First Sunday of Advent

November 30, 2025

Matthew 24: 37-44

The question for us this first Sunday of Advent is how do we wait?

Waiting can take many forms. We can wait anxiously fearing some unfocused calamity or perhaps even one very focused that is closing in on us. It is even hard to wait for something good. Did you ever get a card or present with this note on it: ‘Don’t open until Christmas’? The question is will we actually follow those instructions? In fact, not wanting to wait has become a built-in part of our culture. We are encouraged all the time not to wait, but buy now, invest now, use your credit card, after all you deserve it! Today, we have to really concentrate on cultivating our ability to wait.

An example of this unwillingness to wait in this short story. In a certain town there lived a cobbler, Martin. He lived in a small basement room whose one window looked out onto the street, and all he could see were the feet of people passing by. But since there was hardly a pair of boots that had not been in his hands at one time for repair, Martin recognized each person by his shoes. Day after day, he would work in his shop, watching boots pass by. One day he found himself consumed with the hope of a dream that he would find the Lord's feet outside his window. Instead, he found a lingering pair of worn boots belonging to an old soldier. Though at first disappointed, Martin realized the old man might be hungry and invited him inside to a warm fire and some tea. He had other visitors that evening, and though sadly none were Christ, he let them in also. Sitting down at the end of day, Martin heard a voice whisper his name as he read the words: "I was hungry and you gave me meat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in. Inasmuch as you did for the least of these, you did unto me." The cobbler had not waited in vain.

In a sense, this is the meaning of our waiting, and I don’t only the superficial waiting of the cobbler. Our ability to wait comes from carefully and intentionally taken the time to think carefully on who Jesus Christ is, what he means to us, how closely have we bonded with him, and finally to have put him on and live like him. Advent calls us to an active waiting, not day dreaming, not only meditating on scripture, but an active waiting where we put our day dreams, the fruit from our prayer and meditation, but living them out as Jesus did from day to day. 

Remember the scene of the last judgment where the sheep and the goats are compared in Matthew’s Gospel? The sheep are congratulated on the many ways they ministered to Jesus. They were dumbfounded because they could not remember any such ministry. But in their lives of actively waiting, they had done just that; they had found Christ in the many people their lives had touched. On the other hand, the goats were absolutely shocked because they never remembered coming across Christ at all. They had wasted their time of waiting drifting through life, no embodying anything about Jesus at all, and so were not ready. They had either lived a life without any thought of God or man, or maybe for most, being totally and almost naively unconscious of what God was calling them to be. They had waited in vain.

So, Advent is not just a time to prepare our Christmas dinner menu or which presents we will by for people. This things do have their place. But before them is the state of our mind as we wait in Advent longing. We long not only to celebrate the time Jesus, Son of the Father, was born among us. We long also that Jesus presence may be felt here, now. Part of our waiting is to decide how I am going to let others feel Jesus as present in their lives as I go about my daily living. And we look forward to when he comes again on earth; will we are truly joined with him.

We can make Jesus present now by making a list of small things I can do, maybe one each day, to reach out to God or to another person in His name. We could have special reading or prayers for the days of Advent from Scripture or some devotional book. We could make regular visits of elderly relatives, neighbors or forgotten people in a nursing home. We could put aside food items or other goods to give to those in need so that they might know the warmth of Jesus. How about writing a short note in a card for those we are grateful for having in our lives, or to someone we know who does not have much family.

If we prepare with care, we will be ready to welcome Jesus’ birth in a conscious way, and not just stumble into it. Let us pray to our Father that we may spend this Advent time of preparation well. Then we can prepare each day to reveal your Son to those who wonder where he is.

Fr. John Tran