Advent 3- Joy and Repentance

Zephaniah 3: 14-20; Isaiah 12: 2-6; Philippians 4: 4-7; Luke 3: 7-18

Today, on the third Sunday of Advent, we celebrate Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” is Latin for “Rejoice”. … Advent is a pretty penitential season. It can feel a bit like Lent. We are encouraged to renew our life of repentance- to look into our life and see if there is anything that needs to be corrected as we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. … So, Gaudete Sunday stands out because it includes fairly positive readings in a season that is quite penitential.

For example, our reading from Zephaniah is full of joy. We are told to sing, to rejoice, to shout because, we read, 

“The Lord has taken away the judgements against you, he has turned away your enemies; The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.” (Zeph 3:15). 

 “He will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival” (vv17-18). 

 Zephaniah records God as saying, 

“I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you” (vv19-20). 

In a season of Penitence, this reading is a bright light of encouragement.

From Isaiah we hear, 

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. … Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Is 12:3, 6).

And in Paul’s letter to the Philippians we are instructed, 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Phil 4:4). 

… In a season when we are preparing for Christ’s coming as the judge of the world, these readings are very comforting.

Our Gospel reading brings us back into the themes of Advent, and face to face with John the Baptist, once again. In his persistent pointing to the coming of Christ, he is the figure that most represents Advent. … John is mentioned by all four Gospels. John stands at the meeting of two ages. He stands as the last of the Old Testament prophets. In a sense, he is the embodiment of the spirit of the Old Testament prophets. In particular, John embodies the Spirit of the prophet Elijah.

2nd Kings describes Elijah as wearing a garment of hair, with a leather belt around his waist (1:8), which is how John is described. Elijah spends significant time living in the wilderness (1 Kings 17:2-6). Elijah parts the Jordan River by striking it with his cloak, and it is near the Jordan River that he is taken to heaven in a flaming chariot. Just as John the Baptist has a confrontation with King Harod and his wife Herodias, so Elijah had confrontations with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. And just as many of the prophets were threatened, mistreated, and killed (1 Kings 19:2-3; 2 Chron 24:20-22; Hebrews 11:37; Jer 38:4-6; 26:20-23), so John is likewise threatened, imprisoned, and killed.

Malachi 4 says that Elijah will be sent before the Day of the Lord. When the angel appears to John’s father Zechariah, he is told that his son 

“will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Lk 1:16-17). 

 He will have the spirit and power of Elijah. …

In a number of ways, John the Baptist is a representative of the Old Testament prophetic tradition, especially Elijah, and points towards the arrival of the expected Messiah. … In the Eastern church he is called St. John the forerunner.

He comes with a prophetic warning. The Age of the Messiah has arrived. And he warns about preparing for judgement. John’s message is urgent. There is no time to delay. We cannot afford to be deluded. It is the time for illusions to be dispelled and to face reality. So, John has some hard words to say. There is no time to mess around.

John tells the people to bear fruit worthy of repentance. 

“Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’”.

 It isn’t about what team you belong to. To say Abraham is your ancestor is to claim a family inheritance as being a part of the people who are chosen, and who carry the promise. But Abraham’s promise is that his family will be blessed to be a blessing to all the families of the earth (Gen 12). If they are unwilling to be a blessing to those in need around them, then God can find people who will, and make them children of Abraham. Being a blessing is sort of the family business for the family of Abraham. To reject that family business is to reject that family.

The crowds ask John what they should do, and he gets very practical. 

“Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”

Specific groups come up to him, and he gives specific advice to them. Tax collectors were disliked because they were seen as traitors who got rich working for the enemy Rome, who occupied their land. But they were also allowed to take whatever extra they wanted as long as Rome got what they told them to collect. So, if Rome told the tax collector to collect 5 dollars, they could collect 10 dollars and pocket the extra. And you could do this with the threat of Rome behind you. To the tax-collectors who came to him, he said, 

“Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”

 Even though it is easy to do, and all your colleagues do it, don’t embezzle, don’t steal.

Soldiers came to him as well. Like the tax collectors, they had the intimidating power of the state behind them. They may have been Roman soldiers, or they could have worked for King Herod. Regardless, soldiers of the time were known for extortion. They could easily bully people into paying them, or bribing them. They could threaten to accuse them of false crimes unless they were given money. They could demand people give them protection money. They could be real bullies. John calls them to act justly saying, 

"Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

It would be a helpful exercise to contemplate what John might say to us. What would he say to me as a priest? What would he say to someone who is retired? What would he say to someone who is in high school? What would he say to a doctor, or a banker, or a homemaker, or a teacher, or a writer. Is there a particular way we are known for not acting justly? And how might John speak to that, and encourage us to repent?

John is clear that he is not the Messiah, but points to he who will baptize the people with the Holy Spirit, which means that he will baptize people in the very presence, comfort, and empowerment of God. And also with fire, which represents purification and judgement. It is the fire that burns away the chaff, and purifies. It is a baptism of grace and challenge- repentance and transformation. To be at once accepted as God’s child, and challenged to live like God’s child, representing God, and shining God’s image into the broken world.

As we continue to work our way through Advent, the challenge remains. We are surrounded by Christmas celebrations that are pushing into Advent, but John says we have more reflection to do. Yes, the coming of the Messiah is a beautiful and joyous thing. It comes with the comfort that he is for us and not against us. That he has come to be among us, as one of us. … But his arrival also comes with a challenge- A challenge to live lives of justice and righteousness- To root out anywhere in our lives where we are not living like God’s people- To consider if there are ways in which we are not acting as inheritors of God’s blessing to Abraham, which is that we are blessed by God to be a blessing to others.

So this Gaudete Sunday we do rejoice. In the midst of the challenge, we rejoice. And we do so because even the challenge is a blessing. The challenge is for our own good. It is a call to greater spiritual health, and a closer relationship with God. Amen