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Welcome to Unpacking the Mass with Keith Nestor. 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 liturgical 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 soothe 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. 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, and 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. O Zion, herald of good tidings. Lift up your voice with strength. O 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 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 to be like, well, sweet, as long as it's not me, though, 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 messianic chapter and, and 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 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 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 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 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 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 pick me 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 have avoided sin. I think it was the novelist Flannery o' Connor who, in one of her books, 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 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 8:1. 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. Are you in a state of grace? Advent is a play, is a time 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. Yea, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away. Lord, let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation. Our second reading comes from the book of second Peter, chapter three, verses eight through 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. 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, there's language that Peter's 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 are one of those persons that again, is stuck on your condemnation and you 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 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 peace 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 going to stop loving me today? You know how when you're younger and you're in a new relationship and 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 and we, when we're trying to impress someone. But yet when, when we think about how does this work in a healthy way, 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 lackadaisicalness or slothfulness in terms of our relationships. 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 in hand with the comfort and the condemnation. See, sometimes when we feel condemned, we feel like, okay, I've got to get, 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, 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 the same time. My friend, before we continue with the video, I want to talk to you about a new sponsor of our channel and unpacking the mask. Exodus 90 is a men's discipleship intensive designed to help you take your faith to a new level. It's a 90 day journey through the book of Exodus, diving deeper into understanding the similarities we share with the ancient Israelites and finding our path to freedom from our own modern pharaohs holding us back from true unity with God. Things like the over consumption of social media, numbing your problems with alcohol, pornography or or binge watching tv. Our culture today has no shortage of pharaohs and idols that keep us stuck in old habits. But Exodus 90 offers you a way out. For 90 days, we focus on three core pillars. Prayer, asceticism and fraternity. A model witnessed to us centuries ago by the desert fathers in the early church. St. Dominic once said, a man who governs his passions is a master of the world. We must either rule them or be ruled by them. Exodus 90 gives you the tools to take control of your life and find deeper unity with God and a brotherhood of men on the same path. So start your exodus today. Head over to exodus90.comkeith to sign up. Now let's get back to unpacking the mass. All right, let's look at our gospel reading. It's from Mark, chapter one, the opening verses of Mark's Gospel, verses one through eight. 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 oftentimes 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'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 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 ultimate 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 sometimes are so full of themselves and their own, their own 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 doesn't hurt, 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 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. See, oftentimes 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 oftentimes when you connect that, that, that preparing 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 Assisi. 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 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 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 would ask that you would continue to offer prayers for impacting 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 is 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.