or voices plural, who lived during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BC. This section offers messages of hope and consolation to those exiled Israelites, promising that God would remain faithful to them and eventually restore them to their homeland. To differentiate this later section from chapter 40 onwards, from the earlier prophecies of Isaiah, biblical scholars commonly refer to these chapters as the Second or the Deuteroisiah. The term Second Isaiah doesn't refer to any specific person. Instead, it recognizes the distinct literary and prophetic character in this section of the Book of Isaiah from chapter 40 onwards.

Julie South [00:14:22]:

By using sensitivity and care in terminology in this way, scholars aim to build our understanding of how the Book of Isaiah came together over time. This study helps highlight the messages of hope and restoration that Second Isaiah brought to the Israelites in their time of fear and uncertainty. It's about hope and anticipation that we have here today during adventure. Now let's have a look at the Bible passage to Peter. Chapter three, verses eight through 14, where Peter teaches that we must always be holy because the return of the Lord can't be predicted. The Book of Peter is one of the books of the New Testament. It's believed to have been written by the apostle Peter. Although the scholarly jury is still divided on whether Peter did write both one and two.

Julie South [00:15:30]:

Peter, he was one of as we know, Peter was one of Jesus's original twelve disciples. The book was written to Christians facing persecution. It offers encouragement and guidance. It was written in the early 60s Ad, during the time of the Roman emperor Nero. Nero was not a nice man. He was known for being cruel, and he was a tyrannical ruler who persecuted the Christians, many of whom were executed and or were forced to flee their homes. So Nero was not one of the good guys. It's to these people, those Christians being persecuted, that the Book of Peter offers comfort and hope.

Julie South [00:16:16]:

It reminds them that they're not alone and that God's with them. The Book of Peter encourages Christians to stand firm in their faith, even in the face of persecution. The book of Peter is divided into two main parts. The first, chapters one through five, is addressed to Christians who are scattered throughout the Roman Empire. And the second part, chapters three to five, is addressed to the elders and other leaders of the church. I said that the scholarly jury is still out on whether it was Simon Peter who wrote Two Peter. The reasons for Simon Peter being the author of Two Peter are that the book's style and content are similar to those of one Peter, which is widely accepted as being written by Peter. Another reason is because the book claims to be written by quotes Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, end quote.

Julie South [00:17:16]:

And you can read that in Two Peter, chapter one, verse one and third. The book's early readers seem to have accepted it as being written by Peter. For example, the early church leader Clement of Rome quotes from to Peter in his letter to the Corinthians and this was around 96 Ad. And he refers to Peter as the author of the book. However, there are also some reasons others doubt that Peter is the author of Two Peter. And this is because, first, the book's Greek is somewhat more polished and I use air quotes around polished than that of one Peter and that kind of suggests to them that it may have been written by someone else. Secondly, the book's eschatology that's a teaching about the end times is more developed than that of one Peter, which suggests that it may have been written later. And thirdly, the book's reference to false teachers, two Peter, chapter one, verse one, could be interpreted as referring to gnosticism, a heresy that didn't develop until after Peter's death.

Julie South [00:18:27]:

So as you can see, exactly who wrote To Peter, which we're reading from today, or second, Peter, which we're reading from today, is still undecided. It's possible that Peter's the author, but it's also possible that the book is written by someone else. However, regardless of that, what's important to us catholic is that the Catholic Church regards this as a canonical text and recognizes its authority within the context of scripture with all of that as the backdrop. Now let's listen to God's word. According to Isaiah, Peter and Mark. A reading from the prophet Isaiah console my people, console them, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for that she has received from the hand of the Lord double punishment for all her crimes. A voice cries, prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord.

Julie South [00:19:50]:

Make a straight highway for our God across the desert. Let every valley be filled in every mountain and hill be laid low. Let every cliff become a plain and the ridges a valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Go up on a high mountain, joyful messenger to Zion, shout with a loud voice, joyful messenger to Jerusalem, shout without fear. Say to the towns of Judah, here is your God. Here is the Lord coming with power.

Julie South [00:20:36]:

His arm subduing all things to Him. The prize of his victory is with Him. His trophies all go before Him. He is like a shepherd feeding his flock gathering lambs in his arms holding them against his breast and leading to their rest. The Mother EWS reading from the second letter of Peter there is one thing, my friends, that you must never forget that with the Lord a day can mean a thousand years. And a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow, but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways. The day of the Lord will come like a thief.

Julie South [00:21:52]:

And then with a roar, the sky will vanish. The elements will catch fire and fall apart. The earth and all that it contains will be burnt up. Since everything is coming to an end like this, your should be living holy and saintly lives, while your wait and long for the day of God to come, when the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat. What we are waiting for is what he promised the new heavens and new earth, the place where righteousness will be at home. So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live lives without spot or stain, so that he will find you at peace. A reading from the Gospel of Mark. The beginning of the good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Julie South [00:23:05]:

It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah look, I am going to send my messenger before you. He will prepare your way. A voice cries in the wilderness. Prepare a way for the Lord. Make his paths straight. And so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to Him. And as they were baptized by Him in the river Jordan, they confessed their sins.

Julie South [00:23:41]:

John wore a garment of camel skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching, he said, someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Sat. Today the second Sunday of Advent. Let's look at some of the metaphors that are easy to overlook. In those Bible passages that we've just listened to God through in Isaiah, we have the comforting voice and preparing the way. The voice calling in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord could represent our spiritual awakening.

Julie South [00:24:57]:

Or the call for us to prepare our heart for the coming of divine truth. We have valleys, mountains, rough ground. These geographical features could symbolize obstacles in our life and or the moral landscape that we live in. The rising of valleys and lowering of mountains could metaphorically speak to social justice, elevating the lowly and humbling the proud and making the path of God accessible to all. And then with the shepherd, as we probably know, god as a shepherd is a metaphor for guidance, for provision and for care. The shepherd knows each sheep and provides for their needs, just as God knows and cares for each of us, for you and for me, for each of us, for every single one of us. Then in the second letter of Peter, we have time. The difference in perception of time between God and humans as Christos time and Kronos time.

Julie South [00:26:09]:

It serves as a metaphor. Or it could serve as a metaphor for the eternal nature of God versus the chronological existence of humans. Because we start and we finish, we are born and we die. But with God, it could be the suggestion of divine timing and judgment that we don't understand on human terms, because God is everlasting, God is eternal. Then we have the thief in the night. This metaphor could suggest the sudden and unexpected nature of the day of the Lord. It's a call for us to be constantly ready and vigilant in our spiritual life. We also have new heaven and new earth.

Julie South [00:26:57]:

And this metaphor could represent the transformation and the renewal of all creation. It's a metaphor, possibly, for the ultimate redemption and purification that will come with divine intervention for us. For people like me who have come to God as a choice through the RCIA program, it could represent a before and an after as well. In Mark's gospel, we have the way of the Lord. And that metaphor is John the Baptist's role in preparing the way. In air quotes, the way is a metaphor for spiritual preparation and for us getting ourselves ready for the teachings and saving by Jesus of us our salvation. The baptism of repentance as we know. I'm sure water baptism by John is symbolic of inner cleansing of repentance and a new start.

Julie South [00:28:04]:

And water in biblical terms is also a metaphor. It represents the washing away of the old life and the rebirth into a new way of living. We have the metaphor, the mightier one coming, that's John's reference to one more powerful than he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And this is a metaphor of power dynamics. John's water baptism is contrasted with Jesus's spiritual baptism and that could suggest the transition from ritual purification to internal transformation. Very powerful stuff. I hope that those metaphors that God speaks to you. Only you know what God is saying to you.

Julie South [00:28:58]:

But those are some metaphors, too, to get you thinking. I hope you found all this information helpful. I hope this podcast helps you prepare and maybe even understand just a teeny, tiny, incy wincy dinky little bit better the wonderful word of God. Thank you. Sincerely, thank you for spending the last half an hour or so of your life with God, Isaiah, Peter, Mark and me. I pray that each of these men, coupled with my history and context, has been able to make the difference that God wishes for you today in their own way in your life. Thank you for getting this far. Can I ask you to do me a huge favor, please? If you enjoyed today's show, can you please help me spread God's word about Your Catholic Corner? All you have to do is tell your friends and family about this podcast so they can hopefully benefit as well.

Julie South [00:30:08]:

Letting them know is really easy. Just invite them to visit yourcatholiccorner.com where they'll be able to subscribe and follow the show from there. As I said, it's free. It doesn't cost anything at all. Thank your very much, wherever you are. I pray that God's glass of love overflows in your heart and in your life. And that when you're ready, you're able to accept God's invitation to you to join Him and share in Holy Communion this week at your local parish. I also pray that you'll be able to hear Samuel's words and say, speak, Lord.

Julie South [00:30:48]:

Your servant is listening. And finally, please join me in prayers as we welcome as Hamilton. Welcomes the Diocese of Hamilton. Welcomes Bishop Richard as our new bishop. And finally, I'd like to say thank you to the parishioners of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton, who helped me bring this podcast to you today. This is Julie South signing off until next week. Peace be with you. God bless.

Julie South [00:31:20]:

Merry Christmas.