2nd
Sunday of Advent A. Dec. 7, 2025
Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans
15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12
Theme: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!”
1. Historical and Literary Contexts
The Gospel text is John the Baptist’s
preaching in the desert, preparing his people for the beginning of Jesus’s
ministry. Immediately before our Gospel story, Matthew recounted the return of
the baby Jesus with his parents, Joseph and Mary, from Egypt, where they flew
as refugees because Herod tried to kill the infant Jesus (2:19-23). After our
text, the evangelist tells the stories of the Baptism of Jesus by John the
Baptist (3:13-17), Jesus’ temptation in the desert by Satan (4:1-11), and the
beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee (4:12-17).
2. Form, Structure, and Movement
This text is a narrative story with
images. Its structure contains three movements. The narrator introduces the
story by mentioning the location and the content of John the Baptist’s
preaching (vv. 1-2). Then, in the body of the text (vv. 3-10), he first
identifies John the Baptist with Isaiah and Elijah to testify that Jesus is the
Messiah who is to come (vv. 3-5). Next, he speaks of the crowds who went to
John the Baptist to be baptized after acknowledging their sins (v. 6). Lastly,
he recounts John the Baptist’s harsh warning to the Pharisees and Sadducees,
who also solicited his baptism but with no intention to repent (vv. 7-10). The
narrator concludes his story with John the Baptist’s last words to the crowds
(vv. 11-12).
3. Detailed Analysis
Vv.1-2. John the Baptist was preaching in
the desert of Judea, the barren region west of the Dead Sea extending up the
Jordan Valley.[1]
The content of his preaching is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
(v. 2). Repent is a call for “a change of heart and conduct, a turning
of one’s life from rebellion to obedience towards God.”[2] Kingdom
of heaven: Matthew is the only one who speaks of the kingdom of heaven
instead of the kingdom of God. He substitutes “God” with “heaven” because he
addressed his book to the Jewish community, and the devout Jews of his time
avoided pronouncing the name “God” out of reverence.[3]
“Kingdom of heaven” here does not connote a geographic area, nor does it refer
to the kingdom that will happen at the end of time. The word “basileia “kingdom”
means “reign” or “rule” but not a territory.[4] The
expression “at hand” means that the “heavenly reign” is already present and
visible here and now through Jesus, who is already among the people and ready
to start his public ministry of establishing this heavenly reign, God’s triumph
over physical evils, particularly death. Starting from that time, the people
will be governed by the rule of the heavenly kingdom.
Vv. 3-10. The body of the text contains
three movements. (1) Matthew identifies John the Baptist with Isaiah and Elijah
to testify that Jesus is the Messiah who is to come. First, he makes the
Baptist play the same role Isaiah played in the Old Testament. In its original
context, Isaiah’s prophecy (see Is 40:3) was to prepare his fellow Israelites
for their return from exile in Babylon. John the Baptist quotes and adapts this
prophecy to prepare his people for the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He
affirms that Isaiah spoke of Jesus in his prophecy. Second, the evangelist also
associates John the Baptist with Elijah by describing his clothing (made of
camel’s hair and a belt around his waist) since this was the style of the
prophet Elijah’s dress (see 2 Kgs 1:8). This identification is because the
people in Matthew’s time, referring to the prophecy of the prophet Malachi, the
last canonical prophet, believed that the prophet Elijah would return from
heaven to prepare Israel for the final manifestation of God’s kingdom (see
Malachi 3:22-23; 4:5-6). Matthew taught his readers that this expectation was
fulfilled in John the Baptist’s ministry (see Mt 11:10, 14; 17:11-13).[5]
If John the Baptist is Elijah, who was supposed to return, then Jesus is the
Messiah who is to come. John's food, consisting of locusts and wild honey,
connects him to the Essene community of his time (vv. 3-5).
(2) The crowds went to John the Baptist,
acknowledged their sins, and received baptism (v. 6). This is a purificatory
washing ritual for the purpose of repentance.
(3) John the Baptist rebukes the
Pharisees and Sadducees, challenging them to produce good fruit as evidence of
their repentance, because, unlike the crowds, they request baptism without
genuine intention to repent (vv. 7-10). Matthew is the only evangelist who
cites the Pharisees and Sadducees among those who went to John the Baptist and
requested to be baptized. The Pharisees were lay religious leaders, and the
Sadducees were priests from the more elite class. Unlike the Sadducees, the
Pharisees believed in the resurrection (Mt 22:23; Acts 23:8). Additionally,
while the Pharisees influenced ordinary laypeople, instructing them on how to
be faithful to the Torah in their daily lives, the Sadducees primarily
influenced the political elite and temple personnel.[6] By
mentioning these two religious groups here at the beginning of his Gospel,
Matthew probably intends to prepare his readers on how Pharisees and Sadducees,
later in his Gospel, will constitute the prime opponents of Jesus (see, for
instance, 9:11, 14, 34; 12:2, 14, 24 15:1; 16:1, 6-12; 21:46; 22:15).
Vv. 11-12. John the Baptist addresses the
whole crowd. He uses images to speak of Jesus and the last judgment at the end
of time. He testifies that Jesus is mightier than he (v. 11b). His baptism is
just with water, but that of Jesus is with the Holy Spirit and fire. His
mission is limited to warning the people of the fiery judgment; Jesus is the
one who will condemn those who fail to repent and purify those who bear good
fruits.[7]
4. Synthesis
John the Baptist prepares his people for the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. He calls them to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The narrator identified John the Baptist with the prophets Isaiah and Elijah to confirm that Jesus was the Messiah who was to come. John the Baptist taught them that Jesus was already among them, ready to establish the kingdom of heaven through the public ministry he was about to start. Unlike the crowds, who acknowledged their sins in seeking baptism, the Pharisees and Sadducees had no intention to repent that is why John the Baptist rebuked and challenged them to produce good fruits as evidence of their repentance. Matthew intentionally cited them at the beginning of his Gospel to inform his readers that these two religious groups would later be the primary challengers of Jesus.
- Liturgical Context
Today is the second Sunday of Advent. In
the first reading, Isaiah prophesies about the ideal Davidic king. The Church
sees this prophecy fulfilled in Jesus as John the Baptist preaches it in our
Gospel. As we prepare for the coming of our Lord Jesus at Christmas, at the end
of time, and for his daily presence in our lives, Saint Paul, in the second
reading, exhorts us to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with
Christ Jesus.
- What the Church
Teaches Us Today
John the Baptist calls his people and us today
to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven, the birth of our Lord Jesus, is at
hand.” He rebukes us the way he did with the Pharisees and Sadducees, telling
us not to claim ourselves “Abraham’s children” or “Christians” if we do not
repent. He warns us that we will be cut down like a barren tree and thrown into
the fire of hell if we do not bear good fruit as evidence of our repentance (v.
12). To repent is accepting to live under God’s “reign” and “rule,” which is
living like in the garden of Eden before Adam and Eve fall, without
discrimination and division. This is what today’s first and second readings
teach us.
In the first reading, we heard the
Messianic prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah exercised his prophetic
ministry in Judah in the late eighth and early seventh centuries BC. During
that time, the Assyrian Empire was destroying the northern kingdom of Israel.
Around 700 BC, they conquered the entire kingdom of Judah except for the
capital, Jerusalem. Amid this destruction, Isaiah, in our first reading
passage, sees a vision of a new king who will rise from the line of David. In
three sections, this passage effectively summarizes the several dimensions of
the role and ministry of the Messiah. The first section (Is 11:1-5) describes
this new king who had to come as a new King David: “… a shoot shall sprout from
the stump of Jesse.” Jesse was David's father. So, Jesus, who is coming at
Christmas, is the “New David.” He rules over the Church, families, societies,
and nations.
The second section (vv. 6-9), with images
of the holy mountain, a little child, and wild animals living together, makes
us return to the original peace in the Garden of Eden and refers to Jesus as a
“New Adam.” The little child could symbolize peace. Also, it could spiritually
be the image of the child Jesus who, at his birth in the cave, “guided”
animals. This makes that spot of Bethlehem a new Eden on that night when God
became Man (Incarnation). Also, the “Holy Mountain” alludes to Eden since,
according to Ezekiel, Eden was a mountain with a garden on top (See Ez
28:13-14). In last Sunday’s first reading, we heard Isaiah prophesize that on
this Mount Zion, the LORD’s house shall be established and raised above the
hills (Is 2:1-2). In my interpretation of this text last Sunday, I identified
this “LORD’s house” with the Church that Jesus established at the Last Supper
in the Upper Room, located on the same Mount of Zion (see Heb 12:18-23). Our
local Church is the “House of the Lord” that Jesus established. Look how we all
came from different families and backgrounds to “climb it” to worship our Lord.
This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. Putting all together, the “holy mountain”
refers to the new Eden, and both “holy mountain” and “New Eden” allude to the
Church of Jesus. Jesus, the new Adam, makes us taste the fruit of the Tree of
Life in the Garden of Eden through his Body and Blood, which we receive in the
sacrament of the Eucharist. And he makes us experience the waters of the River
of Life through the water of our baptism.
The third section of our first reading is
in vv. 11-15. The lectionary for this Sunday retains just v. 11 and omits vv.
12-15. This section, especially v. 15, clearly points to the Exodus imagery and
compares the new king, Jesus, with Moses. As Moses led the people of Israel
from Egypt to the promised land by crossing the Red Sea, likewise, Jesus, who
is coming at Christmas, leads us from the slavery of sins by crossing the river
of Baptism to the “new Mount Zion,” which represents here the kingdom of heaven.
As citizens of the kingdom of heaven, our
second reading exhorts us to live with harmony, without division. The context
of this passage is the debate within the Roman community, which was composed of
both Jewish and Gentile members, about whether circumcision was mandatory to
become Jesus’ follower or not. This debate resulted in a division between the
circumcised (Jews) and the uncircumcised (Gentiles). The question was how they
would follow the Christian way with different ethnic practices. Paul tries to find
a solution in the passage we heard in our second reading. For him, the answer
lies in “endurance” and through “the encouragement of the scriptures.” He then
invites both Jews and Gentiles, including all of us today, to think and live in
harmony and welcome one another as Christ welcomes everyone without looking at
skin color, language, culture, or social class.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. May this
liturgy of the Mass enable us to produce good fruits as evidence of our
repentance in this Advent season. Amen.
Rev.
Leon Ngandu, SVD
Pastor
of Holy Family Catholic Church, Jackson, MS &
SVD
USS Biblical Apostolate Coordinator
[1]
NABRE, notes to Mt 3:1.
[2]
NABRE, note to Mt 3:2.
[3]
Barbara E. Reid, The Gospel According to Matthew (Collegeville,
Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2005), 21-22.
[4]
Barbara E. Reid, The Gospel According to Matthew, 22.
[5]
NABRE, note to Matthew 3:4.
[6]
Barbara E. Reid, The Gospel According to Matthew, 23.
[7]
Ian Boxall, “Matthew” in the Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First
Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, ed. By John J. Collins, Gina
Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, Donald Senior CP. (Great Britain: T&T Clark
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2022), 1178.
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