December 6, 2009

Baruch 5:1-9   Psalm: 126  Philippians 1:4-6, 8-112  Luke 3:1-6

The third Sunday of Advent is called rejoicing Sunday because Christmas is so near. However, our readings today, apart from the Baptist’s dire warning, have already a touch of the rejoicing, the happiness and mirth of a Rejoicing Sunday.

Our readings are a

• Picture of festive dressing up
• Picture of  optimism and gratitude
• Picture of expectation and excitement.

Our first reading seems to be almost like a Barbie Doll party.

• Take off the robes of mourning and misery
• Put on the garments of the splendour of God’s glory
• Put on the cloak of God’s justice
• Put on a crown of praise of God’s name.

There will be joy and light, not darkness for the People of Israel. There will be mercy for those who have fallen by the wayside, and justice for those who have been maltreated.

Baruch was the secretary of the Prophet Jeremiah. You will not find the Book of Baruch in the Hebrew Scriptures nor in the Protestant Bibles. In the Catholic Bibles you will find the Book of Baruch among the Apocryphal books. He is accepted in the same way as the Prophet Daniel. However, Baruch’s prophecy resembles the other prophets of the exile.

Our first readings from these four Sundays in Lent have to deal with different prophets all telling the exiled People of Israel that they are going to return from Babylonian exile. There is a sense of optimism, hope and excitement. It is a fitting tone to the excitement we too must have with the understanding, that redemptive powers of the little child, will touch our own dry and arid hearts. It is a message that is timely in a rather pessimistic world. The pessimism is however grounded on hard facts of recession, bad personal financing, irresponsible loans made by greedy banks who hoped for massive returns through interest rates and bonds.

In our second reading we have a Picture of thanksgiving and optimism.

It is a short letter of only four chapters and 104 verses, Paul's Letter to the Philippians is amazingly profound. The Philippians were one of the favourite churches of Paul. This community bore much fruit and you can see it in the tone of Paul’s letter. Reading this passage, I pictured Niagara Falls. One is amazed at the amount of water that keeps “falling” and when you think you are satisfied with the sight, there is still more water falling.

Paul is full of praise and thanksgiving for this community. He remarks on

• The overflow of love experienced in this community
• The abundance of knowledge
• The fullness of insight.

This reminds us of the reading of the first Tuesday of Advent from Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord brings a spirit of wisdom and knowledge, a spirit of counsel and courage, a spirit of understanding and the fear of God. It is no surprise that Paul is gushing like Niagara falls in his praise of God for these gifts on this community and he is overwhelmed with a spirit of gratitude.

In our Gospel we have a Picture of History and Anticipation

The Gospel of Luke is like the beginning of a movie picture. In the movies you see a woman holding a torch like the statue of liberty and lights flashing in all directions. Luke seeks to join heaven and earth. The Word of God is coming from heaven. It is coming in glory. It is coming bearing gifts. However it is embedded in history and Luke trots out all the historical figures of his time, to show when and where the Word of God entered this world. It would be like saying

When Stephen Harper was the Prime Minister of Canada

When Obama was the President of the United States

When the Filipino Boxer Manny Pacquiao made history in the boxing ring

On the fifth anniversary of the Tsunami minus one day,

The Word found a place and was welcomed in the hearts of the little children of Our Lady of Lourdes.

But our welcome and acceptance is not total, there is still a “beware sign”. John the Baptist brings the warning. He speaks of preparing the way – every mountain will be laid low and every valley will be filled. He is not speaking of the physical levelling of hills and valleys, these are too beautiful and they continue to show the glory of God.

He is speaking of the hills of arrogance, selfishness, self-gratification and the delusion of self-sufficiency. He is speaking of the valleys of despair, depression, addictions of all sorts which keep on bringing us to the level of the dust from which we were made. But we are not destined to remain there.

The story is told of a man who found an abandonned eagle’s nest with an egg. He put the egg together with those that were being hatched in his farmyard. The eagle was hatched and scratched and pecked at the ground like the other chickens. He did not do anything the other chickens did not do. One day he saw an eagle soaring majestically in the sky, he said, “would it not be wonderful if we could soar like that bird, high in the sky.”

“Forget about that,” said the other chickens. “We are chickens, we stay on the ground, we dig the ground for worms, and we scratch the ground when we cannot find any”. And so the mighty eagle stayed on the ground, scratching and pecking like a chicken, because he believed he was one of them.

We are not called to be chickens, we are called to soar like eagles, and hence we Prepare the way of the Lord.