Baruch's message of hope

Reading: Baruch 5:1-9

It isn't often that we hear a reading from the Book of the Prophet Baruch at Sunday Mass. But in Year C of the Sunday lectionary, on the Second Sunday of Advent, our first reading comes from this little-known book of Sacred Scripture. Baruch is numbered among the deutero-canonical books. As such, many Christians do not consider this book to be part of the scriptural canon.

One of the features of deutero-canonical books is that they were written in Greek, not Hebrew. With regard to Baruch, some scholars believe that this book may have been originally written in Hebrew and then translated into Greek and that only the Greek manuscripts were preserved and handed down. There is a similar theory, albeit not widely held but with some credibility, concerning the Gospel of According to Saint Matthew.

While attributed to an assistant of the prophet Jeremiah, the Book of Baruch is not a unified text. The different texts that comprise the book were probably not written by the same author. It may have been during the compilation of these texts into a unified book that it was rendered into Greek.

Like a number of deutero-canonical books, the texts that comprise it were composed later than the time in which they are set. Given the disparate nature of the texts that make up the Book of Baruch, no definitive dating is possible. However, the book in its final form was likely put together between 200-1 BC.

The setting for Baruch is the Babylonian Captivity (597-539 BCE). Our passage for today comes from the part of the book known as "Baruch's Poem of Consolation." It is the final part of this poem. It is addressed, not to the exiles, but to the Holy City, Jerusalem, and those Israelites not exiled. I think that its being written much later than Babylonian captivity of Israel is a great aid for us in seeing how these inspired words have something to say to us today.

From the beginning, the Church has viewed herself as enduring a kind of capativity between Pentecost and Parousia. Especially during the first few weeks of Advent, the theological virtue of hope is the underlying theme. Hope should never be confused with optimism. Hope is what remains when all options are exhausted. I am probably one of the least optimistic people you will ever meet. Because of Jesus Christ, I have hope. But that is to state the matter poorly.

Jesus Christ is my hope! He is hope of the world, just as Baruch posits God as the hope of Jerusalem. I can only imagine how in, say, the middle of the 58 years of Babylonian exile how hopeless their situation must've seemed both to the exiled Israelites and those left behind. To many, it probably seemed like end. So much for being God's chosen people! At least to my mind, one of the greatest miracles of history is the survival of the people of Israel as a people.

I am not going to lie, I think the Church is currently going through a very difficult time. We are experiencing difficulties from within and without. While these struggles are real and, like many, I am deeply concerned about much of what is happening within the Church, we can't lose sight of our need, as Christians, to simply and steadfastly live our faith in its fullness, holding fast to what has been faithfully handed on. In other words, you must not lose hope, even as your optimism wanes.

Living your faith is what it means to "take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever," even if some days it doesn't feel like it. Let's face it, many days it doesn't feel like it. But God is faithful. Yet, God is God. God's fidelity is made manifest according to your criteria or on your timeline. Knowing God, which means cultivating a relationship with God, is the only way to really understand what this means. Such understanding is a matter of experience.

In light of revelation, it's weird and detrimental to faith that we have made the Lord's return such a scary thing. "Apocalypse," which means uneveiling, revelation, is used synonymously with destruction, death, catastrophe. But for early Christians, whose prayer was Maranatha (an Aramaic word meaning something like "Our Lord, come!"), the day of the Lord's return is the day of liberation, the end of exile, salvation, the fulfillment of genuine hope. Stated simply, they lived in joyful anticipation of the Parousia. They knew the meaning of Baruch's exhortation:

Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights;
    look to the east and see your children
gathered from the east and the west
    at the word of the Holy One,
    rejoicing that they are remembered by God

Note: With this, I am getting back to the practice of posting reflections each Sunday. Time permitting and inspiration allowing, I may get back to posting the Friday traditio. I appreciate the encouraging messages from so many of you to continue my efforts here. I hope each of you are having a blessed Advent.