Welcome to unpacking the mass with Keith Nester on this podcast we dig into the week’s readings for the upcoming Sunday for the Catholic church so that when you go to mass you are ready to hear what God has to say to you through the scriptures so grab your Bibles and let’s get Digging hey everybody Welcome to unpacking the mass today we’re going to be looking at the readings for the Second Sunday in Advent and I’m so thankful that you’ve taken the time to join me here on this episode because as we step into the new lurgical year like
We talked about last week having the correct mindset about who God is and who we are now we’re going to talk today about what that means in terms of how we are and how God is and what I’m talking about today really has to do with the
Reality of our sinfulness and yet God’s constant love for us that he would not just look at us from heaven and say hey you guys better figure this out get this right but that God would make a plan to redeem his people and we’re going to contrast this with two important ideas
That I find in the readings today the first idea is the idea of Confrontation and the second idea is the idea of comfort now I don’t know what kind of person you are but I think that there are people that lean in one way or the other typically there are people
That love to confront other people they’re always looking for ways that someone has stepped out of line so they can confront them about that and tell them about what they’re doing and how wrong it is so that they can say well okay you need to change this or fix that
Or whatever and then there are other people that have a different mindset their mindset is to always try to be a comfort to people and to sooe people and maybe they go so far as to try to downplay someone’s problem so that they don’t offend them or hurt them and I
Think that this is really the the tension that we’re going to experience today of what it means to be people who have this healthy balance of being aware and being confronted by our sin but yet at the same time also aware of what God has done to comfort us and we’re going
To begin with our first reading in the book of Isaiah chapter 40 and it reads this way Comfort Comfort my people says your God speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her Warfare is ended that her iniquity is pardoned that she has received from the Lord’s hand double
For all her sins a voice cries in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God every Valley shall be lifted up and every Mountain Hill be made low the uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain and the glory
Of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken get you up to a high mountain oh Zion Herald of Good Tidings lift up your voice with strength oh Jerusalem Herald of Good Tidings lift it up fear not say to the
Cities of Judah behold your God behold the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him behold his reward is with him and his recompense before him he will feed his flock Like a Shepherd he will gather the Lambs in his arms He will carry them in his bosom and gently
Lead those that are with young so again we talked about last week who God is who we are and how God the shepherd is going to take care of his sheep and part of that care is to reveal to us our sin but also to reveal to us his solution to our
Sins and this is interesting because in Isaiah 39 just before this chapter King Hezekiah is told by Isaiah that there’s going to be um a time when all of his treasure is going to be carried away by the Babylonians and he says that this is going to happen to your Offspring and
Hezekiah’s response is be like well sweet as long as it’s not me but you know kind of a messed up way to look at things but then what we see in chapter 40 almost immediately we move into this messian IC chapter and an idea that God
Is now going to prepare a way to fix this that he’s going to deliver his people from their sin and these are words of comfort that’s why we see Comfort Comfort my people and and this is what we need when we are confronted with our sin we have to start with the
Truth of who we are and our need for forgiveness but if we don’t have comfort along with that condemnation we can wind up in some serious trouble you you see we do need to be confronted about our sin that’s true but we also need to be comforted by God’s solution and I think
Again it goes back to that tension of what do you lean more toward some of us hear those words of comfort and we receive them and downplay our condemnation other one others of us are the reverse but I think even the imagery of the mountains being laid low and The
Valleys being raised up it’s it’s sort of this image of this understanding and this healthy balance because we do need to acknowledge our sins my friends if we don’t then then we’re never going to be able to approach the Lord for forgiveness so are you a person who is
Always trying to justify your sin or pretend like it isn’t there then maybe some of these words of condemnation need to be heard by you and consequently if you’re a person who’s like I don’t need to worry about that Keith I’m a good Catholic with my good Catholic guilt I’m
Always worked up about all the bad things I’ve done and I’m convinced that God can’t possibly love me then you need to hear the words of comfort from our Lord we must Rejoice for God brings us Comfort because he has made a way for us to be restored and forgiven this is the
Theme of what it means to prepare yourself for Christ’s coming you need to be ready and understand that you need him to come and you don’t need Jesus to come into your life because you just need some good advice or you just need some you know little pickme up you know
You need wisdom no friends you need all those things sure but you need a redeemer you need a savior you need one who will come to make things right that have been wrong by your sin and that’s what this is all about and that’s what Advent is all about is anticipating and
Expecting and preparing your heart for the one not only who brings that condemnation because we stand as Jesus said in John 3 We Stand already condemned but we need the Savior and some of us need to be aware of that in a more powerful way and I know that that
Might sound a little bit harsh for some people but I think for some of us the realization of our own sinfulness is exactly what God’s trying to do in our lives because you talk to people all the time who because they’ve judged themselves as better than a murderer or
Better than somebody else they’re kind of well I don’t really need Jesus because I’ve avoided sin I think it was the novelist flaner oconor who in one of her books um she she this character says that this person had managed to avoid Jesus because they had managed to avoid
Sin and of course none of us can truly avoid sin but in our own minds if we justify ourselves and are convinced that we don’t have sin then you know the scripture tells us there’s no truth in us and we’re going to think that we don’t need Jesus I don’t know if you
Ever talked to somebody in that situation who looks at people who go to church as though their religion is a crutch and they say things like well I’m glad that you have what you need to deal with your issues but I’m a good person already I already do good things I don’t
Need church friends the purpose of church is not to make you a a a better person by way of some kind of advice or wisdom the purpose of Church of course is to worship the Living God for what he has done in redeeming Us in his Redemption of us and that’s where our
Comfort comes from my friends we need both we need to recognize that in our sin we are condemned but yet in Christ we are comforted we are comforted and I think I want to leave you before we move into our Psalm with one more verse about this from Romans
81 and this is for those of you who are more on the side of being focused on your condemnation remember this there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus now what does that mean you know Jesus said that being in Christ Jesus is about baptism it’s
About faith the sacraments and it’s about obedience and this is what it means to really be in a state of grace it means that you are in Christ Jesus and when you are then you can rest assured in comfort that there’s no condemnation for you so that’s the question are you in a
State of grace Advent is a is a time and and a way to prepare yourself for that my friends so may we walk in that all right let’s look at our Psalm 85 Lord let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation let me hear what God the Lord
Will speak for he will speak peace to his people to his Saints to those who turn to him in their hearts surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear Him That Glory May dwell in our land lord let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation steadfast love and
Faithfulness will meet righteousness and peace will kiss each other faithfulness will spring up from the ground and righteousness will look down from the sky Lord let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation yay the Lord will give what is good and our land will yield its Increase righteousness will go
Before him and make his footsteps a away Lord let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation our second reading comes from from the book of second Peter 3: 8-14 but do not ignore this one fact beloved that with the Lord one day is as
A thousand years and a thousand years as one day the Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness but is forbearing toward you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance but the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the
Heavens will pass away with a loud noise and the elements will be dissolved with fire and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up since all these things are thus to be dissolved what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of Holiness and godliness waiting
For and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved and the elements will melt with fire but according to his promise we wait for the new heavens and a new Earth in which righteousness dwells therefore beloved
Since you wait for these be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace you see this is where we see this played out and we are called to be patient and ready and I love the way he ends this and zealous to be found by him
In a state of grace so we don’t want to be caught off guard now this language that Peter is using here is this language that talks about what’s going to happen at the end of all things when the elements will be burned up with fire
When there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth in previous weeks you know as we’re gearing up for Advent we heard a lot of apocalyptic stuff in the gospels from Jesus in Matthew 24 about the great and terrible day of the Lord and if you remember that we looked toward an
Immediate fulfillment with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and also a farther fulfillment with the second coming of Jesus and we recognize that for all of us to be ready means that the rubber meets the Road when it comes to our lives how are we living to
Be ready doesn’t mean that you just sit in your house all day and just think about it no there’s action that needs to be done and also to be ready doesn’t mean that you just say well I can’t do anything about it so might as well just
Not worry about it no as St Peter says we have to live lives worthy of this to be prepared for this be zealous to be found by him without a spot or blemish now remember that this text tells us that God desires everyone to be saved so
If you’re one of those persons that again is stuck on your condemnation and you’re think well he loves everybody else but not me hear these words from from Peter today the Lord doesn’t desire that you or anyone else perish and guess what that means even your enemies see
We’re called to pray for our enemies and not just to pray for them like God get them but to recognize that God truly desires their comfort their forgiveness their uh reconciliation to him just like for you so friends we have to be on guard for this he wants us zealous for
Righteousness and at peace at the same time now think about that for a second can you do that how can you be zealous for righteousness and at peace at the same time because when you think about being zealous you think about all this effort and all of this anxiety like all
Right I got to go and do this but then when you think of someone who’s at peace they’re just like super chill and they’re like yep it’s all good sometimes when we’re at peace we have a tendency to think that means inactivity because we’re not doing anything we’re resting
But that’s not the kind of Peace we’re talking about the kind of peace that we’re talking about that corresponds to this zealous for righteousness is a piece of heart it’s a piece of relationship you know with my wife I know that my relationship with her is
Secure and I don’t have to wake up every morning and go oh my gosh is she gonna stop loving me today you know how when you’re younger and you’re in a new relationship and you you you’re really starting to like this person there’s a part of you that just
Waits for something to mess it up and you’re like oh man well I’m sure they’re going to ghost me or I’m sure they’re going to break up with me or and you don’t feel that security and you you just you’re so zealous to earn their their love that you’re always doing all
These things you’re going overboard but yet you don’t have any peace and then on the other side of the spectrum you see some people that have so much peace that they don’t even do anything they don’t compliment their spouse they don’t do anything to show them love they don’t
Take them out they don’t buy them presents they don’t give them words of affirmation or all whatever you know the things that we do when we’re trying to impress someone but yet when when we think about how does this work in a healthy way we
We want to have both you know I don’t have to worry that I’m going to wake up one day and my wife’s going to go oh well guess what I’ve decided that you’re really not for me I mean we’ve been married over 27 years but at the same time that shouldn’t turn into
Laxidasical or slothfulness in terms of our relationships it’s the same thing with the Lord we don’t have to have insecurity that God doesn’t love us so therefore we can be at peace but that peace is not to be confused with a mindset that says I don’t need to do
Anything it’s cool God’s got me I can just sit back no we’re to have both and I think this is an important point that we need to make because again it goes hand inand with the comfort and the condemnation see sometimes when we feel condemned we feel like okay I’ve got to
Get my act together and do this so that God will love me friends you don’t have to do anything to make God love you he already loves you what we have to do is cooperate with that love and love him back that’s ultimately the key to being
In a state of grace and when you are then you can be both zealous and have peace and the way that that works is this the things that you do out of your zealousness come from that Foundation of being at peace with the fact that God loves you and that he’s comforted you
And that he wants everyone including you to be saved so you’re not performing these good works to try to earn God’s favor everything that you’re doing is because you have this love for God and you recognize what he’s done for you so we have to be zealous and at peace at
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1-8 and it reads this way the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God as it is written in Isaiah the prophet behold I send my messenger before thy face who shall prepare thy way the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord
Make his paths straight John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the Forgiveness of sins and there went out to him all the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan confessing their sins now John was
Clothed with camel’s hair and had a leather girdle around his waist and ate locusts and Wild Honey and he preached saying after me comes he who is mightier than I the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie I have baptized
You with water but he will baptize you with the holy spirit so in Our Gospel today we are going to see these two passages that we read in the Old Testament and the gospel of course connected and we have to remember what it’s like for us who look
Back on what God has done against the experience of those who were looking farther ahead to this Messianic promise of Isaiah 40 and saying what’s this going to look like and they often times didn’t get it right they didn’t understand this was what it was going to
Look like now you and I of course we have the privilege of having been born post Resurrection we understand far more than they could understand and what do we do with that privilege my friends we we’ve got to remember they looked forward and they didn’t understand what
This would look like we look back and we can see the coming of the comforter we see the crucifixion we see the resurrection and this is why Jesus would tell his disciples you’re going to do even greater things than I’m doing and and what’s greater than preaching the
Gospel you see they were the ones that were able to preach the resurrection of Jesus and that’s greater than any physical healing that’s greater than than anything they’d seen to that point my friends to preach the resurrection it’s like it’s like showing them the end of the story of what God has already
Done versus what they can hope for in some distant future event that’s powerful my friends so St Peter calls us to live in the reality of the coming of Jesus and in the recognition that he’s coming back and John the Baptist sounded the alarm my friends he went out before
Jesus to prepare the way and I want us to think about what that means and how we’re called to be like that we’re called to prepare the way in the hearts of people who don’t know Jesus too see this is a Ministry that all of us
Need to recognize that God has called us to so how do you do that first of all you have to wrap your mind around who you are and who God is just like we’ve been talking about I’m going to keep beating that drum because the scripture
Makes it so important for us as we step into Advent to prepare for the coming of Christ and of course he’s already come but he comes to each of us each and every day of our lives and we have the promise of the ultim fulfillment of the
Second coming but there are plenty of people walking around in this life in your life that haven’t even received him the first time and maybe the Lord has called us to be like a type of John the Baptist to prepare the way well how do
We do that I want to share two things with you quickly as we move through this text the first one is to remind people of the condemnation and the comfort you can’t offer a solution to a problem that people don’t think exists you know have you ever tried to solve a
Problem that didn’t exist people do that all the time I remember feeling like that when I worked in the church world that there were so many programs and initiatives and all these different things that were trying to solve problems that weren’t really problems and you know that’s kind of something we
Associate with government too well when it comes to trying to share the gospel with people we first have to establish the fact that there is a need and this is where it can be difficult because people some times are so full of themselves and their own their own uh
Pride that they don’t recognize their need and the Lord sometimes first has to break someone before they’re ready to see their need for him and it it doesn’t hurt to remind people of the fact that this world is full of sin including every one of us and we need a way to get
Back to God you see we we can’t use our faith as though it was simply a a solution to smaller problems of human life like oh I want to feel better or I need a social life or I need some kind of code in which to live by those are
Fine but the solution that that Christ offers is to a far greater problem the ultimate problem and that’s a problem of our sin you see often times we scratch where nobody itches in life when we try to share Jesus with people by saying things like oh well you should come to church
You should learn about Jesus he’ll make you happy or he’ll help you fix some of your problems friends that stuff might be true to a certain degree but we have to start with those deeper issues of the reality of who we are and who God is to
Prepare the way for Jesus in the hearts of those who don’t know him we have to explain this and then we have to share what he’s done to preach the message of what God has done in the past and what he wants to do in their lives and often
Times when you connect that that that prep pairing the way with the historical reality that Jesus Christ actually came and that he died on the cross and Rose from the grave that’s something that everyone has to deal with it’s not just this ethereal Pie in the Sky idea it’s a
Historical matter of fact and sometimes we need to start there my friends he came for a reason he died for a reason and he rose for a reason and then secondly as it begins to prepare the way of the Lord with how you live this out remember being zealous to be found
Without spot or blemish and at peace see how you live matters and you need the balance of both condemnation and comfort we have to say what the gospel is we have to do what the gospel requires and we have to be at peace I want to leave you with that my friends
Think about what that means in your life say the gospel message do you even know how to articulate it and of course people want to attribute this statement to St Francis of AIS he preach the gospel use words if necessary which of course he never said that and the reality is the gospel
Message is a message it’s not just a set of behaviors so I would say preach the gospel use words when necessary not if necessary because they are necessary and you have to be able to explain it but you also have to be living it and what
Does that look like for you you know if you tell someone about who Jesus is and what he’s done in your life but your life doesn’t match up with what you’re saying there’s going to be a problem there people are smart and they’re going to look at you and say well okay you’re
Telling me that I need to live for Jesus and have this relationship with God but your life looks practically no different than than mine or in some ways even worse and you know why should I follow what you say when what you do doesn’t match up with it that’s a harsh reality
Sometimes we have to face that’s why we need to to be zealous to be living out our faith and then of course to be at peace you know when people see our lives and they see the things that we go through because being a Christian doesn’t give you a pass on
Suffering and being a Christian doesn’t give you a pass on struggling with temptation but in all these things if we are people who have peace peace with God friends that is going to be an incredible witness to a world that is so without it this world has a lot of
Things going for it but peace isn’t one of them if you haven’t noticed the more technology we have the more social media we have the more affluence we have the less we seem to be at peace and yet as people who are in relationship with God if we can demonstrate where that peace
Comes from friends sometimes that in and of itself will do more to prepare the way for the Lord in their hearts than anything else because that’s something everyone wants my friends powerful stuff today here on unpacking the mass I hope that you’ll let this germinate in
Your mind and work its way out into your life I’d love to hear more about that please leave us a comment here on YouTube if you’re watching or if you’re on podcast hey how about leaving a review maybe say something about this episode and head over to YouTube and by
The way my friends I would really appreciate it if you would subscribe to this Channel and like this video and share it with someone else unpacking the mass is really experiencing a growth spurt right now and I’m so fired up about it and that’s because many of you
Are letting this secret be known to people about this podcast and this video so I appreciate that so much and and would ask that you would continue to uh offer prayers for unpacking the mass and share this with others thank you so much my friends I can’t wait to be back here
With you next week for the next readings the third Sunday in Advent it’s going to be absolutely amazing friends God bless all of you take care and we’ll see you next time here on unpacking the mass
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