Advent devotional for week one

Matthew 24: 42-44
42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.


The first Sunday of the Advent season focuses not on Jesus’ first coming, but on his second coming. Jesus warned his disciples that his second coming would be unannounced but not unexpected. We are in the same situation that the early Christians found themselves after Jesus resurrection and ascension, we are waiting for the second coming. Waiting is something that we don’t do very well is it? We are an immediate gratification society. We want what we want and we want it now. This first week of Advent provides us an opportunity to renew our anticipation and longing for Christ’s return. We know that his return will establish eternal peace and justice and we long for the day when that will happen. In the meantime we work to help establish his kingdom here “on earth as it is in heaven.”

In his Advent address from 2002 Pope John Paul II reminded us that Advent “helps us to understand the fullness of the value and meaning of the mystery of Christmas. It is not just about commemorating the historical event; which occurred some 2,000 years ago in a little village in Judea. Instead, we must understand that our whole life should be and advent, in vigilant expectation of Christ’s final coming. To prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the creed, will come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize his presence in the events of daily life. Advent is then, a period of intense training that directs us decisively to the One who has already come, who will come, and who continuously comes.”

May we have that longing for Christ’s coming renewed in our hearts and experiences.