Newman Centre at University of Toronto

The Three Comings of Christ

- 1st Sunday of Advent, Year C -

I wonder how the Pat-walk feels. How it feels to be used as a pawn in a pitiful program of the pastor's peer pressure. For Pat-walks have feelings, too. If you cut them, do they not bleed? Now, I'm the first to admit that I fell for the trap last time I preached. In my Aussie insecurity, I allowed patrician peer pressure - from someone who wasn't even a Canadian yet - to lead me to just use the Pat-walk to make a point. I'm sorry for that, dear Pat-walk. And today, I hope to make it up to you. I'm hoping to begin to incorporate your gifts and talents, your length and your breadth, your…whatever, into the homily itself as we reflect a little on Advent and the coming of Christ.

In fact, there is not just one coming of Christ that we attend to in Advent, but two. There is, of course, our preparing to celebrate again Christ's first coming at Christmas - the coming into our world, into time and space, of the Son of God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. But we hear nothing of that in today's readings for this first Sunday of Advent. There is nothing of stars and angelic messages, of shepherds or Bethlehem, of Mary or Joseph. What we do have is a first reading which reminds us of the people of God waiting - waiting expectantly for the coming of their Saviour, of the Messiah. And in their waiting, being sustained by many promises and prophecies about the coming one, as in the first reading today, from Jeremiah: "The days are surely coming… when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel…. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall practise justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved." [Jer. 33:14-16]

Now, we will hear much about these promises and this first coming of Christ in the weeks ahead as we reflect on our Advent theme, "Rejoice, the Lord is near." In Old Testament readings from Baruch and Zephaniah and Micah, we will hear promises of renewal, of reunion, of return, of redemption - and most importantly, of the coming of the One who will bring renewal, reunion, return and redemption, the One who will be the Redeemer. For the next two weeks, in the Gospels, we will hear the last and greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, speaking of the One who is to come, and preparing a way for Him. On the last week of Advent, we will hear of John's mother Elizabeth praising her cousin Mary and pronouncing the fruit of her womb to be blessed. All of this is about preparation for the first coming of Christ, the fruit of Mary's womb.

But today's Gospel puts us in touch, not with the first coming of Christ as a child in a stable and in weakness and powerlessness, but with the Second coming of Christ, on the clouds and in strength and power. "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, …. for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory." [Lk 21:25-27] This Second Coming of Christ, at the end of time, is set before us as the ultimate focus of all that we ever celebrate as Christians, including this season of Advent. Our remembering of the Word made flesh is not to be nostalgia for a distant past, but part of our preparation for an eternal future of union with Him. We are to set the Christ Child in the context of Christ the Universal King we celebrated last week. We are to set the first coming in the context of the second and final coming. We are to allow the Christmas celebrations to deepen our hope for the fulfilment of what was begun there, the fulfilment of our salvation, and that of the whole of creation.

All that sounds lovely, but those who were listening will recall that the Gospel reading was not all loveliness by any means. "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." [Lk 21.25-26] That is one possible reaction to whatever the Second Coming is going to be like - fainting, fear, foreboding. Is that the reaction that Jesus expects us to have, we who believe in Him and are called by His name? Fainting, fear, foreboding? Not at all, as he tells us in the next line: "Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." [Lk 21.28]. That is Jesus' desire for how we might welcome his appearance. Far from fainting, he wants us to be ready to stand up. Far from being fearful, cowed with our heads down, he wants us to be able to lift our heads. Far from having a sense of foreboding, expecting judgement and condemnation, he wants us to recognise that our redemption, our freedom, our salvation, is near at hand. He wants us to know that we are meeting a Saviour, for that is what he always and fundamentally is, for us and for all the world.

Fainting, fear, foreboding. Rising up, raised heads, redemption. These are the two ways I can meet my Saviour when he comes again, in His Second Coming. (Or, if I should die before then, how I can meet him at the moment of death.) Which of those two it will be depends on how I live my life today, in this intermediate period between the first Coming of Christ and his second Coming, in the Now of my life. For today, Christ, as always, stands at the door knocking [Rev 3.20]. And I can welcome him if I wish. That is made possible by his First Coming. And it is the only real preparation for his Second Coming.

So we can really speak of the three comings of Christ. Which is fitting, in this time of threes - Matrix 3, Lord of the Rings 3, Three Blind Mice, Terminator Three as Governator, three-of-a-kind, three piece suits, three-ring circuses, 3-D images, three-legged races and being three sheets to the wind. St Bernard of Clairvaux speaks of the three comings of Christ - his coming to earth, in flesh and weakness, to bring redemption; his coming at the end of time, in glory and majesty, to bring the fulness of life; and his coming into our hearts, in spirit and power, to bring rest and consolation. "Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy-burdened, and I will give you rest." This coming of Christ today is what Bernard calls the intermediate coming. It is the 3rd coming - or, strictly speaking, being between the first and the second, it is the one and a halfth coming, or the one-point-fifth coming, or the three-over-twoth coming.

The Gospel today tells us about the Second Coming, but also how to prepare for it by means of the 1.5th coming. What will take us by unpleasant surprise is if we are not in touch with Jesus when he comes - if he will appear to us as a stranger, someone we don't really personally know. Jesus warns us: "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down by dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap." [Lk 21.34-35]. Dissipation, drunkenness, worry. All of these take us away from being connected to Jesus in the Now of my life. In drunkenness, or other ways that I tune out or space out, I escape from myself and from Jesus, who can only meet me in reality. In dissipation, I am scattered in different directions - away from my centre where Jesus meets me. In worry, I am focussed on the problem. I've lost sight of the solution, the fact that my redemption is near at hand, not just at the Second Coming, but right now. "See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!" [2 Cor. 6:2]

If that's how we can be unprepared to meet our Maker, Jesus also tells us how we can be properly prepared. "Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength … to stand before the Son of Man." [Lk 21:36]. Being alert is the opposite of being drunk, of being out of it. It is the opposite of escaping. It means remaining determinedly in reality, trusting that reality is the space where I will find God. Praying is the antidote to being worried. For where worry focuses on the problem, which then grows bigger and bigger, true prayer focuses on the solution, on the Saviour, who in our prayer becomes greater and greater and more real. And having the strength to stand before the Son of Man requires a single-heartedness and single-mindedness which is the opposite of dissipation - a focus on the one thing necessary, being at peace within myself and with my Lord and God, so that I can stand before him with nothing between us.

This is how Jesus wants us to meet him when he comes again. It is what we proclaim in a number of the Eucharist Prayers - "we look for the coming of that day when he will return to give us the fullness of joy;" (Reconc. 1) "Ready to greet him when he comes again." (Prayer 3). "Looking forward to his coming in glory." (Prayer 4). It is what we pray before Communion at each Mass: "Keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ." It is what Paul prays for the Thessalonians today. We might make it our blessing in this first week of Advent - a prayer for a growing closeness to Jesus, who has come, and who desires to come into our hearts today to prepare us for the end, when he will come again: "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all...And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." [1 Th 3.12-13.]

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