Advent (Latin for “coming”) is a time of waiting for the two-fold coming of the Lord, at Christmas and the end-time coming of the Lord. But “waiting” in Advent does not mean looking at our watch, counting the hours. After all, two thousand years have passed since the first Christmas in Bethlehem and there is no sign of the final coming. So how does the second “coming,” the final advent, affect our “waiting” today? 

One answer surely is that “waiting” means that everything worth doing today will bear fruit in ways we cannot foresee. We humans are short-lived and usually suppose that our deeds are also short-lived, and the Bible eloquently reminds us of the shortness of our life. Yet, the truth is that our good deeds perdure, and at the last judgment will be counted in our favor. So, difficult as it is to imagine what we do today will not be lost. What we do in our “waiting time” will never be lost. 

This valorization of our everyday virtue is perhaps what James’s Epistle has in mind. “Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.” It may also be why John the Baptizer, who knew Jesus from the time of his baptism, asks him in today’s gospel, “Are you the one who is to come?” John may have feared that his own mission had come to an abrupt end and that his labors would bear no further fruit. Preparing for the advent of a demanding God, John must have been unsettled by his disciple Jesus healing people, welcoming sinners, and saying, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” (John 12:47) When John’s disciples convey John’s question, Jesus responds that salvation means readying people to be able to stand in the final judgment. Even before that final judgment, Jesus enables people to experience God’s mercy and acceptance. So, the salvation that John initiated with his cleansing baptism will continue to a second phase – the phase of Jesus enacting mercy.

Richard Clifford, S.J., has taught biblical studies for 55 years, most recently at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College, and has written many scholarly and popular books and articles.