(St. John the Baptist preaching:
Mattia Preti)
Luke 3: 10-18
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121221.cfm
If you’ve ever found yourself having to deal with the sadness of another person, we struggle to find words of comfort. Or it may well be our own sadness after the departure of a loved one and the new normal that we initially find difficult.
It may be a sudden health crisis, the death
of a loved one, the loss of employment at a critical time or just a general
sense of disorientation in the life of another.
We want to comfort them, to cheer them up, to say something that would
express our sympathy. Yet, one of the
worst things to say, well-meaning as it is, would be, “O, just cheer up” or “It
could be worse,” or something similar.
Sometimes, in fact often, in times of crisis the best response we may
have is to simply say little and to stand with another, to support them and to
be present to them to show your solidarity.
The grieving process for example takes time to work through. If we’ve
had a similar experience in our own lives, it may be helpful to share your
empathy but in the end we all grieve differently and one should never rush the
process.
In a spirit of optimism, however, our
readings on this third Sunday of Advent nearly command us to “Rejoice!” The
prophet Zephaniah speaks to a people who have gone through the destruction of
their country and exile in a foreign land.
They are despondent and feel that God has rejected and abandoned them
due to their sin. Their beloved city of
Jerusalem has been destroyed and they are now exiled to the land of Babylon.
They are indeed a grieving people.
Zephaniah encourages them to “Shout for joy”
and to “. . . be glad and rejoice with all your heart.” Why would he say such a
thing rather than simply sympathize with them? Because it is God who will come
and be present with the people and his presence will be salvation and life
giving: “The Lord your God, is in your
midst, a mighty savior.” He had not
abandoned them but allowed this so they might be purified and reflect on the
true spirit of the original covenant.
Due to God’s intervention in a time of great
crisis, the people should rejoice. Now
this was the additional hope of the chosen people. That at some time in history God will finally
intervene in a definitive and final way on their behalf. Even the liturgical color of rose may be used
this weekend to emphasize both joy and expectation. But, when will that time
be? The answer to that question is found
in our Gospel.
After centuries of hope and promise in the
midst of what seemed like destruction, unfaithfulness, and abandonment a
prophet to complete all prophets appears in the desert and calls people to
repentance and to see that now is the time for their deliverance. We hear this Sunday once again from John the
Baptist who now responds to the questions of the varied crowds around him. They come to ask: “What should I do?”
John’s response is amazingly practical. We have an insight into how people of the
time lived. John encourages his crowd to
be generous, to share a portion of their food and clothing with those in need;
He encourages the toll (tax) collectors to be honest and not squeeze more money
from the people than is “prescribed.” Even soldiers, unexpectedly moved to
conversion, are told by John stop bullying people and to not be greedy and
abuse their power and position. In other words John encourages the varied crowd to return to the moral code of the
sacred Torah, the law of God given centuries before. In this way of behavior and morality they can
be ready to meet the savior.
Despite John’s “tell is like it is”
confrontation with the crowd, they love the message and they begin to question
whether John himself may be the Messiah.
Even after Jesus’ public appearance, John still had his followers, among
who were the first of Jesus’ disciples; for example the apostle Andrew, brother
of Simon Peter. John remains steadfast that he is not the One. Someone
“mightier than I is coming” he states definitively.
The mark of a Christian is his loyalty to
Christ. Jesus was far more than just
another teacher or wise man we follow.
Jesus is the word made flesh, the salvation of humanity sent by the
Father in heaven; he is Lord of our lives who was enfleshed among us and who
died and rose from the dead. No other
figure in history has ever made such claims. Therefore, John’s statement about
the Holy Spirit and fire is a reference to the grace of the Spirit (symbolized
by fire as at Pentecost) which cleanses in baptism and cleans out the
“chaff.” In Christ we find a new
beginning and a renewal and rebirth of all human history. To know this is cause for joy and rejoicing. Our God has given us a way out in the
forgiveness of sin and a moral code to follow from the mind and heart of God.
Our moral and ethical behavior, then,
reflects the gift that Christ is to humanity. His teaching and morality provide
for the world an alternative to a life lived in darkness. Christ brings light, hope and love to the
world in a way that this world alone cannot sustain. This is the good news which John preached and
which we need to remind ourselves so “rejoice!” Despite all the world has been
through for more than a year we still have cause for rejoicing in the
Lord.
The world today, which still sees greed,
abuse of power, immorality, rampant individualism, unrestrained choice and
subjective morality. We need to hear this and to likewise clean away those
obstacles that blind us from knowing God in our life.
Isn’t that our preparation for Christmas? To
clean away the roadblocks that prevent us from running toward the Savior and
from him reaching us. It might be our
sin, our greed, our pride, our need to forgive and reconcile with another or
whatever is keeping us from welcoming Christ the Lord and Savior and becoming a
better disciple of the Lord on to the new year.
So, in the words of Paul the great apostle to
the Gentiles at this point in our Advent journey: “Rejoice in the Lord always .
. . the Lord is near.”
For all the oracles of the prophets foretold
him,
the Virgin Mother longed for him
with love beyond all telling,
John the Baptist sang of his coming
and proclaimed his presence when he came.
(From Preface II of Advent)
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