It is a well-known fact that Jews are waiting for the Messiah. I have often had a hard time understanding that. Yesterday when I listened to the lectionary for the first day of Advent I was surprisingly struck with the reality of the fact that the Old Testament scriptures were written for, well…Jews. I find interesting that Jesus was a Jew.
Yet, here I sit with the same ole phrase at the start of another Advent season…..“Come Lord Jesus”
We know Advent is about waiting. It can’t be for Christ the babe because that is history. Another popular idea is that Advent is about waiting for the coming of the new age; the day when peace and harmony will be fulfilled. I hate to state the obvious but, isn’t that a form of waiting for the Messiah, like the Jews are doing? What about this angle? Are we not waiting for Christ to be revealed within us and without? Here are some thoughts about Advent by Father Ronald Rolheiser as he describes it through the brilliant mind of Peirre Teilhard de Chardin.
“Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once suggested that peace and justice will come to us when we reach a high enough psychic temperature so as to burn away the things that still hold us apart. In saying this, he was drawing upon a principle in chemistry: Sometimes two elements will simply lie side by side inside a test-tube and not unite until sufficient heat is applied so as to bring them to a high enough temperature where unity can take place”.
As I have pondered the start of Advent in the past two days, here are some of my reflections on how we are waiting for the Messiah….
We are waiting for Christ to be formed to the fullest within us. We are waiting for the kingdom to be fully here on earth as it is in heaven. We are waiting for Jesus to save us from our false selves. We are waiting for the new heaven and new earth. We are waiting not for our sins to be saved, (that is done)….Rather, we are waiting for original blessing to be restored in the hearts and souls of all mankind past, present and future.
Since yesterday I don’t have a hard time with understanding why the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah,
because I am waiting too.
“Come Lord Jesus, in me.” 
Question for reflection…
Where do you sense God is presently awakening you to the fullness of Christ within you and outside of you?
Val, I like how you invite all of us, Jew and non-Jew alike to join at the Advent table where redemption, at least in terms of its outworking, looks the same. In a metaphoric sense, we’re all awaiting the fullness of the Cosmic Christ as he indwells all things, redeems all things, makes all things right again. I leave it to the theologians to parse the particulars. For our purposes, let us find room at the Messianic Table with all who seek peace, justice and the Way of Christ which, is the cruciform path of self-giving love to the glory of God the Father by the power of the sustaining Spirit.
Peace…R
Hi Val!
I am waking up much like a young child waking from a long deep sleep. I’m rubbing my eyes, and straining to see what’s next. And, all the while, I’m waiting. And, not always patiently. I apparently wait like a young child… however, I’m learning to actively wait in God’s waiting room while He prepares everything for it’s proper time… including me. I love what Henri says here:
“To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude towards life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our imaginings. So too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according to God’s love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that the new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.” – Henri Nouwen
taking a more intentional, radical, stance this advent…
Stephen