HOMILY OF 3RD SUNDAY OF THE ADVENT — YEAR C
HOMILY OF 3RD SUNDAY OF THE ADVENT — YEAR C
HOMILY THEME: CONVERSION INVOLVES BEARING THE FRUITS OF REPENTANCE
BY: Fr. Celestine Muonwe
Zeph 3:14-18a; Phil 4:4-7; Lk 3:10-18
The book of prophet Zephaniah is set during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BCE), the king that initiated far reaching reforms in Isreal. In Zephaniah’s visions, God’s presence brings both judgement and joy. Toward the final oracle of the book, God’s presence brings celebration and cause for immense joy. Here, the expected judgement becomes mercy that leads to new life: “Rejoicing and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord had taken away the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Isreal, the Lord,is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.” The joy that is expected is the coming of the Lord, who comes not to condemn or judge us, but to save us.
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St. Paul retains the theme of joy and rejoicing in the Lord, that union with God brings in the heart of Christian. A Christian is a joyful person, that heaves his burdens unto the Lord in prayer, and does not live in worries and anxiety about the disappointments, sorrows and sufferings of this world. He is a person of peace, the first and greatest gift of the risen Lord.
In the Gospel, after St. Luke had talked to us about the prophesies of Isaiah concerning the coming of ‘the voice’ in the wilderness that John represents. He tells us about the preaching ministry of John, which drew a lot of interest in Isreal. This is because, for the first time, one sees a prophet baptising the Jews, therefore, signalling that they are a sinful people and the fact they are sons of Abraham will not save them since “God can raise children for Abraham even from these stones”.
John’s preaching basically took three dimensions: The first dimension (vv. 7-9) has an eschatological emphasis, warning of potential judgment: “Yes, even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees, so that any tree failing to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire,” and calling the people to “bring forth…fruits worthy of repentance” (3:8). The second (vv. 10-14) has an ethical emphasis that includes very specific ethical guidance to the crowds (vv. 10-11), tax collectors (vv. 12-13), and soldiers (v. 14). The third example (vv. 15-18) has a Christological emphasis, with John pointing to one who will baptize “in the Holy Spirit and fire” (v. 16).
In the second dimension of John’s homily that laid greater emphasis on the ethical dimension, from which our reading today comes from, we notice that the people of Isreal had converged in the wilderness to listen to John, whose preaching had cursed a great stir and interest in Isreal, such that many people were coming to him for baptism. After his escathological discourse and the threat of divine wrath, the people asks him: “What then shall we do?” This is the same question that the crowds will ask the apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2:37). Peter will answer, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Unlike Peter, John does not mention baptism in the name of Jesus or the gift of the Holy Spirit, as the solution to the impending wrath of God. Instead, he specifies particular ethical norms that constitute genuine fruit and serve as evidence of genuine repentance: “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise”(v. 11). John’s message is primarily a call for change of mind (repentance or metanoia) and a change of direction (conversion), which is concrete and practical.
At the first instance, the counsel of John appears like a minor remedy to a major problem. Hence, sharing of food and clothing appear very insignificant, but points to the selflessness, sacrifice, love and mercy that is at the bottom of the Gospel of Christ. It is a sign of the poverty of spirit in which one is ready to offer oneself to God by loving ones’ neighbour. This is similar to the demand that Jesus will make on the rich young man who wants to gain eternal life—“Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor” (18:22).
St. John the Baptist therefore, shows us how to prepare for the coming of the Lord in acts that are fruits of repentance. We need to share with others, our money and resources, talents, time and energy. This is the hallmark of the Christian message, the new commandment of love by Christ; “Love one another even as I have loved you”. Christmas season is the time we think of the needs of our neighbour; we share rice, meat, clothing to the have nots around us. It is the time, we show practical love, that are fruits of repentance and unity of oneself with God, who is Love. The question is: what have we to share this Christmas, don’t say you have nothing, you have something to share if you really look inwards and around you.
“Tax collectors (telonai—toll collectors) also came to be baptized, and asked him, “Teacher, what must we do?’” (v. 12). These are Jewish tax agents who won the bid for collecting tolls, tariffs, and customs duties for Rome. These toll-collectors can easily demand more than the required amount and pocket the difference. John answers their question, “Collect no more than that which is appointed to you” (v. 13).
“Soldiers also asked him, saying, ‘What about us? What must we do?‘“ (v. 14a). These are most likely Jews in Herod’s service, whose work is to protect Herod and those in financial sectors of the economy, like toll collectors, and to enforce collections. In Nigeria, for instance, it is usually a difficult situation with the security agents, whose stock in trade is to extort the road users at gun points . Bribes are collected from the rich to malign and unfairly punish the poor and the weak. John answers them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages” (v. 14b).
The most interesting message of John is that holiness does not consist in how much we have cried to God on account of our sins, or how many Novenas we have tried to make, but how much of our practical lives we have been able to change towards the good. Hence, Jesus tells us: “It is not all who say to me, Lord, Lord that will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven”. In other words, we must bring in Christ into all areas of our lives. Truth and love must be the watchword that should influence all our dealings wherever we find ourselves.
St. John the Baptist calls us to mind that holiness is not about doing many lofty things for God, but carrying out the small tasks of our daily life with love, and in truth. Those who sell food or products to others should sell them in truth and charity and not exploit others on account of lust for gain and profit. Those who are politicians should tell those they represent the truth, those who engage in handwork should tell their clients the truth about what they can do, how and when they will accomplish the task they had promised their clients. They should also be honest about the materials they have bought or sold as the case may be. This is true life of conversion and repentance. As parents and children in the family we should be conscious of our roles and our duties and carry them out with patience and love. As teachers and students we should be able to avoid all forms of cheating or exploitation in school.
John, however, does not tell tax collectors and soldiers to abandon their professions or find new occupations, but instead tells them to deal fairly and honestly with people. However, one can still resign from one’s job, when the pressure from above makes it impossible to be honest and fair. John wants us to bring integrity to our daily occupations. Our witnessing to Christ in our daily occupations can have a far-reaching effect in our places of assignment and can bring about substantial change in the society, in our world.
Meanwhile, are there occupations, groups, and societies that Christians should not engage in or belong to? A Christian should not in a good conscience neither engage in or promote illicit trades, such as drug dealing, prostitution, gambling, gambling or pornography, Yahoo Yahoo or internet fraud; nor become a member of secret societies, confraternities like freemasonry, Ogboni, Black Axe, Aye etc. Hence, John’s response to the tax collectors and soldiers, suggests that we might be transformational agents where we are. If the working environment is such that we are unable to deal honestly and fairly with other people, we should probably find a new job.
Finally, within the ambit of the christological dimension, John clearly defined and understood his position and his role in the salvation history on account of his deep knowledge and love of God. In spite of the pressure of the people who were in expectation, in search of a prophet in the stature of John, they mistook him to be the Messiah, but John declared: “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I” (v. 16a). Two points stand out here. First, in spite of his harsh assessment of the sins of this crowd, John does not deny them baptism. His purpose, like that of Old Testament prophets, and Jesus Himself is not to condemn sinners, but to save them. Just recently, in the “Fiducia Supplicans,” published by the Vatican on the blessings of same sex couples, the Pope was critised for asking for the blessing of homosexuals, who are seen as public sinners.
Secondly, John is quick to differentiate himself from the one who is coming, whose baptism will be more powerful. John answered that though he baptised with water that someone mightier than himself would baptise them with fire and the Holy Spirit, whose strap of sandal he was not worthy to untie. In Judaism, it was only a slave that could untie his master’s sandals and not a disciple. John saw himself as unworthy slave to Christ. What a humility! Our Lady in the Magnificat calls herself, a handmaid of the Lord, in other words, a slave of God. Humility involves our ability to understand our own role and position in life and avoid claiming or assuming what we are not. Pride is the tendency to assume to be what we are not, to act in contrary to what we are and who we are.
John exalted Christ, instead of himself. His entire mission was to point others to Christ, and never to himself. Our society today is the one that concentrates more on human worship and praise than God. Religious leaders and preachers at times project themselves and what they can do instead of God. In the Magnificat, our Lady’s first praise was to God, just like John.
In the baptism of John, we must realise that God cannot be limited to the past, to the way it was being done before, even when the present circumstances of things point towards a new and better direction for the present. Hence, we must be open to the Holy Spirit at whose inspiration John started a new era of baptism for the Jews, an awareness that being Jewish and chosen people does not guarantee them a place in the kingdom of God, but true repentance and conversion does. Our being Christians or Catholics alone, does not lead us into heaven alone, but living our duties to God and man in a manner becoming of the Gospel.
Finally, we have much to learn from the preaching of John. It was not about miracles and worldly fabours and wealth, but about sin and God’s redemptive love. Unlike John, in most our preaching, we are tempted to emphasize the positive and to gloss over the reality of sin. John, in his better model, begins by laying out clearly the sins of the people (vv. 7-9). He proceeds by providing concrete examples of fruits worthy of repentance (vv. 10-14), and promises that the one to come will have a wonderfully redemptive ministry to those who repent (vv. 15-17). This is good news,
Prayer
Lord Jesus, help us to be attentive to your divinity and presence among us, lead us away from false teaching and heresies, and grant us the grace, just like St. John, to flee from all forms of pride, that we may become your true and adopted sons.
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