"EVERY MOUNTAIN SHALL BE LAID LOW."
A Reflection for the First Sunday of Advent Year A
(Mt 24: 37-44)
The nature of our world today is that rapid change has become normal. Technological innovation, violent climate events, the rise and fall of self-centered leadership - all have become part of our everyday experience. Yet there are three things I thought I would never see: the collapse of the Berlin wall, the popular acceptance of Gay marriage, and the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is visiting Australia at this moment.
As well as being a physical barrier, the Berlin wall (pictured below) was the symbolic boundary between democracy and Communism during the Cold War in Europe, following the end of WWII. Its collapse in 1989 was seen by many not only as an act of the human will, but also as an act of God. As long as the wall stood, it blocked the rights of people to choose their own government; its collapse opened the floodgates of free choice.
More recently, the rights of gay people to have their personal orientation recognized under law has proceeded with a surprising public acceptance. Who would have thought that governments and civic bodies would ever have agreed to something as radical and ground-shaking as this? An American writer has identified the core claims of this popular movement as the "3 M's" - the right to Marry a partner in a union of one's choice, the right to Military service for one's country and the right to Mentoring - to bring up children, in other words: three things consistently denied in law as rights of choice. It is around these three issues that most of the energy has surged; the old arguments of biblical condemnation and the imminent 'moral collapse of our society,' while still being upheld by a few, largely seem to have faded.
The release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house detention by the Myanmar military dictatorship, her acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize and her subsequent arrival in Australia have advent overtones for the eventual release of all captives.
As we enter into the season of Advent, we again hear of the consolations of the prophet Isaiah for all those who are oppressed, imprisoned in whatever way, or denied justice and fair opportunity. The hope of the prophets and the scriptures for a reversal of the misfortunes of a suffering humanity shall become the hope of all who are tired of dictatorships (especially the elected ones), who are tired of fleeing their countries, or exhausted from the search for food, water and security. "Every mountain shall be laid low," does not imply a bland and featureless landscape, but rather that the obstacles to a 'level playing field' shall be removed. "The wolf shall sit with the lamb," suggests that a brutal military dictatorship shall listen to a woman of peace, and "They shall not hurt or destroy on all My holy mountain," points to a longed-for end to conflicts and dictatorships, to the restoration of world peace, and to respect for the environment.
I believe these to be the deep hopes of the human heart in our world today.