This is the sign, in a Bible full of signs. Signs that are not meant to satisfy us, but to draw us into the ways God has come to us over time. And Incarnation is the sign in which we meet God down at the broken and ordinary end of things where we live.
There’s an old rabbi with the fabulous name of Ben Bag Bag who offers this advice on reading Scripture: “Turn it and turn it again, for all is in it; see through it; grow old and worn in it; do not budge from it, for there is nothing that works better than it.”
We celebrate the third Sunday of Advent which is known as Rose Sunday or Gaudete Sunday. Gaudet comes from the Latin word which means rejoice. As we prepare for God’s incarnation at Christmas, we are called to adopt a posture of thankfulness for everything that God has done for us and to rejoice and be glad.
“…this Advent I invite you to spend a little less time anticipating, no matter what you’ve been told Advent is all about. I invite you to spend less time anticipating whatever it is you think will finally make you whole, whether it’s more time or more knowledge or more progress toward anything at all you don’t think you have enough of. Instead of yearning for some other life or even for a Messiah you hope will come barreling through the wilderness to give it to you, this Advent, practice the liberating humility of Isaiah. A humility that rests on resting in the miracle of the one short life you’ve been given.”
I’m often asked when will the Second Coming of Jesus take place, or has it already taken place, or is it constantly taking place. A more important question is: what is Jesus coming to do? Yes, he is coming to restore us and to save us. But more importantly, he is coming to recondition our hearts.