Third Sunday of Advent - Homily

Zephaniah, John the Baptist, and Paul all shared one belief: that the Lord was very near: God’s nearness didn’t act as a threat to them but funded them with a radical source of joy that no one could steal from them - not even the executioner. Their joy in the closeness of God gave an edge to their preaching exhorting others to make ready; it gave them a vision to see the far side of disaster; it moved them to draw others into that sense of inner joy would be catching.

  The picture of John the Baptist as a man who moves in deep joy is not one you hear about very often. John is usually portrayed as a lonesome figure, with a weird wardrobe and weirder diet, who rants and raves at anyone with ears. But John was a magnetic character who intrigued people to seek him out and also follow him. People don’t journey into the wilderness just to get insulted; people don’t become disciples for the wardrobe and diet. In John’s person people could catch something of God’s way

Which is why people ask him: ‘’What must we do, then? And John’s answer is to challenge people’s generosity and sense of fairness so that others may have reason to rejoice. Give bread to the hungry and clothes to those who have none. When the tax collectors ask what to do, John tells them to keep to the going rate without overtaxing people in order to cream off the extra arithmetic for themselves. People are burdened enough. Be just. To the soldiers who accompany tax collectors to protect them and give some muscle to their requests, John tells these heavies not to use their position as a weapon for their own reward. Be content with your pay and stop stealing from the poor and the weak. They extort from others, making them poorer; John exhorts them to be happy in doing what is just.

  John makes such a deep impression on people that word goes around that he might be the Christ. Again, that expectancy is a measure of John’s effect on people. John doesn’t claim to know who the Messiah is; all he knows is that he is not. That role is for someone else, someone greater and more powerful than John.

  John the Baptist and Paul both shared a radical sense of God’s nearness. Both were executed. The joy of God’s closeness was a power that carried them through times of horror, so neither had to deny the difficulty of his experience. Both men faced an opposition determined to destroy them; both had a belief to encourage them beyond the reality of imprisonment and execution.

  We all need a power that carries us through difficult times, that prods us on when we face the reality of our weakness and limitation. To believe in the abiding presence of a God who cares gives us a deep sense of joy in the midst of our own stops and starts. That presence always challenges our generosity and calls on our sense of justice. It keeps us on our toes. It enables us to continue living even when the calendar is crowded with dreary Mondays.

  Who knows? It might even put a spring into our Advent shuffle!