By Deacon Matt Levy
For The Catholic Messenger
Advent Week 3
When I was growing up, some of the most terrifying words to come out of my mother’s mouth were, “Company is coming over!” What ensued was an annual house cleaning in one afternoon! Absolutely nothing was left to the imagination of what needed to be cleaned and prepared. Following the cleaning, my sister and I had to go to our rooms to avoid dirtying anything before the company’s arrival. Who is this “company” anyway?
Looking back at those times, perhaps I would come to some understanding of what it meant to prepare for the coming of the Messiah! Regardless of the effort to make our guests feel welcome and offer them a sense of belonging, we felt as much joy in this anticipation of arrival as we felt stress in the preparation.
This weekend we celebrate “Rejoice Sunday,” which is always the theme of the liturgical readings for this, the Third Sunday of Advent. It won’t be long before the celebration of the liturgy of the Nativity. Today, though, in the Gospel, the people of Israel eagerly seek the wisdom and guidance to help them prepare better for what the Lord will offer them.
“Filled with expectation, all were asking in their hearts whether John may be the Christ.” However, it was not John. So, how can we prepare for the company who is coming? We know, of course, that I am speaking of Jesus. Even though John is still at center stage predicting the imminent arrival of the Messiah.
In response to John’s preaching, various groups of people line up to find out what they must do to be ready. They recognize that, in some ways, their house needs to be in order and they need to do a thorough cleaning, literally and figuratively. They want to be ready for the coming of their “company.”
The crowds, the tax collectors, the soldiers and presumably other groups of influential people step up to make sure they will be wearing the proper clothes and appear right and ready. Baptism will be the cleansing that they needed and repentance will be their own reward.
John tells us today, as he did those seeking this “company” two millennia ago, to let go of our natural inclinations. John is telling us to free ourselves from our fullness of self to receive a life that leads to the fullness of life. John uses a familiar farm image to describe one of the missions of the “company” who is to come. The “company” will have a large fan in his hand and will separate the precious grains of wheat from the expendable chaff. The grains are those who will receive life through the Messiah and in turn give that life through their deeds. The chaff will be those who choose other ways of receiving meaning for their lives. John presents a picture for us to choose if we are to be grain or the chaff.
What is also so interesting to me is the very use of a fan as a visual picture. The fan used to distribute the grain and chaff is meant to help us visualize as we distribute the Good News. The “Good News” is indeed something worth rejoicing over. Our “company” will soon be here! The gift of this “company” is something we are to receive and to share.
The rejoicing is for both the giving and the receiving of the Good News of the coming and the presence of the Messiah. This is a partial reason for the giving of gifts during this Advent and Christmas season. Gifts, or presents, are meant to express something about the giver, the receiver and something about the relationship between both.
In our giving, we express what is being said by the gift. We are saying something about our feelings, our reverence for the receiver and something specific about our union or love. The gift says something of the good news about our relationship and the words complete it and make it all a Christmas “presence” we are sharing.
I truly believe this was the lesson my mother always wanted to share with me when we were about to rejoice in the arrival of our company. The gift of our preparation for their arrival should express the gift of their presence in our lives. So, today, let us rejoice in preparing for the Messiah’s presence, our “company,” and let us express this joy with the gift of his holy presence in our lives.
(Deacon Matt Levy is the parish life coordinator for St. Andrew Parish in Blue Grass.)
