Read­ing Time: 2 minutes

Introduction

With the cel­eb­ra­tion of the fourth and last Sunday, the peri­od of Advent comes to an end. In the first Sunday of Advent, Jesus exhorts the dis­ciples and the entire Chris­ti­an faith­ful to be watch­ful. This invit­a­tion is expressed in and with the for­mula “be watchful/be on your guard, keep alert/stay alert/stay awake, for you do not know when the time will come” (Mark 13:33). In the second Sunday, Mark presents the Gos­pel as a mes­sage of sal­va­tion, hence, those read­ing it must get them­selves pre­pared. “The begin­ning of the Good News of Jesus” is a call to repent­ance and to believe the Gos­pel. As John the Bap­tizer noted, “the one who is more power­ful than I is com­ing after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his san­dals” (Mark 1:7). As all Judaea and all the inhab­it­ants of Jer­u­s­alem ran to John for bap­tism, and as he bap­tized them, and as they con­fessed their sins, John informed them that he was only a mes­sen­ger, a fore­run­ner. In the third Sunday, Chris­ti­ans were invited to wit­ness to the true Light with all their hearts and with all their minds. With the time of pre­par­a­tions over, it is time to rejoice.

Role of the messiah

As explained in our pre­vi­ous reflec­tion, the First Read­ing of the Third Sunday of Advent out­lines the func­tions of the mes­si­ah (cf. Isa 61:1–2). In Luke 4:16b-20, we read that as Jesus entered the Syn­agogue, as his cus­tom was, on the Sab­bath, “he stood up to read and he was giv­en the book/scroll of proph­et Isai­ah and unrolling the book he found the place where it was writ­ten. The Spir­it of the Lord is upon me, for this he has anoin­ted me: to bring the Good News to the poor he has sent me, to pro­claim liberation/freedom to the pris­on­ers to the blind the recov­ery of sight, to send the oppressed away/free, to pro­claim the year accept­able to the Lord.” It is with this Isai­an pas­sage that Jesus presents him­self at the begin­ning of his mis­sion. Con­tinu­ing, after reas­sur­ing Miri­am, the angel said to her “you will con­ceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus” (Luke 1:31). The angel con­tin­ued and gave more details about the forth­com­ing mes­si­ah. He will be great; he will be called Son of the Most High; the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancest­or Dav­id; he will rule over the house of Jac­ob forever; and his reign will have no end.

FOR DETAILS, GET YOUR OWN COPIES OF THE BOOK “THE WORD OF LIFE: SUNDAY REFLECTIONS” (vols. I and II)!! The reflec­tion for the 4^th Sunday of Advent, Year B is found on vol. II pages 25–32. Happy reading!

For details on how to get it, con­tact the author on this link: https://m.me/uchennabiblia?fbclid=IwAR2yeg4a6sDGBp9QGkIvKj6FSADumMokN6lshdE0zuo-JHs6qOmlhA7jyHo or email me at: postmaster@uchennabiblia.com or simply send an SMS on 08116100926, and I will get back to you.

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