This coming Sunday is the start of a new liturgical year (Year C) and the first Sunday in Advent. The season of Advent (Latin for “coming to”) begins with a look to the future coming (parousia in Greek) of the Son of Man. (n.b.: the phrase “second coming” doesn’t occur in scriptures!) One wonders why this would be the first gospel of Advent for this year. Shouldn’t we be looking ahead to the coming of Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem? The subsequent Sundays in Advent for this year do exactly that. I would suggest that the Church wants to remind us that the coming promised is already and continuing to be here. In Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, by N. T. Wright suggests that the “reappearing” of Jesus might be a better phrase — and one that was used by some early Christians.

“He is, at the moment, present with us, but hidden behind that invisible veil which keeps heaven and earth apart, and which we pierce in those moments, such as prayer, the sacraments, the reading of scriptures, and our work with the poor, when the veil seems particularly thin. But one day the veil will be lifted; earth and heaven will be one: Jesus will be personally present, and every knee shall bow at his name; creation will be renewed; the dead will be raised; and God’s new world will at last be in place, full of new prospects and possibilities.” (p. 219)

With that in mind, let us consider Scripture apart from its Lectionary usage.

Image credit: The Great Day of His Wrath | John Martin, 1851 | Tate Gallery, London | PD-US