Third Sunday in Advent
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you
from the one who rejoices over us with gladness,
who renews us in love. Amen
We are now over half way
through the brief season of Advent,
the season that calls us to prepare
for the coming of the Lord,
and not just in the sense of waiting for the baby in the manger
but also as we confess in the Apostles creed,
that Jesus who is at the right hand of the Father
will come to judge the living and the dead
and in doing so transform the world
to match God’s vision for creation
as a harmonious community of justice and righteousness,
of abundant life for all.
As we look around
and see just how far we are currently
from the realization of that vision
we get a sense of the amount of upheaval it will take
to transform from the fractious communities of the world
to the unified community of God,
and that upheaval is what has been emphasized the last two weeks,
Jesus even said that “People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of heavens will be shaken.” (Luke 21:26)
and that his followers are to be alert
praying that they have the strength to escape what is coming.
This coupled with the words of the prophet Malachi from last week
who said “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” (Malachi 3:1-2)
and we might begin to wonder
if we actually want the Lord to come
so it's a good thing
that today’s readings
take a sharp turn away from the messages of dire foreboding
and emphasize the joy and comfort in the coming of the Lord,
joy and comfort that can be experienced
even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
With the prophet Zephaniah
we give thanks for the anticipated arrival of the Lord in our midst,
an arrival which will remove judgment and the fear of disaster
when the Lord will rejoice over the people with gladness
opening the door to a new future,
a future where justice is restored.
With Isaiah
we anticipate the day when the Holy One of Israel
will be in our midst,
when we will draw water from the wells of salvation
with joy and singing.
Paul reminds us to rejoice in the Lord always
for the Lord is near.
And then we get to John the Baptist
who starts off: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
and ends with a picture of the one who is to come after him
as one who comes with the Holy Spirit and fire,
who will separate out the wheat from the chaff
and who will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.
How does this fit in with our theme of joy in the coming of the Lord?
This seems to be taking us back to where we were before
and then Luke concludes “So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.”
How is this good news?
This is good news to the crowds
because their lives are already pretty dire
and the coming of the Lord,
a coming for which they have hoped for generations,
is a promise that life will get better,
that God will be in charge
instead of the latest empire
that rolled in at the point of a sword,
whose goal is to maintain their power
at the expense of those they’ve conquered
until someone more powerful comes along
defeats them
and the whole process starts over again,
and here John proclaims “the one more powerful than I is coming”
and his call to repent
is an invitation to join with the one who is coming
in creating a life aligned with God’s vision for creation
as one commentator I read this week said: “and on that path, there is joy… the call to repentance may truly be good news. It invites us to take practical steps toward aligning our lives more squarely with God’s purposes--not just in theory, but in practice. It takes the internal and abstract aspects of faith and makes them external and concrete. It gives opportunity for faith to have full expression.” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-of-advent-3/commentary-on-luke-37-18-6)
Waiting is hard,
it helps to have something to do to pass the time,
this is why we light candles
and open little squares on advent calendars
and that’s for things that we know the timing of what we’re waiting for.
It’s even harder when the timing is undefined,
the call to repentance
not only gives us something to do,
it starts us down the path
toward making what we’re waiting for a reality
and there is joy in that.
This is one of the reasons
we do not hesitate to baptize young children,
there is joy in being joined to God and the body of Christ,
there is comfort and love found in living in a community
all seeking the same purpose,
even if the purpose isn’t fully realized yet
why would we wait to offer that gift?
The crowds that have sought out John
have been waiting without direction,
so when John calls them to action,
telling them they are to bear fruits worthy of repentance
they are ready, if unsure of what to actually do next.
“What then should we do?” they ask him
“In reply he said to them, ‘whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’”
Small steps toward making sure everyone has what they need.
Then the tax collectors and soldiers ask the same question
Keep in mind they have more resources than the rest of the crowd
and to the tax collectors
he tells to not collect more than what is owed,
similarly to the soldiers
he tells them not to physically intimidate people to extort money
but to be satisfied with their wages.
This is interesting
because we might have expected John
to tell them to stop collecting taxes
and to stop being soldiers
as contrary to the vision for the world to come,
but he doesn’t,
rather he seems to recognize
that they have a role to play in society
and so recommends that they continue to do their jobs,
just not exploit them for personal gain.
John’s repentance is not a call to perfection
but to a return to the life that God originally called the people of Israel,
a life lived in harmony with God, one another, and neighbors
and this is not a theoretical thing
but something they can start working on right now,
even as they trust God as the ultimate savior
and there is joy in that.
The Lord’s coming is a good thing,
because it means salvation,
as the prophet Isaiah said in our Psalm “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might, and has become my salvation.”
Even as it is good news for us
that we can start living the life God calls us to now,
it is even better news
that salvation comes from God,
who is far more powerful than we,
and even far more powerful than the systems of power in the world
The promise is that God can and will
Untangle these webs that we’ve woven and gotten caught up in
That God will restore abundant life.
All this is why Paul can say in the midst of his imprisonment “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Amen
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