Sunday Reading

1st SUNDAY IN ADVENT (Cycle B)

Readings:
Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7
Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:33-37

Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).

The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity. Therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).

Advent is the first of the five seasons of the Liturgical year, followed by Christmas, Lent, the Holy Triduum, and Easter. Ordinary time marks the time between the seasons of the Liturgical year. Advent begins on the eve of the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. The Christmas Season then begins with the vigil of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord. Advent is like awaiting the birth of a child. It is an odd mixture of happiness and contentment accompanied by nervousness and even anxiety in anticipation of what is coming. Advent is, in fact, a season of waiting. And for what are we waiting? The entire community of the Church is waiting for what the prophet Isaiah wrote about in the 25^th chapter of the Book of Isaiah. We are waiting for the day when God will remove the veil that separates people and nations from one another and Him (Is 25:7). When that day comes, God will "wipe away the tears from every cheek," and "we shall see things as they are" (Is 25:8; Rev 7:17; 21:4). At this season of the Liturgical Year, we not only prepare to look back in time to Jesus's Incarnation and birth when He came to earth as God enfleshed, but we are also looking forward in time to His promised Second Advent. At the end of time, as we know it, Jesus will return as King and divine Judge to gather the people of His Church and judge the people of all nations.

The Theme of the Readings: Remain Vigilant!
The Body of Christ begins the new liturgical year with a plea for God's visitation from the Book of Isaiah. Christians believe that Jesus "will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead" (Nicene-Constintanople Profession of Faith). Every generation of Christians anticipates that day. In the meantime, Jesus unites us with God the Father in the sacred union of the New Covenant. We are His partners in making this world a better place while we wait for the return of Christ the King in glory when He appears suddenly and takes up the mission as humanity's Divine Judge (Mt 25:31-46). We, therefore, begin each new Church year with a plea for Christ's return, as the prophet Isaiah cried out in the First Reading: "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down." This Sunday's readings remind us that we must be watchful, alert, and prepared for Christ's return.

The First Reading is from the book of the prophet Isaiah. Our passage is a prayer of repentance offered by the covenant people in a time of great distress. They called upon God to return to them as proof that His divine Presence was still with them in the same visual expression of His awesome glory that their ancestors witnessed at Mt. Sinai (Ex 19:16-20).

The Responsorial Psalm takes up this same theme as the psalmist yearns for "our Father" and "the Redeemer," who is the "Shepherd" of His chosen "vine," Israel, and "whose face we long to see."

Like each of our readings, the Second Reading takes up the theme of being vigilant as we await the Second Advent of our Lord so Jesus will find His people remaining faithful in doing good and not evil upon His return. St. Paul reminds us that God is with His people throughout their generations. In the New Covenant, He calls us to fellowship with Him through God the Son and gives us every spiritual gift to sustain us while waiting for Christ's glorious Second Advent.

In the Gospel Reading, Jesus tells His disciples another parable about the necessity of remaining vigilant in waiting for His promised return. He warns them to be watchful and alert because they do not know when Jesus, the Master of His "house," the Church, will return to judge the actions of His servants.

Jesus addressed His message to the disciples of His generation and His disciples in future generations. We must not fail in putting our love for Him and our fellowship with Him above everything else. We must remain faithful and alert so that when Christ returns, He will find His servants continuing His earthly mission by doing what is right and just and sharing His Gospel message of salvation. We do not want to be like Ephesus's Christians, where the community members began to fail in their vigilance. To them, Jesus sent the warning: Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand for its place, unless you repent (Rev 2:4-5). Our prayer as a covenant people should be: "O Lord, help us to keep the vigilance of good servants ready for Your return! May we not be found wanting in acts of charity or guilty of spiritual sloth. Help us keep the Holy Spirit's fire burning brightly in our consecrated souls!"

As a spiritual preparation for Christmas, we recommend the six lessons of the "Advent of the Messiah" Bible study.

The First Reading Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7 ~ God Our Redeemer
16b You, LORD, are our Father, our redeemer you are named forever. 17 Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. [...] 19b Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you. [...] 64:2 While you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, 3 such as they had not heard from of old. No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him. 4 Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean men, 5 all our good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. 6 There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt. 7 Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay, and you are the potter: we are all the work of your hands.

The new Church year begins with a plea for God's visitation: 17b Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. [...] 19b Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you. This heart-rending lament of the covenant people of Israel calls for the visible return of God in the same way that He appeared to them in the Theophany at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:16-19). The people were looking for proof that God had not abandoned them. They acknowledged that their sins had caused a breach in their relationship with Him, but they reminded God that He is still their divine Father, and they are the children He created as individuals and as the covenant nation He formed at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:5-8; 24:1-11).

Christian tradition interprets these verses as a petition fulfilled in the First Advent of Jesus, the Messiah. St. Paul quoted from this same passage in Isaiah when writing about the wisdom of God, His faithful covenant love for those who love Him, and the blessings He plans for His people. Quoting Isaiah 64:3, Paul wrote: But as it is written: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him," this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinized everything, even the depth of God (1 Cor 2:9-10). Since we will not receive these extraordinary gifts fully until the next life, the Christ Fathers and other Christian commentators cited this verse when referring to the eternal blessings enjoyed by the fully redeemed in the heavenly beatitude.

Responsorial Psalm 80:2a, 2c, 3b, 15-16, 18-19 ~ Come O LORD to Save Us
The response is: "Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face, and we shall be saved."

2a O Shepherd of Israel, hearken, 2c from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth. 3b Rouse your power and come to save us.
Response:
15 Once again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine, 16 and protect what your right hand has planted, the son of man [the shoot] whom yourself made strong.
Response:
18 May your help be with the man of your right hand, with the son of man whom you yourself made strong. 19 Then we will no more withdraw from you; give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
Response:

The Responsorial Psalm repeats the petition in the First Reading by asking for a visible sign of God's presence among His people. It is a plea to Yahweh, the divine "Shepherd" of Israel, who dwells invisibly among His people, enthroned between the cherubim on the Mercy-seat of the Ark of the Covenant in the Jerusalem Temple's Holy of Holies (Ex 25:10-11, 18-22).

The petition is for Yahweh to come in a visible form as He did at Mt. Sinai and for Him to restore His desolate people. In verses 15-16, they call for God to revive Israel, His chosen "vine" of the "son of man" (literally the shoot = human beings) that He called out of Egypt and "planted" in the Promised Land (see Hos 11:1). In verses 15-19, the people ask God to remember "the vine"/Israel's unique status as God's "firstborn son" among the nations of the earth (Ex 4:22-23).

The images of God "the Shepherd" and the covenant people as the cherished "vine" of God's "vineyard" appear in the New Testament to describe God's New Covenant relationship with humanity through God the Son, who came in a visible form to redeem His people. Jesus describes Himself as the "Good Shepherd" who guides His flock and whose love is so great that He is willing to lay down His life for their sake (Jn 10:14-18). Jesus also uses the image of the vineyard and the vine. He identifies Himself as the "True Vine" from which life flows to the branches that are those who are the New Covenant people of God who will inherit the "Promised Land" of Heaven (Jn 15:1-8).

Instead of using the Hebrew text, our translation uses the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament and the New Vulgate that translates verses 16 and 18 with the words "son of man," referring to Israel as God's chosen people and the instrument by which He manifests His power. The term "son of man" refers to the sons of Adam or human beings. It is also Jesus's favorite title for Himself in the Gospels. Jesus is the "Son of Man" who is both human and divine (see Daniel's reference to a divine "Son of man" in Dan 7:13), and through whom God will visibly manifest Himself to call old Israel to spiritual restoration as the "new Israel" of a new covenant in the Age of the Messiah (Jer 31:31-34; CCC 877).

Jesus's disciples and Apostles of the Old Israel became His New Covenant emissaries to carry the Gospel message of salvation to all humanity's "sons (and daughters). They were the first ministers of His universal Church. When the Holy Spirit came to the Upper Room in Jerusalem on the annual Jewish feast of Pentecost to fill and indwell the 120 Jewish disciples praying in the Upper Room, He spiritually restored the Jews of the "new Israel" (Acts 1:15; 2:1-4; CCC 877).

The Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 ~ Fellowship with Christ While Waiting for His Return
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I gave thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, 6 as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 We will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, and by him, you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Verse 3 is St. Paul's greeting to the Christian community at Corinth. St. Augustine wrote that the peace Paul wrote about is the peace of the soul that originates in friendship with God, which grace brings with it and is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Augustine, De verb. Dom. Serm., 58; also see Gal 5:22-23). Paul's prayer for a blessing of "peace" isn't an earthly concept of peace, meaning the absence of conflict. It is a divine, spiritual peace and a gift of God "that surpasses all understanding" and "will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:7).

In verses 4-9, Paul thanked God for the community. Then he reminded them that they owe their election among the blessed to God, who chose them through a divine call. Like all Christians, they received God's grace in Christ Jesus, which has enriched them in every way. The gift of grace through Christ Jesus gives them a share in God's divine nature (see 2 Pt 1:4) and raises them to a new level of privileged existence only shared by those redeemed in the blood of Jesus. Through a spiritual re-birth in Christian baptism (Jn 3:3-5), this transfigured nature enables Christians to share in the perfection of God's inner life. Our new life in Christian Baptism is the introduction to a privileged state that will be fulfilled at the end of life on earth when the lives of those who die in a state of grace become joined to the life of the Most Holy Trinity in the heavenly paradise.

8 We will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, and by him, you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
In the meantime, as we wait for Christ's return, Paul assured the Corinthian Christian community that he and the others Jesus chose to shepherd His Church will continue to tutor and guide the faithful. Their mission is to call believers to fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He sustains His people in holiness with His very life through His gift of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments to guide and protect them on their journey to salvation. Our faith journey may end in the Second Advent of Christ and the Final Judgment (CCC 1038-41). Or, our life on earth may end in death and facing Christ at our Individual/Particular Judgment (CCC 1021-22). Either way, God gives us everything we need to be watchful and ready for that meeting that will signal success or failure at the climax of our lives.

The Gospel of Mark 13:33-37 ~ Be Alert and Watch for the Coming of the Master!
Jesus told His disciples: 33 "Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. 35 Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. 36 May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch'!"

In this short parable, Jesus appears to speak of His return in glory. However, He might also be referring to the violent end of the old Sinai Covenant and the judgment on the people and Jerusalem because they rejected their divine Messiah (Lk 19:44). Referring to the judgment against Jerusalem and the Old Covenant hierarchy, Jesus said: "For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation" (Lk 19:43-44).

Jesus told a parable in which He is the man who leaves on a journey (His Ascension into Heaven) and placed His servants (the Apostles and disciples and those of future generations) in charge of His "house" (the Church). The gatekeeper whose duty is to be "on the watch" (verse 34) refers to the chief steward of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, St. Peter, and his successors. Jesus named the four Night-Watches observed during the period of the Roman occupation of Judea: 35 Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.

The Four Night-Watches in the first century AD:
#1: Evening Watch from sundown (c. 6 PM) to 9 PM
#2: Midnight Watch from 9 PM to midnight
#3: Cockcrow Watch from midnight to 3 AM (the trumpet that signaled the end of the third Watch at 3 AM was called the "cockcrow")
#4: Dawn Watch from 3 AM to dawn (c. 6 AM)

A trumpet blast announced the change from one Watch to the next. The night watchmen, who blew trumpets at the end of each Watch, were in the Jewish Levitical guard at the Temple and also the Roman Watch in the Antonia Fortress. You may remember that Jesus warned Peter that he would deny Jesus at "cockcrow." After Peter denied Jesus, he heard "cockcrow," the 3 AM trumpet (see Mt 26:34; 26:69-75). St. Mark's Gospel mentions two cockcrow signals, probably referring to the one at the Temple and the second at the Roman fortress (Mk 14:29-30; 71-72).

The same sequence of events foretelling the destruction of the Temple, the end of the Sinai Covenant, and the return of Jesus in the Second Advent occurs in Matthew and Luke's Gospels. Jesus's point may also be that the end of the Old Covenant, finalized in the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of Old Covenant Temple worship and sacrifices in AD 70, signals the beginning of a new and final age in the rule of Christ's Kingdom of the Church. The Age of the New Covenant Kingdom of the Universal Church is the last age of humanity, and it will last until Jesus's Second Advent, followed by the Final Judgment of the nations. In this passage, the keywords for all generations are Jesus's commands to "Be watchful! Be alert!" (verse 33). He warns us to be ready for His Parousia (appearing) so He will find us diligent in doing the good works of faithful servants who belong to His "House," the Kingdom of the Church.

Catechism references for this lesson (* indicates Scripture quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
1 Corinthians 1:6 (CCC 401*)

Mark 13:33-37 (CCC 672*, 2849*)

The final tribulation and Christ's return in glory (CCC 668*, 669*, 670*, 671*, 672*, 673*, 674*, 675*, 676, 677*, 769)

"Come, Lord Jesus!" (CCC 451*, 671*, 1130*, 1403*, 2817*)

God gives humanity grace to accept revelation and welcome the Messiah (CCC 35)

Acknowledging that we are sinners (CCC 827*, 1431, 2677*, 2839*)