A (6:32)

The world tells us that freedom is doing whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want to do your own will. But the promises of the world leave you distracted and pulled in all kinds of directions. True freedom is to do God's will. Freedom is becoming the men that God created us to be, men of worship, sacrifice, and love. To grow in that freedom, we need to make an exodus from the Pharaohs and idols that keep us enslaved. That's why I love the Exodus 90 challenge. It's a powerful way for men to push themselves into true freedom. We prioritize silent prayer and practice asceticism with the support of a local brotherhood. And there's been nothing more effective and helpful in my life as a man than to go through Exodus 90. I promise you, it's worth it. So this January, I'm doing the Exodus 90 challenge, and I invite you to join me and tens of thousands of men from all over the world. So if you want to become the man God made you to be, physically, mentally, and spiritually, check out Exodus 90. Take the first step and download the Exodus 90 app today. Then invite a few friends to join your local fraternity. So go to exodus90.com Keith to learn more that that's exodus90.com Keith, join me and tens of thousands of men from all around the world for Exodus 90 starting Monday, January 5th. Is it time for your exodus?

A (8:02)

You know, in the first reading, we're hearing this prophecy given to a people in a time where they had lost a lot of hope. They had been conquered, they had been punished. And they looked around and they thought to themselves, have we been abandoned by God? It's a familiar feeling throughout your life and your faith. You're probably going to go through things like that. You'll probably have moments where what seemed to be or what once felt like a lush forest is now reduced to a bunch of stumps. Think about that. That's what's going on. And then it says here, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. When I read that, it reminded me of what happened around here in our town in 2020, when the derecho windstorm came through our city and destroyed so many things. In our own backyard, which we loved. We had this beautiful park, like setting in our yard. There were trees all the way around so that you really couldn't even see your neighbors. It was great. Now we like our neighbors, but we love just having, having that slice of nature in the middle of our city. And then when that storm came through, we lost every single tree. Our neighborhood never has been the same. Our neighborhood is an older neighborhood. So it had these big beautiful trees on, you know, in front of every house. And they, most of them were just ripped out of the ground and a lot of damage, and it kind of looks ugly around here. And I remember we went from having this beautiful park like setting in our backyard to having just nothing. And you could see like ripped up trees. And now all of a sudden we see everything around us and it was hard and we had just nothing but a bunch of stumps. And what's interesting is when we made a decision to stay, because of course there were a lot of people who are like, I'm out of here. We decided, what are we going to do? We can't leave this yard looking like this. So when we really didn't have the money, we invested anyway into this yard and we, we bought 10 trees and had them planted professionally in our yard, which was more than what we lost now because they're young and they're little, they weren't giving any shade. They, you know, you just kind of had to have that expectation that someday what was destroyed would be risen anew. And eventually, maybe even after we're long gone. You'll have this better than ever park setting back here. What's been cool is over the years we've seen just amazing growth. I mean, I'm that old and that boring of a person that literally I will go out and stand in my backyard and watch the trees grow because it's exciting. Hey, look at that. Look at the. And now, you know, a few years later, we're really starting to see some fruit. We're starting to see some leaves. We're starting to see little patches of shade. As a matter of fact, I have to start raking leaves again.

A (11:26)

You know, that's what it can be like sometimes when you follow the Lord. You can have those moments and those times when it feels like a storm has ripped through your life. And yet this prophecy can give you hope. That's what the people of Israel were struggling with. When several hundred years before Jesus comes on the scene, we see this. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. Now you remember what a shoot is. It's that fast growing thing that comes out of a stump. Who's Jesse? Of course, Jesse is the father of King David, the King of Israel, a man after God's own heart. And who is Jesus? He is the son of David. And we know that he is the fulfillment of everything God promised in this prophecy. Because ultimately, Jesus is the stump of Jesse and a branch that has grown out of his roots. And I love the writing here. There's some interesting things that point us to Advent, aren't there? When you think about this, I love talking about where it says that the nations will seek the Lord. Him shall the nations seek. That's in verse 10. What does that remind you of? Wise men still seek him. The Gentiles coming in. You got to remember this, my friends, that the Jews had a very narrow view of what the Messiah was to accomplish. In their mind, the Messiah was to be a military ruler or some kind of political ruler over Israel to restore them to their rightful place.

A (13:09)

But it had very little to do with the Gentiles. The Gentiles served no purpose for them, but not for God. You see, God's will has always been to draw everyone to himself, regardless of whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. Even from the beginning, we see that that's not some new thing that the Catholic Church invented. Even from the beginning, when we see this covenant that God makes with Abraham, he says, through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed. The promise of Abraham is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And Everyone who is a part of Jesus Christ is receiving that fulfillment, my friends. It's beautiful. In that day, the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples. Him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious. Friends, this is about Jesus coming to restore. And part of this joyful anticipation, this joyful expectation that we have is about those areas of your life where it feels like a stump is just all that's left. You ever feel like that? Sometimes. Maybe a storm has ripped through your life. Maybe a storm's ripped through your marriage, through your family, through your body, and you're looking around going, man, all is lost. Christ wants to restore you. He wants to bring life to you. Never give up, my friends. That's what we need to remember. This season of Advent is about joyful expectation and anticipation. And of course, we look back to Jesus coming, but we look forward to what he wants to do in our hearts and in our lives in this season. But there are some things that we have to do in order to prepare the way. Now, of course, in our Gospel, we look at John the Baptist and what he does to prepare the way, which of course, should remind us what we have to do as well. But before we get to that, I want to talk for a moment about this second reading from St. Paul's letter to the Romans. And it's a reading that helps us understand that God requires us to.

A (15:26)

Prepare. His plan was always about to bring the world to faith. But we've got to repent. That's how we prepare. What does that mean? What does that look like?

A (15:40)

That's how we have hope. God is a God of steadfastness and encouragement, and he wants us to have hope. He says that may the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in order, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may, with one voice, glorify God and glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ welcome one another. Therefore, as Christ welcomed you, and he gives us this understanding that the Gentiles are coming in, and that shouldn't bother us. You got to remember when St. Paul's writing these words, there were people that. That bothered. There were people that said, wait a minute. This whole Messiah thing, this whole Jesus rising from the dead and the church, that's about us. It's not about them. And what St. Paul is saying is, look, no, you let God bring in whomever he wants.

A (16:32)

Remember that the promise given to the patriarchs is in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written. Therefore I will praise thee among the Gentiles. That was always the plan of God.

A (16:47)

His plan is often bigger than what we think it is, my friends. And we're included in that because I think most of us are probably Gentiles that are partaking in this. Aren't you so glad that his plan included you? I wonder who else in your life that you know of would love to hear that message. That his plan included them. That it includes them. It included them when he came and died and includes them now when he invites them in to faith in Christ. That's the point, my friends. So live in harmony with one another. Don't be like, oh, well, wait a minute, I'm. I'm better than this person, or I have a greater, you know, entitlement to things in Christ because I'm this or I'm that. No, friends, we're all equal in God's eyes, for all have sinned. Yes. And all have been invited. So remember that, my friends. All right, let's look at our gospel and we're going to get into some of this nitty gritty of what we have to do to prepare the way. Of course, we're talking about John the Baptist and this voice crying in the wilderness. Now, what was the message of John the Baptist? It all boils down really to one word, doesn't it? Repent. It's not a popular word because we don't like it. But what does it really mean? I say, what do you mean we don't like it? Well, think about that. Repentance is kind of tough, isn't it? Repentance isn't just about, well, I'm sorry. See, that's the mistake that we often make. We think, oh, I'm sorry, you know, whatever. I feel bad. That's not repentance. The word repentance literally means to change your mindset, to change your thinking, to go from, hey, I'm going to do this thing that's wrong and sinful to I'm not going to do this thing in our minds which then leads to what we do with our bodies. That's the fruit part, my friends. And John was living in a time where he was dealing with people who needed to change the way they thought. Now, he didn't come to bring a new teaching. He didn't come to reform God's law or anything like that. He came to reform the people. See, the people were the problem, not God's word. And all these religious people they were so upset at what John was doing while the people were coming to be baptized. They're upset. And what does John do to the religious leaders? He chastises them. You brood of vipers. He's not worried about anybody's opinion of him, is he? And of course, we know that will cost him his life. He wanted to purify the people, not the teaching. So he understands that to be purified requires a preparation. And that preparation is rooted and played out in repentance. Why? Because you can't follow Jesus. You can't go the way of the Lord. You can't receive who God is in your life and what he wants to be in your life. If you're still committed to doing things your way, if you're still committed to the stump rather than the growth.

A (19:59)

You might say, why would I ever be committed to the stump rather than the growth? Think about it. There's many of us.

A (20:06)

That we would rather deal with the stump than the growth. And let me tell you why I said it earlier. Maybe you caught on. What do I have to do this year that I didn't have to do when the stumps were just there? I got to rake leaves, man. You know, sometimes the work of the growth is tough, and the growth that comes up leads to fruit. But that also, you got to tend to that. You have to go out there and prune things and tend to it and work. It would be way easier if you just left it all as a stump, wouldn't it? I mean, let's face it, it wouldn't be very beautiful. It wouldn't give any shade. It wouldn't be anything desirable, but it would be easier. And some of us are content to have an easy life when it comes to our faith than a fruitful life when it comes to our faith. I want you to really think about that. Where have you opted for ease rather than fruit?

A (21:05)

The ease is never better because the fruit leads to incredible things. But it takes work. And let's face it, there are times when we've decided to go the easy route rather than the fruitful route. We all do it right. We know that we should pray more. When we pray more, when we fast more, when we give more, when we serve more, when we love God more. The fruits of those things in our lives are often made manifest. But let's face it, that's hard stuff to do, isn't it? It's hard to tend to the garden of your soul. It's easier just to just be apathetic and do nothing and Just live in your junk, live in your sin, live, live in your storm, live in your destruction. Because at least it's easy. It's ugly, but it's easy.

A (21:53)

Where have you been choosing.

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Ugly and easy over repentance and fruit? Think about that. To prepare the way of the Lord is to say, I'm done with that. I'm changing my thinking. I'm no longer thinking. I prefer what's simple and what's easy. And instead I'm going to say what's holy. That's what God's trying to do in your life this Advent season, to prepare you. Where have you been going the wrong way? Where have you been stuck in the stumps? When God's ready to bring growth and fruit in your life, that's what you need to be thinking about, my friends.

A (22:32)

John's rebuke is both a rebuke of all of the people and of all of the individuals. He said, what are you talking about? Think about this. This call to repentance is a corporate call to the church as a whole, but it's also a call to each of us individually, to our hearts. And that's how you need to receive it. You need to ask yourself, what am I doing to prepare? That's what I love about the Mass, the confiteor in the beginning, when we confess our sins. That's a mini repentance and anticipation in preparation for receiving Jesus, isn't it? Think about that. We do that every week, don't we? Or every day we go to Mass.

A (23:10)

We repent, we prepare our hearts so that we can anticipate an expectation of his coming to us in the Eucharist. And that's what we do corporately. But we also have to do that individually.

A (23:23)

So don't think, oh, this is great. This is all about things in the past. No, friends, it's about right now. We have to prepare our hearts for Jesus coming personally.

A (23:33)

We have to acknowledge our sins, right? That's a mini preparation. Have you thought about that? Have you asked yourself, lord, what is it that you want to change in me this Advent season? What do I need to let go of? What do I need to submit? Where does my thinking need to change? Where have I been locked in this maybe religious system of rule keeping and ritual participation, but without any of the heart involved? Remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees? They kept all the rules, they knew all the teaching. But what did he say, right? Your hearts are far from me. That's what Jesus said. These people honor me with Their lips, but their hearts are far from me. All of the religious stuff that we do means nothing if our hearts don't belong to Jesus. That's where repentance happens. Repentance doesn't happen outwardly. It happens inwardly. And then the fruit of that is the change. Think about that. You can't repent just merely outwardly. It has to come from within. The fruit of that is outward. But the inward repentance is where it begins, my friends. Your repentance must produce fruit. It needs to change you. It's not just eternal, my friends.

A (24:58)

John said, I baptized you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He is coming to bring judgment, my friends. He's coming to bring judgment. But what did John say? He also said, you need to bear fruit that befits repentance.

A (25:20)

And don't presume to say to ourselves, we have Abraham as our father. You can't just do the religious thing, my friend. That's what they were doing. Hey. What? We got it all nailed down. We're the right kinds of people. No, my friends, we all need repentance because Jesus is coming. You know, we have Advent with joyful anticipation. But if we don't have Jesus, if we don't have repentance, we need to know, like, what do we see in these readings? He. He's coming with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand.

A (25:49)

Your repentance must produce fruit. It needs to change you. So what does that look like outwardly? What are the ways that we can see repentance playing itself out? Well, how about humility? Not, we've got Abraham as our Father. But Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Not presumption and arrogance, but a fearful recognition of our need for Christ and our sin and for his mercy.

A (26:20)

To say, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. That's what we say in the confederate. That's a call to repentance, a call to mercy. That humility is the fruit of that. That's what we're looking for. We're looking for holiness. We're looking for change. Not because we earn God with that. No, my friends. But because we're truly changing our thinking. We're moving away from sin. We're moving towards Christ. That's what we're called to do. That's what John came to do, to prepare the way. Because you can't receive Jesus. If you're going to do it your way, you got to do it his way. And the only way that you can move from your way to his way is by changing your thinking, by letting go of your sin, by submitting yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're talking about in Advent, my friends, because Jesus is coming. He's coming to bring justice and judgment, not just presence under the tree. Right? I know that's a Santa thing, but I think sometimes we can get so focused on little baby Jesus, we forget that baby Jesus is also the righteous judge. And baby Jesus is going to come with his winnowing fork in his hand and he's bringing some fire, right? What did John say? He says. He says, and he will clear the threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaffee will burn with unquenchable fire. Merry Christmas.

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Are you ready? What do you have to do to prepare? We talked about that last week. If he was coming over to your house, you know, what would you do to prepare the outside? What about the inside? Hey, let's get our hearts ready for him. Because what does the scripture tell us? We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And what did Jesus say? He said, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I will abide in him.

A (28:11)

He's coming literally to us. Are we ready? Where have you been living with the ugly, easy stumps? And where is God ready to bring growth and new life to you? Life that will be difficult, that you'll have to tend to. You'll have to rake some leaves and prune some branches. Rather. God will prune the branches, right? He's the garden. I love that imagery that Jesus uses. It's not always easy, but Jesus wants us to bear fruit. Remember the lesson of the fig tree? When Jesus went to get fruit from the fig tree and there was none, and he cursed it, of course, that was a picture of Jerusalem because there was no fruit. But friends, that's a picture that we need to pay attention to. Because when he comes to inspect the fruit of our lives, will he find any?

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Not if we haven't repented. Maybe you got to go to confession this week. I probably do. Maybe that's where we get started. We come before the Lord in his mercy. We come before the Lord in his love for us. But also we come before the Lord in his requirement.

A (29:24)

That we repent. That's the message of John the Baptist. That's how he fulfills his role to prepare the way of the Lord. That's what we need to be thinking about friends. So where do you need to start this week? Hey, where do you need to have your mind changed by what Jesus is saying? Live into that this week.

A (29:43)

And be ready because that fruit is beautiful. Remember the stumps are easy but they're ugly. The fruit is sometimes difficult but it's beautiful and we want that beauty in our lives my friends. The world needs it and we need it too. I'm excited for this year. I'm always pumped about these readings in Advent and they just get better and better and better so stick with it. Friends here on unpacking the mass and I promise you this will be a good resource for you as you move into this time of joyful expectation. God's got a plan for you. Don't give up on it. Pursue him because he's pursuing you. My friends. Thanks so much for watching. Take care and God bless.