Second Saturday in Advent

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 48:1-11 (in the Apocrypha); Psalm 80:1-3,14-18; Matthew 17:9-13

“Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things” (Mt 17:11).  Yet if John is the new Elijah, and he has been killed, where is this restoration?  The world continues on its sinful blind course.  This is one of the paradoxes of the “second coming,” and of the “kingdom of God.”  Jesus says, “The kingdom is here.”  Christians cry, “Christ is risen, and has trampled down death!”  Yet death in all its forms continues to appear, and from a certain view to dominate.  When we celebrate and proclaim the victory of God, we are looking from a different perspective than that of “the world.”  In the kingdom, restoration has happened, is happening, and will happen.

What, then, is restoration?  I’m mindful of the concept of restorative justice, which has become an important part of legal thinking over the last three decades.  For advocates of restorative justice, crimes are seen as a tear in the social fabric.  The offender cuts him/herself off from others, and often cuts off others from one another through death or separation or simple mistrust.  In these cases justice is found not in punishment, in “getting even,” or in “rehabilitation” of an individual offender to make them “useful” to society, but in the restoration of relationships.  Justice may involve direct apology, listening to the victims describe the impact of the crime on their lives, and making concrete reparations or amends as far as possible.  The goal is to heal the wound for both offender and victim so that they can get on with their lives.  It sounds a lot like confession and repentance and conversion to me.

Jesus, like John and Elijah and all the prophets, announces that the fabric of the covenant has been torn.  Many of those prophets died because their message was too challenging for the powerful.  But their insight continues to live and move us.  Repentance is returning to relationship, whether with other people or with God or with all of creation.  Restoration of relationship leads us to renew our vision and our commitment to our common life, and heals breaches of trust.  Jesus announces forgiveness of sins precisely as the key to renewed common life.

Is there someone in your life that you have cut off?  Is there a tear in your fabric that makes it hard to hold onto the message of new life?  Check in with your senses, internal and external, to see.  Where can you be part of the restoration of all things today?  And are you willing to pay the price?