THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Cycle “C”: Luke 3, 10-18
Here is another conversion story, this time about Alfred Nobel, the inventor of TNT, that high explosive material used for blasting rocks for building dams, and, during the war, for killing millions of people. One morning, Mr. Nobel was reading the newspapers, as usual; and on opening the death column, was horrified to see his own obituary. “Died, Alfred Nobel, peddler of death.” The newspapers had made a slight mistake, but it showed that they had had his obituary ready, and the message hit him between the eyes. “Peddler of death, indeed ! That’s what they think of me.” He decided then and there to change that image. So he began putting his royalties into good causes, like education and uplift, and today there are the Nobel Prizes for Literature, Peace, and Science. The point of the story is that if we are open to what people say of us, it can help to reshape our lives to a certain extent. What others think of us may produce an initial shock and depression, but if it is well taken it can produce good fruit.
Consider the tax collectors and soldiers of today’s Gospel. The tax collectors were hated by Jews and Gentiles, and they knew it, and it caused them a sort of self-doubt and depression. So when John the Baptist came on the scene, it gave them a kind of relief - John was someone they could go to for comfort and healing. And by turning to him, they turned the people’s prejudices upside down. Later the tax collectors would respond to Jesus’ teaching too. What about the soldiers who also came to John ? These soldiers were mostly local Jews enlisted in the service of Herod Antipas. Since they helped to enforce the hated rule of Rome, they too were widely detested among their own people. But St. Luke once again focuses on the overturning of popular expectations and on God’s love for the despised.
St. Luke goes beyond the other Gospel writers in giving us a taste of the ethical dimensions of John the Baptist’s preaching. John advocates care for the needy and the sharing of resources, an ideal that Luke will later depict in the life of the early church (Acts 2, 44-45). John the Baptist also demands that the professional conduct of such people as tax collectors and soldiers should be marked by honesty, equity, and the avoidance of intimidation - not qualities associated with those groups, even today. John’s message strikes a chord that resounds through the whole of his society. It was meant to be Good News. Yet it was not the religious leaders who were willing to listen and repent, but the ordinary Jewish people. John doesn’t stress religious practices, sacrifices, and fasting. His injunctions are far more radical. He calls for a selfless concern for those who are disadvantaged. Repentance is to be shown in actions. Mark Twain once said, “Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy, you have to have someone to divide it with.”
We can ask ourselves where would we have been in John’s day. Would we have been with the respectable religious types who failed to respond, or would we have been with the undesirables who listened to his call ? Where do we stand today ? The English mystic, Julian of Norwich, tells us that “it is good to be a sinner.” (That’s certainly a consoling line for me !) It’s only when we realise our own condition, namely, that we are sinners in need of redemption, that we can begin to appreciate the love that God has for us and to rejoice. Joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit that is one of the marks of being a faithful Christian. If we truly believe that the Good News is really good, we must be people of joy ! In the words of Hillaire Belloc, many people think they’re being religious, whereas they’re only being uncomfortable. And we don’t want that, not permanently.
PRAYER: (John Jewel 1522 – 1571)
O most merciful Father, we beseech thee, for thy mercy’s sake, continue thy grace and favour towards us. Let not the sun of thy Gospel ever go down out of our hearts; let thy truth abide and be established among us forever. Help our unbelief, increase our faith, and give us hearts to consider the time of our visitation. Through faith clothe us with Christ, that he may live in us, and thy name be glorified through us in all the world.
Cycle “C”: Luke 3, 10-18
Here is another conversion story, this time about Alfred Nobel, the inventor of TNT, that high explosive material used for blasting rocks for building dams, and, during the war, for killing millions of people. One morning, Mr. Nobel was reading the newspapers, as usual; and on opening the death column, was horrified to see his own obituary. “Died, Alfred Nobel, peddler of death.” The newspapers had made a slight mistake, but it showed that they had had his obituary ready, and the message hit him between the eyes. “Peddler of death, indeed ! That’s what they think of me.” He decided then and there to change that image. So he began putting his royalties into good causes, like education and uplift, and today there are the Nobel Prizes for Literature, Peace, and Science. The point of the story is that if we are open to what people say of us, it can help to reshape our lives to a certain extent. What others think of us may produce an initial shock and depression, but if it is well taken it can produce good fruit.
Consider the tax collectors and soldiers of today’s Gospel. The tax collectors were hated by Jews and Gentiles, and they knew it, and it caused them a sort of self-doubt and depression. So when John the Baptist came on the scene, it gave them a kind of relief - John was someone they could go to for comfort and healing. And by turning to him, they turned the people’s prejudices upside down. Later the tax collectors would respond to Jesus’ teaching too. What about the soldiers who also came to John ? These soldiers were mostly local Jews enlisted in the service of Herod Antipas. Since they helped to enforce the hated rule of Rome, they too were widely detested among their own people. But St. Luke once again focuses on the overturning of popular expectations and on God’s love for the despised.
St. Luke goes beyond the other Gospel writers in giving us a taste of the ethical dimensions of John the Baptist’s preaching. John advocates care for the needy and the sharing of resources, an ideal that Luke will later depict in the life of the early church (Acts 2, 44-45). John the Baptist also demands that the professional conduct of such people as tax collectors and soldiers should be marked by honesty, equity, and the avoidance of intimidation - not qualities associated with those groups, even today. John’s message strikes a chord that resounds through the whole of his society. It was meant to be Good News. Yet it was not the religious leaders who were willing to listen and repent, but the ordinary Jewish people. John doesn’t stress religious practices, sacrifices, and fasting. His injunctions are far more radical. He calls for a selfless concern for those who are disadvantaged. Repentance is to be shown in actions. Mark Twain once said, “Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy, you have to have someone to divide it with.”
We can ask ourselves where would we have been in John’s day. Would we have been with the respectable religious types who failed to respond, or would we have been with the undesirables who listened to his call ? Where do we stand today ? The English mystic, Julian of Norwich, tells us that “it is good to be a sinner.” (That’s certainly a consoling line for me !) It’s only when we realise our own condition, namely, that we are sinners in need of redemption, that we can begin to appreciate the love that God has for us and to rejoice. Joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit that is one of the marks of being a faithful Christian. If we truly believe that the Good News is really good, we must be people of joy ! In the words of Hillaire Belloc, many people think they’re being religious, whereas they’re only being uncomfortable. And we don’t want that, not permanently.
PRAYER: (John Jewel 1522 – 1571)
O most merciful Father, we beseech thee, for thy mercy’s sake, continue thy grace and favour towards us. Let not the sun of thy Gospel ever go down out of our hearts; let thy truth abide and be established among us forever. Help our unbelief, increase our faith, and give us hearts to consider the time of our visitation. Through faith clothe us with Christ, that he may live in us, and thy name be glorified through us in all the world.
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