Homily for 2nd Sun Adv, Year B
Fr. Albert
St. Peter’s, New Iberia, LA
“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” Prophets don’t generally like to be rejected and hated. They don’t enjoy being the sign of contradiction and conviction. But, faithfulness demands they hand on what God says, not what they feel like saying. Yet, there are the joyful moments when God commands them to encourage and comfort. Isaiah is often filled with bold challenges and strong warnings, but here the prophecy is closer to what we’ve come to expect in the time leading up to Christmas. Comfort. Speaking tenderly. Who could object to being the bearer of that news?
So, what is this message? How does Isaiah comfort God’s people? Their “service is at an end, [their] guilt is expiated; indeed, [they have] received from the hand of the LORD double for all [their] sins.” Wait, Isaiah’s message of comfort is that God has punished them “double” for all their sins? They have “expiated” their guilt, paid the debt of sin, but why double? Isn’t that unfair and excessive? If you lose sight of the context, yes, but there is something deeper at work here.
First, we have to acknowledge the joy, the comfort of “expiating” our sins. Imagine if you had cheated on your spouse, or stolen something very important, or hurt someone and crippled them for the rest of their life. Which would prefer? That they go on acting like nothing ever happened? Or that you get the chance to show your sorrow and regain their trust? Is it enough for them to simply say “I forgive you?” Or do would you still want to pay back, to make up for your fault in some way, even if you can’t fix everything you’ve broken?
Although a quick, painless act of forgiveness might sound easier, your human nature would not be at peace. It’s written into how we work. When we mess up, especially in a big way, we need to do something to repair the damage, to make reparations. Forgiveness saves us from condemnation, but the damage of our sins still needs repair.
When you’ve done something terrible, that burden, that damage can stay with you a long time, even if you know you’ve been forgiven. Just imagine your relief, the comfort it would bring to you if a prophet of God were to look you in the eye and say, “you have paid all of your debt, you have expiated the damage of your sins.” Would you not rejoice? Would it not renew and energize your relationship to whomever you had hurt? Now just imagine if they not only said “you’ve paid your debet,” but that you have more than made up for it, that you’ve paid double the debt of your sins. How much greater would that joy be, how profound your appreciation of the person who has forgiven you, how much stronger would that relationship be?!
It seems crazy to the world, but there are many cases of people, friends, relatives, even mothers who have gotten closer to the person who killed their loved one. The experience of forgiveness and of making reparation actually makes the love deeper than it was before.
So yeah, Isaiah truly comforts God’s people when he says, “you have paid double for all your sins.” That’s the comfort I want to bring to you this Advent. And yet… there should be something in the back of your mind that hesitated when you heard what I just said. Some part of your conscience should be a little uneasy at the idea that you can fully repay and even overpay the debt of your own sins. Doesn’t the Church teach that it’s impossible for a human being to the pay the full price of his own sin? Yes, in fact she does teach that.
Even on a natural level, we should see a problem. Go back to my example of the person you’ve crippled for life. There is nothing you can do to undo that damage. So, how can they say to you that you’ve not only repaired permanent damage, but that you’ve actually done more and even increased the quality of your relationship? You can’t undo paralysis and death and trauma, even if you do bring a little relief. So, is Isaiah lying when he says our sins are doubly repaid?
No, because his message doesn’t stop there. How is that great debt of sin repaid? By God himself. “Prepare the way of the Lord!” “Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God… here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.” Ah, there it is! Recompense. It’s not a common word. It’s from the same word as “compensation,” meaning “to balance or pay fairly for.” The “recompense” of the Lord – that is what pays the debts that we could never pay. God declares that Israel has paid their debt, that we pay our debts of sin because He Himself comes to pay them for us, with us, and through us. If paying off debts you can afford is a relief, how much greater a relief to pay off debts you can’t afford? What a comfort that would be!
And that is how we can explain this strange man we call John the Baptist. This bizarre and austere man lives in the desert, eats bugs, and shouts at people about sin. Yet, practically the whole country of Judah and all of Jerusalem flock to this guy. Why go see a madman who tells them they are sinners? Because they have heard this prophecy of Isaiah. The fact is, they are sinners. We are all sinners. There’s no point in hiding from people who tell us that. But John is more than a judge or prosecutor.
No, this man not only tells them of their sin, but of the fulfillment of this ancient promise. Finally, the claim that you have paid “double for your sins” can be called true. How? Because “One mightier than I is coming after me.” That mighty one is Jesus Christ, to be born for us two weeks from now. That mighty one pays not only double for your sins, but triple, quadruple, and on to infinity. St. Peter says that a thousand years are as one day for God. Jesus Christ is God. He transcends not only time, but all of our guilt. One day of sin, a thousand years of sin – all of it matched and exceeded by his gift on the cross.
But we still need to do it ourselves. Even though we cannot earn forgiveness, even though we cannot undo the damage of our sin, we are hard-wired to try nonetheless. But do not fret, for that is but one more facet of the God’s saving glory and grace. Jesus forgives and pays every debt we bring to him, but he does not set aside our humanity. No, he embraces it and works within us, enabling us to pay our debts by cooperating with his grace.
John declares that “I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Repentance is still necessary for forgiveness. Repentance includes the desire – and effort – to pay back your debts. Water, by itself, cannot cleanse sin. We, by ourselves, cannot win forgiveness. But add the Holy Spirit to water and you have baptism. Add the Holy Spirit to sinners and you get saints.
So prepare the way of the Lord! The Light is on for You this Wednesday and the next and for 30 minutes before every Mass during the week. The Lord is coming. Rejoice at what he will bring when he arrives. Truly, “we await a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. [Beloved people of St. Peter’s,] be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.” Comfort, take comfort O my people, for you have received from the hand of the Lord double – and so much more than double – for all your sins.
