Homily –  “Do Not Be Afraid — I Am With You”

Today’s readings show us that Advent is a season of courage.
Again and again, God speaks one phrase to His people:

“Do not be afraid.”

Not because life is easy,
not because the people are strong,
but because God is close.

In the first reading, God speaks tenderly and directly:
“I, the Lord your God, am holding you by the hand; I tell you, do not be afraid.”

This is one of the most personal images in the whole of Scripture.
God does not shout instructions from a distance.
He does not lecture.
He takes His people by the hand —
like a parent guiding a frightened child.

And notice who He speaks to:
“You poor worm, Jacob.”

It is a shocking phrase, but an honest one.
God is not speaking to the powerful or the successful,
but to a people who feel small, vulnerable, and overlooked.

And yet God promises something extraordinary:
deserts will bloom,
water will flow where there was only dryness,
trees will grow where nothing could survive.

This is how God works.
He does not wait for strength before acting.
He creates strength where there was none.
Grace does not respond to our ability;
it responds to our need.

Advent is the season when God reminds us:
“You may feel weak, but you are not abandoned.”

Isaiah’s promise is not abstract.
God does not say, “I will make you feel better.”
He says, “I will help you. I will strengthen you. I will turn wasteland into life.”

Christian hope is not optimism.
It is trust that God is actively at work
even when we cannot see results yet.

Many people give up not because they lack faith,
but because they are tired of waiting.

Isaiah speaks to that weariness and says:
God is already at work beneath the surface.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about John the Baptist:
“Of all those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.”

That is a remarkable statement.
John performs no miracles.
He holds no office.
He lives in obscurity and ends his life in prison.

And yet Jesus calls him great.

Why?

Because John is completely faithful to his mission.
He prepares the way and then steps aside.
He points to Christ and does not cling to importance.

Greatness in God’s Kingdom is not visibility,
but faithfulness.

Then Jesus adds something surprising:
“Yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.”

This is not an insult to John.
It is a statement about grace.

John stands at the doorway of the Kingdom.
He announces it, but does not yet live fully inside it.
Those who live after Christ —
who receive baptism, the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit —
share in a grace John could only point toward.

In other words:
we live in a privileged time.

Jesus says:
“If you are willing to accept it, John is Elijah who is to come.”

This is Advent language.
The promise is being fulfilled,
but not in the way people expected.

God rarely works on our timetable.
He works on His own —
and it is always wiser than ours.

Advent teaches patience without passivity.
It teaches us to keep trusting,
even when fulfilment feels slow.

Today’s readings speak to anyone who feels:

small or insignificant

tired of waiting

unsure whether God is really at work

Isaiah says:
God is holding your hand.

The Gospel says:
Faithfulness matters more than recognition.

Advent asks us to do three simple things:

Do not be afraid. God is nearer than you think.

Remain faithful. Even quiet obedience matters.

Trust the promise. What God begins, He completes.

You may not see deserts bloom yet.
You may not feel strong.
You may not feel important.

But God is working —
and that is enough.

Advent does not promise that life will suddenly become easy.
It promises something deeper:
that God is with us, guiding us, and bringing life where we see only dryness.

So today, let us place our hand back into His.
Let us trust the quiet work of grace.
Let us wait with hope.

“Do not be afraid. I will help you.”

Those words are not only for Israel.
They are for us — today.