Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste

Mary set out and traveled in haste, for the time was near.

Our time is near. In fact it is here.

Take this Advent for example. This year in particular is a year in which the Forth Week of Advent lasts but a few hours. We are particularly presented with the urgency of expectation. The urgency of the moment is brought home to us for we know what is to come.

You may sense it in your everyday life, and ask yourself: Where did the days of preparation go? Is everything ready? I feel so unprepared.

In some years the Fourth Week of Advent lasts a full week. So I must ask you, is it any different this year? A full week, a few hours, do either get you any more prepared. If you were a member of an Orthodox parish, and you had until January 6th to prepare, would you be more prepared?

I cannot speak for you, but I can tell you, I’m not ready. Knowing that is to know failure. A failure in putting Jesus Christ at the head of everything I do. There is no excuse.

When asked about His coming in glory our dear Lord told those who wondered that not even He knew the day or the hour. The Father reserves that to His own merciful judgment. We should count ourselves blessed by the Father’s merciful delay, by this opportunity to focus ourselves on the urgency of the moment.

So, here we are, presented with the closing moments of Advent. We know what is to come, we know that our expectation must draw to a close and be converted into the reality, the actuality of a new moment.

That changeover is the kind of thing that happens every moment, the kind of thing we, in our stubborn sinfulness refuse to recognize. The reality of Jesus Christ real and present is here and now.

The prophet Micah had an interesting revelation. His writing tells us of the blessings of time, time we have been given to recognize the reality of God among us.

Micah begins his prophecy with the impending judgment of the Lord. A judgment we deserve because of our sins, our hard heartedness. That judgment gives way to the glory of our restoration. The eternal King will spring forth into the world, a new ruler from the house and lineage of David to rule over us forever.

You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel

Ponder over this prophecy. Like the Israelites we know that we deserve the chastisement of exile; the Lord is well within His rights to turn His face away from us. Micah told the people of Israel:

Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne

The Lord gave His people an awful long time, from the time of Isaiah and Micah till His coming as man, about 680 years. All that time to wait and get ready.

In a few days we will commemorate the Memorial of the Holy Innocents. Do you remember what King Herod had to do? After 680 years King Herod had to call the chief priests and the scribes of the people to inquire of them where the Messiah was to be born. He didn’t know! He didn’t have that reality in his heart, he had to go to the experts. Of course that was so he could kill every firstborn male in the place.

If the message were within his heart, if it were real to him, death would not have been the answer. If the message of salvation is within our hearts we would know what we have to do. We would know that the moment is now, and we would avoid the death of sin.

Whether we are given is 680 years, a few hours, or a week, whether it is a season or a lifetime, we are called to be ready, to be prepared. Jesus is here at the doorstep. The big day is here.

I say then, know what to do. Like Mary let us make haste, let us set out and be actively engaged, not in preparation, but in readiness. The time is here. Each moment is new. Let us put aside our stubborn hearts.

As children washed in Jesus’ blood, baptized into Him, as people who have been renewed in the Spirit, we may do no less. We know what is to come, be ready.