好消息

将临期第二主日讲道重点

 

当犹太难民离开耶路撒冷，前去巴比伦（公元前597年首次流亡）时，他们怀疑自己以后是否还能返回。假先知承诺，他们会在两年后返回（耶28：3-4）。流亡时间超过了耶利米亚先知所预言的70多年（耶25:11）。这些年期间，他们的子女在流亡之地定居下来，结婚，生子，种植，为巴比伦的福祉祈祷（耶29：5-7）。我们在今天的读经一中——“依撒意亚福音”可以得知这一切。他们可以回家，回到他们的祖先曾被迫离开的地方；苦难时期已经结束了。

圣马尔谷这样开始他的福音：“天主子耶稣基督福音的开始”（谷1：1）。这一开始的标志是施洗若翰的出现，他宣布悔改并归向天主。就若翰而言，重要的不仅是他的信息，而且还有宣布信息的地方。旷野代表自由，约旦河代表恩许之地的大门（苏3：1-17）。借着洗礼，天主再次召叫祂的子民进入旷野，与自己的内心交谈（欧2:16）。马尔谷福音中的下一个行动，就是耶稣基督将恩赐德能，这德能是借着洗礼在圣神内赐予的。

读经二是针对那些已经经历过圣神內洗礼的人。他们从复活和荣耀的基督那里接受了信德的恩宠。现在，他们等待，甚至试图加速福音的最终行动——“正义常存的新天新地”（伯后3:13）。但为什么基督迟延呢？伯多禄解释说，看起来似乎是迟延，但实际上并非迟延——时间对于天主是相对的。而且，基督推迟来审判生者和死者，本身就是祂怜悯的标志。天主“不愿任何人死亡，惟愿人人回心转意”（伯后3：9）。

“好消息”是圣道礼仪的主题。我们可以回归至我们信仰的根基，回到天主前。我们生活在罪恶的流亡期间已经太久，忘记了我们的基督徒身份，而且已经开始怀疑天主的恩许。依撒意亚宣布，我们的奴役时期已经结束。施洗若翰帮助我们重温我们辉煌的过去，那时候我们经历了天主的眷顾，并且知道在祂内一切皆可能。圣保禄为我们指出未来。天主留给我们时间，去更新我们对度圣洁和虔诚生活的承诺，好使我们准备好目睹天主恩许的实现——正义常存的新天新地。阿门！

Good News

Readings:

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

Psalm 85:9-14

2 Peter 3:8-14

Mark 1:1-8

When the Jewish refugees were leaving Jerusalem for Babylon (the first deportation in 597 BC) they wondered whether they would ever return. The false prophets promised that in two years time they would be back (Jer 28:3-4). The exile took much longer – over 70 years as predicted by Jeremiah (Jer 25:11). During those years, the children of the refugees settled down in the place of their exile. They married, had children, plant gardens, and prayed for the welfare of Babylon (Jer 29:5-7). In that situation the “gospel of Isaiah” – our first reading today – finds them. They could return home, to the land their parents were forced to leave; the time of penance had ended.

Saint Mark begins his Good News with a sentence: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). This beginning was marked by the appearance of John the Baptist announcing the possibility of returning to God. In the case of John, it is not only his message that is important, but also the place it was delivered. That desert represents freedom and the river of Jordan the gate to the promised land (Joshua 3:1-17). Through the Baptist, God again calls His people into the wilderness to speak to their hearts (Hosea 2:16). In the next act of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus Christ will enter the stage offering the transforming power of baptism with the Holy Spirit.

The second reading is addressed to those who already experienced the baptism with the Holy Spirit. From the risen and glorified Christ, they have received the grace of faith. Now they await and even try to hasten the last act of the Gospel – “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). But why does Christ delay His coming? The apostle Peter explains that what seems like a delay is not a delay at all – time is relative for God. Moreover, the delay of Christ’s coming to judge the living and the dead is the sign of God’s mercy. God is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance“ (2 Peter 3:9).

“Good News” is the main theme of the liturgy of the Word. We can return home, to the roots of our faith, to God. We have been living in the exile of sin far too long, we have forgotten our Christian identity, and we have begun to doubt God’s promises. Isaiah announces that our slavery has ended. John the Baptist helps us to revisit our glorious past, those times we experienced God’s providential care and knew that nothing was impossible with God. Saint Peter points us to the future. God gives us time to renew our commitment to a life of holiness and piety, so we can be prepared to see the fulfillment of God’s promise – the establishment of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Amen.