Advent

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Advent

Exploring the text

Waiting for salvation

Advent encourages us to turn our attention to waiting for the birth (and second coming) of Christ. Unlike Mark’s Gospel, the Gospel of Luke introduces us, his readers, to the theme of waiting through the various characters who themselves are waiting before Christ’s birth. Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah and then, later in the story, Anna and Simeon are all waiting in different ways. Mary and Joseph (though Joseph only appears fleetingly in Luke) are of course waiting for the fulfilment of the angel Gabriel’s prophecy that Mary will bear a child. The waiting of Elizabeth and Zechariah, Anna and Simeon has taken place over a much longer period of time...