Burglar Alarm

1st Sunday of Advent
Cycle A

We have a burglar alarm at our house. It came with the house. We pay a monthly fee to have it. It’s a real fancy one that not only has a siren but has someone sitting at a computer screen a thousand miles away monitoring it so that if it goes off they call the cops or the fire department. And we never turn it on. I wouldn’t know how to if I wanted to. The little green light on the control panel by the door is always on, but I don’t know how to program it and if it goes off I don’t know how to turn it off.

We figured it would come in handy because of all the expensive tools I’ve got in the shop. And we did turn it on the first month or two after we moved in. It has hundreds of cool functions, but all we learned to do was turn it on and off. And it soon became a hassle remembering to activate it and deactivate it, and besides, we live in Oakley, where it’s quiet and peaceful and all the neighbors look out for each other. I’ve got all the right tools to be prepared for a break-in, but they’re really useless because I don’t know how to use them. And if I did, I probably wouldn’t anyway. We’ve fallen into a false sense of security because we have never been broken into.

It’s the first Sunday of Advent. New Years Day for us Catholics. Today we begin the new liturgical year, and as you can see, the colors have changed to purple from green, we have our Advent wreath all set up and lit, and the gospel readings are from Matthew rather than from Luke. The word Advent means coming, as in the coming of an event that has been anticipated.

We celebrate Advent when we do because we are anticipating the coming of a wonderful event at the same time we are remembering another wonderful event. We look forward to the time when Jesus comes again in his glory, and we celebrate his birth at Christmas, his first coming 2000 years ago. It is fitting that we link the two, because together they tell the story of the promise Jesus made to us that we will see him again just as he was seen so long ago.

But Advent is all about burglar alarms.

Jesus tells us throughout Advent to be prepared. Be ready, because you never know when he will come again. He gave us a heads-up about what is to happen. Jesus left us all the tools. We have the Church to back us up. We have tradition and scripture. He gave us the burglar alarm; he showed us how it works and how to turn it on. It’s got hundreds of cool functions, like the sacraments and devotions and saints and stuff. But we don’t use them, do we? We just turn it on and off sometimes, when we need it. We’re good people. We don’t need to worry, do we? Nothing bad’s going to happen. We have fallen into a false sense of security because it’s been so long since he left and we’ve grown weary of waiting.

We talk a lot about Jesus’ first coming, and every Sunday we hear stories about that time in the gospels. At every Mass our prayers speak of the hope we have in his coming again. What lies beneath the surface of both of these events is Jesus’ third coming, where he enters into our lives, or tries to, every day. Are we prepared to welcome Jesus when he knocks at our door today? Are we really ready?

Have you ever thought about what you’d do if you met Jesus face to face? Have you ever heard the song I Can Only Imagine by the group Mercyme? The refrain goes:

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in honor of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

We spend a lot of time thinking of the afterlife, of what it will be like in heaven. But I think we often forget that Jesus is here acting in our lives every day. That third coming is the only thing we can control. It’s the only coming we can experience now.

Let’s change the lyrics of that song a bit.

Surrounded by Your glory, O what my heart feels
I dance for you Jesus and in honor of you be still
I stand in your presence and to my knees I fall
I sing hallelujah, and am unable to speak at all
I don’t have to imagine

If you knew you were to have Jesus over to dinner tomorrow night, how would you prepare? Not just all the details about the decorations and the menu. How would you prepare yourself mentally and spiritually? How would you dress? Who would you tell? Would you invite your friends to join you or would you want Jesus all to yourself? Would you think yourself worthy or unworthy? Would you go to confession first? Would you be nervous or would you be comfortable welcoming a close friend?

Well, here we are. Jesus has come to dinner.