As we embark upon the season of Advent, where we prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ, I’m imagining a stable worker named Samuel, who without knowing it, was preparing himself for the first coming of Christ.
Samuel lived in the city of David, also known as Bethlehem. His earliest memories were of watching his father clean the stalls and mangers in the cave in which their master kept the animals. His father spoke often of the coming messiah, of how – many generations earlier – the prophet Micah had foretold that the Messiah would be born in their town! With great feeling, he would recite the words of the prophet by heart:
But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathaha
least among the clans of Judah,
From you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
Whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
He told Samuel that an angel had appeared to him in a dream, saying that the messiah would be laid in the hay of their cave! So every day, as he cleared the stalls and freshened the mangers with straw and hay, Samuel’s father would sing the words of Psalm 16:
I keep the LORD always before me;
with him at my right hand, I shall never be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, my soul rejoices;
my body also dwells secure,
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
nor let your devout one see the pit.
You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
Samuel never forgot the words of his father. After he died, Samuel continued the tradition of singing Psalm 16 as he worked. Samuel had a brother named Gad, who wasn’t so fond of working in the stalls. He often gave Samuel a hard time, saying: “If a savior is supposed to come to our cave, then what is he waiting for? He certainly didn’t come in time for our father to see him.” These types of conversations always seemed to end in fights, and one day the fight got particularly heated between Samuel and Gad. Finally, Samuel shouted at him: “If you’re so sure there’s no Messiah coming, why don’t you move away! I wouldn’t miss you!” Gad shouted back, “Maybe I will!” And stormed off.
Samuel stomped down to the cave, still breathing hard. He grabbed a broom and started to sweep. As he did, tears streamed down his face as he began to whisper the words of Psalm 51, his voice rising as he repeated them:
Have mercy on me, God, in accord with your merciful love;
in your abundant compassion blot out my transgressions.
Thoroughly wash away my guilt;
and from my sin cleanse me.
For I know my transgressions;
my sin is always before me.
After a short while, Gad came into the stalls as well, his face cast down. He embraced Samuel, and then they began to clean the stalls together, singing the Psalm their father had sung:
I keep the LORD always before me;
with him at my right hand, I shall never be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, my soul rejoices;
my body also dwells secure,–
In the midst of their song, their master, an innkeeper, came out to the cave, saying: “There is a couple here who is expecting a child and I don’t have any rooms to spare. Could you make some room for them here?”
Samuel and Gad teach us the lesson of the importance of having an attentive and open heart. Even on a day which wasn’t their best, they were both still attentive to what the Lord was doing in their hearts, inviting them to repentance and reconciliation. Since they were attentive to Him, they prepared the way for their hearts to be able to welcome Jesus when He was about to be born! This is the very lesson Jesus wants to teach us in the Gospel today, the importance of having that attentive and open heart at all times.
This openness and attentiveness allows us to be aware of the Lord’s presence. As Samuel and Gad constantly reminded themselves through Psalm 19: “I keep the LORD always before me;
with him at my right hand, I shall never be shaken.” This is the call for our hearts as we enter the season of Advent: to keep the Lord Jesus ever before us so that we might recognize and follow Him when He comes to us.
When Jesus speaks of the two people, one being taken and one being left, it is easy to look at this through the more traditional Protestant lens of “the rapture,” with one person disappearing and the other being left. But really, we don’t have to over-dramatize what Jesus is talking about. When He speaks of the coming of the Son of Man, we can understand this coming on multiple levels. We can and should prepare our hearts for the day of Jesus’ second coming, when time as we know it will end. And the best way to do this is to keep our hearts open to the daily ways that Jesus comes to us–by having that attentive heart which is always keeping Jesus at the forefront and looking for the many ways He wishes to come to us and invite us to follow Him.
When Jesus speaks of a person being taken by Him at His coming, he is speaking of somebody who is ready to go with Him, somebody whose heart is open to His invitation to come. And daily, the Lord gives each of us those invitations to follow him, to “walk in the light of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah reminds us in the first reading. So let us open our hearts to Jesus each day this Advent, being attentive to how He is coming to us, so that we might be prepared to celebrate His coming at Christmas and also to welcome Him when He invites us to come with Him, whether that be at his second coming or our passing on to Him.
In order to be attentive to His daily coming, I encourage you to set aside more time to dive into scripture, to make time for the Sacrament of Reconciliation to clear out whatever in your heart might keep you from more fully focusing on the Lord, and take time to love and serve those most in need, because in them you’ll certainly encounter the Lord.
+ Father, thank you for calling us to be attentive and open to your Son’s coming during this Holy Season. Jesus, as we journey through this Season of Advent together, help us to recognize your presence more fully in our daily joys and sorrows. Holy Spirit, open up our hearts more fully to Jesus’ grace so that we can draw even closer to Him and be ready to follow him wherever He wishes to take us during this season of Advent. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +