3rd. Sun. of
Advent (C)
(Zephaniah 3:14-18; Philippians
4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18)
A large
crowd of people were coming to John for his blessing; they were coming because
some thought that he might be the Messiah, while others -- though not regarding
him personally as the Messiah -- were rightly convinced that, as a prophet of
God, he could show them the true way to God, that he would help them know most
surely what was God’s will for each of them personally.
John said
to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? (Luke 3:7)
In the
countryside when there was a brush fire, vipers could occasionally be seen
scurrying as best they could to avoid the flames. If you remember, St. Paul would be bitten by
such a serpent escaping from the fire lit by those who, along with Paul, had
just escaped from cold ocean waters after being shipwrecked near Malta.
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
This was
meant in the sense of “Don’t think you can just come here and be baptised by me
and then you will have nothing more to worry about.”
Produce
fruit in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We
have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell
you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees,
and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown
into the fire. (vv. 8-9)
Let us
look carefully and with no little wonder at this situation, People of God,
because we do not see the like in our Western society today. Here we have not a non-descript crowd, but
members of a people, coming as such to ask John the way to God; here we have a
people who, though being aware of themselves as God’s Chosen People, were
humble enough to admit that they did not know that way; a people, still holy
enough however, to suspect that they had indeed long been walking away from God
by their life-style. They had been brought
to that admission by the unknown guidance of God, Who having brought them low
in their own self-esteem had thereby been able to set them out on the right
path by asking John’s help; here, streaming to John, they were showing
themselves as indeed members of the People of God, God’s Chosen and
worked-on-for-over-two-thousand-years People.
Today,
however, we are surrounded by
people, as a whole, alienated or alienating themselves from God by either their
ludicrously high self-esteem or their tragically low appreciation of God, His
Church, and especially her ministers; too many of them still calling themselves
Catholics but never turning to their Church’s teaching for guidance on human
issues or in their personal difficulties.
They will talk with their neighbours or their current friends seeking
worldly understanding and comfort but would never dream of humbling themselves
(so they would put it) to ask a priest concerning the Church’s approach or
teaching. I wonder what words John would
have used to describe such people? They
would have been very colourful I suspect, for the image of vipers wriggling in
the dust for their very lives before the advancing brush fire is remarkably
descriptive!
Anyhow,
we can see clearly, my dear people, that John had no time for people who would
come to him just for baptism and nothing more … John demanded that anyone
seeking his baptism had to produce fruit of repentance and give him evidence of it.
The axe
is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good
fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
In our
very lukewarm Catholic society of today would John be any less demanding of
those seeking Jesus’ sacraments for reasons other than, or even at times alien
to, the purpose and nature of the sacrament itself: those, for example, seeking
not to dedicate their marriage to God, but just a truly ‘posh’ wedding for
themselves, or again, a ‘proper’ baptism in view of a place in a ‘popular’
school for their children … nay even those in Church on Sunday who come forward
to receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist merely as a
tiresome duty expected of them. In line
with today’s Gospel reading, shouldn’t all such people be – in some way or
other – made to, brought to, realize their duty to ‘bring forth fruit’ for such
privileges; or are they to be ‘charitably’ allowed to continue regarding them
as mere occasions to confirm their own personal parish standing or
opportunities for their social advancement?
As
Catholics we have to seek the Lord at all times indeed, but even more so now
that Mother Church is subject to so much hostile scrutiny, let alone active
persecution. We have to seek His face
above all by sincere endeavours to grow in His love and walk in His ways; ways
designed by Him indeed to guide us along paths of obedience leading to our
eternal fulfilment but framed, so to speak, in such a way that show us such
great respect, even reverence: for, whereas those coming to John were driven by fear of what was approaching we,
on the other hand, God seeks to draw us
by gratitude to Himself for love of
Jesus as the prophet Zephania foretold,
The Lord
has removed the judgment against you; He has turned away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your
midst; you have no further misfortune to fear.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty Saviour. He will rejoice over you with gladness. (3:15-17)
Oh, how
great are the blessings we, who are called to the Faith, have received! We are in the Church, members of that Body of
which Christ Jesus Himself is the Head and whose life is the Holy Spirit of
love and truth. St. Paul told us:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! The Lord is near!
For the
Risen Lord rejoices over us, as both Prophet and St. Paul have told us,
delighting to be in our midst, and graciously offering Himself to be One with
us and for us individually, whenever we gather with our brothers and sisters in
His Name, as His Church. The Risen Lord
is present in our midst that He might draw us to Himself and to each other,
thus offering us a pre-emptive share in the life of His Father’s heavenly
family; and He condescends to give Himself to us individually that He might
enable us to share in some slight measure the sublime Beatitude of His own
Oneness with His Father in their most Holy Spirit of mutual Love: thus we are
to become truly living members of His Body, authentic witnesses to Him before
the world, and thereby hand down not simply -- as many anxious people want
today -- a purer atmosphere to subsequent generations, but the very Gospel of
eternal life, the very Gospel of glory to God and goodwill to all mankind.
We must
not allow ourselves, therefore, to think that we can come here and present
ourselves to Him with the same old dispositions as we have always had; for each
of us has to be gradually renewed interiorly, by constantly seeking the face of
the Lord day in and day out; ever longing, asking, seeking and praying, to know
God’s truth more surely, and to do whatever He wants of us ever more
whole-heartedly. Since so much has been
given and is being offered to us, we cannot live the same sort of life as those
who seek above all to enjoy life in this world, we cannot bring forth merely
worldly acceptable and praiseworthy fruit, for we are called to become children
of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, humble and committed instruments of the
Holy Spirit.
And yet,
in all such Catholic and Christian endeavours, take careful note of St. Paul
again in his letter to the Philippians:
Have no
anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God. (Philippians
4:6)
We hear
much from great prophets during Advent, especially prophecies from Isaiah and
Jeremiah which foretold the future coming of Israel’s messiah, Whom we know as
Jesus, mankind’s Redeemer. But we do not
simply celebrate the memory of a past event at Christmas which, supremely
beautiful though it was, included hints both tragic and glorious for its
earthly development : rather, drinking deep of heavenly joy at the fulfilment
of those promises thus ratified for Israel, we thereby celebrate in
anticipation the assured fulfilment of God’s promise made directly to us
through the Seer of the Book of Revelation, that -- for the grand fulfilment of
God’s original plan -- Jesus will come again as God-made-Man totally glorified
in the Spirit, for the final redemption of mankind, and the ultimate
glorification of God Himself:
John, to
the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was
and Who is to come, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn
of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him Who loves us and has
freed us from our sins by His blood, Who has made us into a kingdom, priests
for His God and Father, to Him be glory and power forever. Amen. Behold, He is
coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him.
Yes. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the One Who is
and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty.”
(1:4–8)
That is
why St. Paul exhorts us to have such confidence in God, and to find thereby for
ourselves,
The peace
of God that surpasses all understanding, and will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:7)
No comments:
Post a Comment