Monday of the
First Week of Advent
(Isaiah 4:2-6; Matthew 8:5-11)
The centurion in today’s gospel expresses Advent
faith. Because he has evidently heard of
Jesus’ power over disease, he does not require his presence to heal his
servant. As a man of authority, he is
confident that Jesus only has to command the healing for it to happen.
Some of us wait impatiently for Jesus to return. We wonder if we have misinterpreted his
promise or, more darkly, if the gospels have misinformed us. We need to appropriate the centurion’s advent faith. We have seen evidence of Jesus’ power over
evil – how things go right when we pray to him, how his words echo profound
truth to the present day, and how his followers have shaped civilization in benign
ways. We can accept Jesus at his word.
During Advent we renew our commitment to stay the
course. Jesus may not arrive in flesh
and bone this year, but he will continue to send signs of his coming. In the meantime we wait not so much patiently
as actively. We want to prepare his way
by promoting goodwill so that all will receive him.
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