Come, Lord Jesus! That’s how we left things last week as the liturgical year ended and we looked forward to the end of time. Now we begin a new year with Advent and our cry is the same: Come, Lord Jesus! But how do we expect him to come?
In our first reading, Isaiah clearly has his expectations. He pleads, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you.” Isaiah is in such despair that he literally wants God to rip a whole in the sky and “get down here and do something.” The instinct is right. Isaiah wants God to get involved. But the expected mode of God’s coming is a little off.
We know that God did eventually “come down here” and enter his own creation. But how did he do it? It wasn’t with flashy show, with rending the heavens and with flashes of fire on a mountain. He entered silently into the womb of Mary as a little embryo. He didn’t overpower anyone, but came nonthreateningly at the words, “Let it be to me according to your word.”
Many people right now are filled with fear, anxiety, and discontent just as Isaiah was. So we begin Advent with the fervent cry, “Come, Lord Jesus!” But how will he come? Are you so busy that God would practically have to tear open the sky to get your attention? He’s not likely to do that. Rather, God will come quietly and propose rather than impose. Jesus will come this Advent, but don’t wait for some big rending. He comes all the time. How will you receive him?