December 6, 2020

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

2 Peter 3:8-14

Mark 1:1-8

I attended a business conference about twenty years ago, and the keynote speaker was the executive who was Walmart founder Sam Walton’s right-hand man, and I’m sorry to say I don’t remember his name, but something he said has stuck with me to this day. He told a story about going to a Walmart store grand opening in some city in the United States, as Sam attended every opening until health problems finally made him slow down. And Sam made it a practice to, after attending the ceremony, stop by at least one competitor store to scope out his rivals. And this executive remembers walking around the store and thinking how run down it was, and how their sparkling new Walmart across town would clobber it. When he and Sam met back up, Sam asked him what he had found. The man was about to reply that he thought it was a mess when Sam answered his own question and asked him if he had noticed how terrific the ethnic cosmetics display was. Sam dragged him back to this counter and showed him what he thought was special about it. Sam then took him around to a few more things in the store that was superior to what he thought Walmart was then doing. This man told us that this lesson that Sam taught him has remained with him. Even in the midst of troubles and woe, you can always find something of value if you are looking for it.

Today, people in both the Old and New Testaments are looking for it. Isaiah calls it a voice in a desert and a wasteland, calling out the good news to the Israelites who have been forced from Israel into exile in Babylonia, the superpower of that age. Saint Mark in the Gospel calls it a voice in the desert to the Jews that have been pawns of the new superpowers, first the Greeks and then the Romans who have subjugated the people and have turned their leaders into puppets or collaborators. Isaiah was understood at the time as cheering up the Israelites, that God would restore them to their kingdom. It was the evangelist Mark and the early Christians that now understood that Isaiah was also saying that God would restore the kingdom of God that was lost in the Garden of Eden, the kingdom of God that Jesus promises all of us if we become His disciple. The apostles would not have known this unless God revealed it through Jesus, the incarnation, but they also would know have known this if they have not been looking for it and been receptive to it once it was revealed.

Today’s Gospel is the first eight verses from the beginning of Mark, the evangelist we will concentrate on this year. Saint Mark does not have a Christmas account: he provides no information on the birth of Jesus. However, we could truthfully say that he has an Advent account: here we have people, streaming into the desert, looking for something, and waiting for something. They were not out for exercise or a leisurely stroll; no, the trek would be too much for that. People were yearning for something in their life, as we still do today.

But looking for it and finding it are two different things. As Father Kirby pointed out this week at our Advent parish retreat, the New Testament is full of people that initially listened favorably to Christ’s message but then ultimately rejected His teachings. Many will find it too difficult. Most will miss the point that Jesus did not come to set up an earthly kingdom but one of eternal salvation. At the end of chapter six of John's Gospel passage known as the bread of life discourse, it says, “As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” [John 6:66]. Even the most devoted disciples asked, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” [John 6:60]. Looking back on it, these people were hearing the Word of God, directly from His mouth, and they didn't understand it or see anything of value.

Saint Peter, in the second reading, is writing to a community that he must encourage to keep on looking. They seem to be discouraged that Jesus has not yet returned – even Saint Paul thought that Jesus would return soon, probably in his lifetime. Two thousand years later we are still waiting, but we must not merely wait but also follow the way of the Lord and expect His coming at any time. Even though we wait all year and at times, Advent is that special time of the year where we examine in our hearts what the wait is for, what we are looking for, what we expect to find. On Christmas morning we will celebrate His first coming, finding joy and thanking God for His incarnation, His coming among us. But now we wait, just as the Israelites waited in Isaiah's time for God to unveil His plans, for us and for the world. And as we wait we must be watchful and alert.

Sam Walton was an expert in finding things, of being watchful and alert. He built a successful business by providing what people really wanted because he looked carefully for it. Nothing he did was unknown to anyone who was also watchful. No, his business was a clever combination of the many things that people wanted in a store. His companion whose story I related at the beginning was also looking, but what did he find? He found things that would confirm his already held beliefs. He found things that confirmed his belief that his company was superior to the others. He was looking for ways to confirm that his company was best, while Sam was looking for ways to make his company better.

What he did for business we can do for our goal of becoming joyful disciples. Can we find those things that will bring true joy to our lives? Can we love one another and obey the Lord, or will we find it too difficult? When we prepare for Christmas, do we look for ways to demonstrate to others that we already are great Christians, or do we look for ways that we can become even better? Do we look for ways that others are failed humans, or do we use this as an opportunity to see if we too have some of the same failings?

As we continue with the Liturgy of the Eucharist, what will we find when we come up to receive Him sacramentally? As we wait to celebrate his first coming on Christmas, let us also wait expectantly for His second, and be watchful to find those things that truly bring us closer to Him and will allow us to be found worthy to join Him in Heaven. Just as Sam built a store with many things, let us build of ourselves a storehouse of the many fine things that Christ wants in us to be true to his call to love God and neighbor.