December 13^th 2015.  Third Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL Luke 3:10-18

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Luke 3:10-18

When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do, then?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The first reading states that we have no reason for despondency. It encourages us to rejoice because the Lord, Our Saviour, is among us. In the Gospel, John the Baptist, we are told, announces the Good News. But all he seems to be doing is telling people to act justly and honestly. Is this the sum total of the Good News? Moral obligations? No! What John is doing is telling people that they do not have to be condemned to living lives of mediocrity and corruption. He is asserting that people have a beautiful nature that is capable of acting justly, of sharing, of giving bread to the hungry. This is not the sum total of the Good News, but it is a necessary beginning. If we wish to evangelize young people, then we must first tell them that they have a beautiful nature that has the potential for great good. And when the Lord Jesus comes, he is the one who can lead us into an authentic existence. John the Baptist states clearly that these moral prescriptions of his are not the complete story. He says that our true spouse is someone else, someone much more powerful than him. Jesus is the one who immerses us in himself, who seeks out union with us, who wants to bring us to the fullness of life. So we have little reason for despondency this Sunday, only joy!

We have no reason for despondency. Our Saviour lives in our midst!

The first reading from the prophet Zephaniah says, “Fear not, Zion, do not let your hands fall limp”. This image of hands hanging limply is commonly used to signify being completely powerless in a given situation. Zephaniah tells us not to let our hands fall limply because the Lord God is in our midst as a powerful saviour. He rejoices over us and will renew us with his love. If our lives depend on our own capacities and abilities then we would really have reason to let our arms fall limply. But from the Lord’s point of view, everything is different!

John tells people to act justly. This also is part of the Good News: the fact that we have the wonderful capacity to respond to the God things that God calls us to.

This Sunday is Gaudete Sunday. The serious nature of Advent is relaxed and we focus even more than usual on the joyous aspect of waiting for the Lord. In a very real sense, the Church is always in a state of celebration of that which we are living through. The Gospel passage ends as follows: “As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them”. John is spreading the Good News by means of the sort of exhortations that we hear in Sunday’s Gospel. “If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.” The tax collectors and soldiers are asked not to cheat and not to maltreat people. Evidently these moral obligations are not the Good News in themselves. The Good News refers to the public manifestation of the incarnation of Jesus in his public ministry. The point is that we have a humanity which has the wonderful capacity to respond to this Good News. If we have two tunics we have the capacity to give one to a person who has none, to give food to the hungry, to behave in a just manner, to be content with our pay. We have the potential to live well but too often we resign ourselves to living in a warped and unworthy way. This also is part of the Good News! The first thing to announce is that life can be very beautiful. It is not true that we are condemned to live in a mediocre and obscure way. God can count on us because we are indeed capable of responding to him.

The first step of evangelisation is to tell people that they have good and beautiful natures and are capable of being transformed by the action of Jesus. Then we can tell them of the wonderful things that God intends to do with that nature that we possess

We need to believe this before we can evangelize people. God calls us in the depth of our consciences to follow him and do good. If we can do not believe this then how can we bring salvation to anyone? We do not try to pour a bottle of wine or liquid for someone who does not have a container to receive it. And we possess the container to receive the grace of God, his mercy, his action within us. This is what John the Baptist does. A tax collector and a soldier were not exactly models of humanity in that period. The tax-collectors exploited people and the soldiers exercised violence. John the Baptist tells them that it is possible not to mistreat and extort. It is possible to act justly. When we seek to raise the new generation, it is essential that we help them to be aware of their beauty. We must do like John the Baptist who is not scolding the people but encouraging them towards the good. And this is only the beginning. The people were in a state of expectation at that time in Israel. John is trying to get people to uncover what is good in them so that God can act on them in a extraordinary manner. The Baptist announce that someone is coming, “someone who is more powerful than I am”. John prepares the people but what Jesus will accomplish is something else altogether. He “will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” He will liberate us as the winnowing fan liberates the grain from the chaff. We will be freed from that within us that is useless and burdens us down. God can accomplish great things in us! This is the Good News! The human being is beautiful and God loves him! God can visit him and dwell within him, baptize him and immerse him in the divinity, can fill him with gifts.

John the Baptist tells us that Jesus is our true spouse, the one who wants full communion with us

When John says that he is unworthy to undo the laces of Jesus’ sandals, he is referring to an Old Testament law that dealt with cases where a man had the right to marry a particular woman but renounced that right. If another man wanted to marry that woman then he had to undo the straps of the first man’s sandal and put it on his foot. This symbolized the passage of the legal right from the first spouse to the second. John the Baptist is telling us that Jesus is the spouse. Jesus is the one who will marry us and he (John) is not worthy to usurp his place. Jesus has a beautiful right over us. He wants to become one flesh with us. He wants to immerse us in novelty and act within us. So we have little reason to let our hands fall limp! We have wonderful things to do and to expect from the Lord.