FIRST IMPRESSIONS 3rd SUNDAY OF ADVENT -C- DEC. 13, 2015
Zephaniah 3: 14-18 Psalm 12 Philippians 4: 4-7 Luke 3: 10-18
by Jude Siciliano, OP
Could there be a lovelier reading at this time in Advent than our first
reading from Zephaniah? There’s a lot of joy and love in the passage.
Zephaniah helps us focus during, what should be, a quiet and reflective
time, but is mostly chaotic, noisy and hyperactive. (How many shopping
days till Christmas?) Previous to today’s section the prophet railed
against those who oppress and defraud the poor. God is coming and what
will God do when God arrives? Deal with Judah ’s unjust leaders. “The
Lord has removed the judgment against you he has turned away your
enemies.”Through the prophets, like Zephaniah, God made promises to the
suffering and oppressed. God will tend to the victims of those corrupt
leaders. Later in Luke, Mary, in her Magnificat, will proclaim that God
has lifted up the lowly and put down the powerful (Luke 1: 46-55).
Today’s passage speaks about the past: when God acted on behalf of the
people, and the future: when “The Lord your God is in your midst, mighty
Savior.” The people are joyful because of what God has done for them:
“removed the judgment against you.” God is also moved by what God has
done: “God will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in his
love.” It gives God joy to act on our behalf.
When we experience how God has lifted the load of oppressors off our
shoulders, we fall even more deeply in love with God. Zephaniah pictures
that future – there will be no more conflict, fear or shame among us. He
is preparing us for Christ’s birth, encouraging us not to be afraid or
discouraged by what seems irreparable and unmovable in our lives.
Indeed, we will have reason to rejoice. The prophet prepares us to hear
Luke’s gospel during this new liturgical year. Throughout that gospel
Luke will tell the frightened, “do not be afraid.” Joy is another theme
in Luke: how could people not be joyful? We were stuck and bogged down
and God sent Jesus to set us free, fulfilling Zephaniah’s promise, “The
Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty Savior.”
Who could be in more need of that Savior than the ones who came to John
the Baptist in the desert? We are getting closer to Christmas, yet the
characters in today’s gospel are: a firebrand prophet, the crowds, the
disreputable people in the community and Roman soldiers. We may be 12
days from Christmas, but we need to get our minds off our Christmas list
and listen to what John tells them, because there is no avoiding him today.
If we are going to welcome the Christ child at Christmas we will need to
face what will hinder our openness to him and dampen our welcome. We
could ask the repetitious question the three groups asked John, “What
should we do?” The issue at this point is not what people should ponder,
or think about doing. The imminent coming of the Messiah requires action
now. They are to do something and do it now. No putting off action.
John the Baptist tells the crowds, tax collectors and soldiers to do
practical things: take care of the needy and act justly. He didn’t tell
them to go to the Temple and pray more, or offer a large sacrifice.
Ritual and prayer will come later. First things first: make practical
changes by responding to the needs of your neighbor. That will prepare
them and us for the coming Messiah.
The crowds are to share what they have with those who do not have. Tax
collectors must be fair in their work and avoid greed. “Stop collecting
more than is prescribed.” Then, there are the soldiers. Who would have
expected these outsiders, the enemy occupiers, to be listening to a
Jewish prophet! He tells them, “Be satisfied with your wages.” They had
power and could use it to their advantage over their subjects. Instead,
they were to be “satisfied” with what they had – that was enough.
John was a powerful preacher. He was a “this-world-preacher.” He offered
a practical work ethic. He anticipated the Messiah and advised very
practical preparations. People were to use their resources for those in
need. No fancy, esoteric, mountain-top preparations for John. Instead,
he told people to do the right thing in their everyday lives. If they
did, they would be ready for the “more” the Messiah would bring.
And what would that “more” be? John’s message anticipates the coming of
the kingdom in its fullness. When the Messiah comes to baptize, John
tells the people, he will do so with water – for purifying the
recipients. Still more. John says that Jesus will baptize with “fire and
the Holy Spirit.” We know in Luke’s second book, the Acts of the
Apostles, the Holy Spirit came upon all the believers. Luke anticipates
that happening at Pentecost when the Spirit came and filled them with
fire, in the form of tongues resting upon them. Isaiah foretold such a
purification (4:4-5) and Ezekiel had promised the Messiah would give a
new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26).
So what is this “good news” that John is preaching to the people? It
doesn’t sound like what the later church will call good news. He calls
the people to evaluate their lives and prepare for God’s coming
judgment. John is not merely a ranting and raving preacher trying to
stir up a response to his message by evoking fear. The reference to the
winnowing separating wheat from chaff and the chaff burning in
unquenchable fire, are less about punishment and more about saving the
wheat. The burning chaff image can distract us from seeing the real
purpose in the metaphor – to save the grain. That’s the good news in
John’s message to us.
As diverse as John’s listeners were, they were open to his message and
wanted to know what they should do to prepare for the Messiah’s coming.
“What should we do?” It’s the question we, the baptized, should ask
during Advent. In our baptism, the promise John made, that we would be
baptized with “the Holy Spirit and fire” is fulfilled.
Now, this Advent, we who are baptized with the Holy Spirit ask the
question at this Eucharist. “What should we do?” We pray to the Holy
Spirit that like John’s audience, we might receive some specific
directions for what we must change in our lives. We hope for the
determination and drive of the fire, as well as the guidance of the
Spirit, that we might be enabled to make the changes we must to receive
Christ, when he comes this Christmas. And that Spirit, as John promised,
will surely come with cleansing and renewing fire.
Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:
JUSTICE BULLETIN BOARD
Brothers and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again:
rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no
anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God
that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4: 4-7
As I am writing this, the world is reeling from multiple aggressions by
terrorists in Beirut , Lebanon , and Paris , France
are fleeing from war-torn areas. It is hard to fathom the depth of
murderous hatred toward liberty, equality, and fraternity. So much
darkness and yet, today is Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday and also the day
when our Church ceremoniously opens the “door” at designated Cathedrals,
basilicas, and churches around the world to announce the Extraordinary
Jubilee Year of Mercy. If we take this Year of Mercy to heart, our
ability to express mercy will be tested in the fire of reality and not
merely be an academic exercise. In my recent work with Peace Week
Spirituality of Nonviolence” written by Franciscan Sr. Rosemary Lynch,
OSF, and Friar Alain Richard, OFM. Perhaps their wise guide will help us
live this Year of Mercy more fully. I have included the main points below.
Active Nonviolence calls us:
1. To learn to recognize and respect “the sacred in every person,
including in ourselves, and in every piece of Creation.
2. To accept oneself deeply, “who I am” with all my gifts and richness,
with all my limitations, errors, failings and weaknesses, and to realize
that I am accepted by God.
3. To recognize that what I resent, and perhaps even detest, in another,
comes from my difficulty in admitting that this same reality lives also
in me.
4. To renounce dualism, the “we-they” mentality.
5. To face fear and to deal with it not mainly with courage but with love.
6. To understand and accept that the New Creation, the building up of
the Beloved Community is always carried forward with others.
7. To see ourselves as a part of the whole creation to which we foster a
relationship of love, not of mastery, remembering that the destruction
of our planet is a profoundly spiritual problem, not simply a scientific
or technological one. We are one.
8. To be ready to suffer, perhaps even with joy, if we believe this will
help liberate the Divine in others. This includes the acceptance of our
place and moment in history with its trauma, with its ambiguities.
9. To be capable of celebration, of joy, when the presence of God has
been accepted, and when it has not been to help discover and recognize
this fact.
10. To slow down, to be patient, planting the seeds of love and
forgiveness in our own hearts and of those around us. Slowly we will
grow in love, compassion and the capacity to forgive.
To read the complete decalogue, go to:
Rejoice! Activate mercy in your life.
----Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS
Coordinator of Social Justice Ministries Sacred Heart
Cathedral--Raleigh , N.C.
FAITH BOOK
we ask ourselves:
Am I giving the coming of Christ enough attention this Advent?
If not, what is distracting me and what can I do to be ready for him
when he comes?
--{-=@
Hickkok
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