In our Second Sunday of Advent readings, our shepherd Peter brings back those who go astray, instead of faithfully serving from the first coming of our Lord and Saviour, to His second coming on the Day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:8-14).  Our measures of days or a  thousand years do not compare to the inestimable ways of our Lord. Following from our reading of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord can measure the immensity of the waters and weigh the mountains with His ‘hand’s hollow’ (Isaiah 40:12).  From our Psalm this weekend, our Lord determines the number of the stars, and gives them all names; His understanding is beyond measure (Psalm 147:4-5).  

The Day of the Lord will come, and Peter advises us to be found serving not thieving.  We cannot love the wages of doing wrong (2 Peter 2:15).  Our time until the Day of the Lord may be taken as Isaiah’s ‘term of service’ (Isaiah 40:2).  Whether we take this on as grateful service, or as a penal sentence, depends on us and our relation to our Lord. If we fear the possibility of going astray from our Lord, of turning back to folly (Psalm 85:8), we will try to hasten our pilgrimage to the Lord by making a straight highway through the winding wilderness (Isaiah 40:3-4).  If we fear the Master Lord coming in power, His reward and wages before Him (Isaiah 40:10), then our just reward may not bring comfort or peace. As Peter states, all on earth will be disclosed, laid bare, brought to judgment (2 Peter 3:10).  Justice from heaven looks down; will we be able to rise to meet it in truth (Psalm 85:11)?

In this Sunday’s Gospel of Mark (1:1-8), and in our Advent retreat reading of the Gospel of Matthew (3:1-17), John the Baptist is serving to hasten our pilgrimage on a straight highway to the Lord. He is humble in his service, recognizing the limits of his measures, in awe of the promise of being Baptized with God’s Holy Spirit.  The Lord is ever faithful, gracious at the sound of our repentant cry (Isaiah 30:19). The Lord has compassion for the sheep who have been without a shepherd (Matthew 9:35-10:8).  The Good Shepherd heals us, binds us, and gathers us in.  Our Lord has prepared a place for us (John 14:3).  We do not earn this grace, we may only receive it in gratitude and follow when the Good Shepherd leads us, ‘this is the way, walk in it’ (Isaiah 30:21).

Peter tells us to be found at peace on the Day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:14).  How do we prepare, to be at peace with God?  We hear about our Lord’s first coming in our Advent retreats (Luke 2:8-14), and those shepherds can guide our actions.  The heavenly host of Angels praising God in the highest heaven and granting peace to people of good will found the shepherds in faithful service. The Good Shepherd gathered them in to meet our Lord and Saviour.  

The Advent retreat sessions recapture the Holy Day of the Lord from the season of secular consumerism.  Current shopping restrictions might help with that this year, but we can look to the magi who brought the right gift of frankincense, to offer prayer to the Lord.  Let us pray, and turn back to the Lord, wherever our paths are not straight.  Let us be ready in service as the shepherds, for the Good Shepherd. Let us be ready with good gifts like the magi, as people of good will.  It was only weeks ago that we heard from our Lord “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).  Let us be found at peace, for the Day of the Lord.  


Andrea Mantegna - The Adoration of the Shepherds - from wikimedia.