Homily for Friday of the 2nd Week of Advent

Jesus was a careful observer of people, and He often spoke about the kingdom of God using everyday images drawn from people’s daily lives. Today we find Him using His observations of children at play in the marketplaces. Sometimes their play simply reflected the joy of life. They happily pretended to play pipes while other children danced to the music. At other times their games reflected the sorrows of life, perhaps what they had seen at the death of an elderly neighbor. Some of the children sang dirges while the others mourned and wailed in response. But some children refused to join in any game; they wouldn’t dance when the pipes were played, and they would not mourn when dirges were sung.

 

The unresponsive children reminded Jesus of some dour, unresponsive adults; They would neither mourn in response to the grim message of John the Baptist nor dance in response to Jesus’ more joyful message. They dismissed John as possessed and Jesus as a glutton and a drunkard.

 

It is interesting how our LORD identified His own ministry with the piper and the dance. His life and His message are good news — the Good News of God’s love for us.

 

God calls us to move in harmony with the “music” of Jesus, the “music” of His Spirit in our lives. We try to attune ourselves to the LORD’s rhythm and melody and allow it to shape all that we say and do. That is our Advent calling in preparation for our celebration of the birth of Jesus. +