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AN OVERVIEW OF THIS
SUNDAY’S READINGS
COI & RC
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SERMON NOTES (843 words)
The approach of Christmas
is associated with a time of preparation, waiting and renewal. Here, in the
northern hemisphere, we are closing in rapidly on the shortest day of the year,
circa 21 December. When steering the liturgy of the young Christian communities
in the first centuries after Christ, the disciples of Jesus were very much
conscious of pagan myths and rituals especially around the times of the winter
and summer solstices and spring or autumn equinox. In the advanced religion of the Jewish people
the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, has
a special place in the Northern winter around this time of the year. A festival
of lights is also found among other religions including Hinduism and Buddhism.
When it is darkest there is a natural human desire to witness some light. In a striking way, this innate human desire
is illustrated in a spectacular way in the construction of Newgrange some 5,000 years ago.
For us, today, Christmas stands at a secular crossroads with
many roads leading to and from IKEA, B&Q, Tesco and others leading in other
directions among which are counted (if we are fortunate or not) office parties,
drinks, meeting up, a trip back to Ireland for the emigrants or somewhere else,
Mass once a year with the grandparents, family get-together, walks by the sea
or mountains, the sales on ‘Boxing Day’ (it is still called St Stephen’s Day in
Ireland at least for now), back to work, January bills etc. This time of year
brings many memories to people – mostly happy and wonderful but sometimes not
since a place at table is vacant or some other reminder of less than happy
things in the past associated, somehow, with Christmas time. Whatever representation Christmas presents to
us we do well, I suggest, to take a trip into those dark places within us as we
tread gently there with candle in one hand and an anam-chara in the other. We may stop our searching and striving for
a while each day and stay there in that silent and not so bright place; waiting
and ready to receive in God’s own time and way.
This Sunday’s passage from the Gospel of Matthew might
provide a short piece of text to stop and think about in that not so bright
place. It speaks to us of someone who stood apart from the crowd and was not
afraid to speak truth to power. Moreover, it speaks of someone who is a sign of
contradiction. John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus, points to a new way of
life and a new order of things which is already breaking in to our world. He
was no ordinary person. Clothed in ‘camel’s hair with a leather belt around his
waist’ and with ‘locusts and wild honey’ as his food we are picturing, here,
not some finely clothed priest in the Temple or some man about society and the
synagogue. Here was someone who was a reproach to the social norms of the
time. Yet, people came to him. There was something about his message and its
impact. However, the cousin of Jesus plays something of a very backseat role in
the gospel. Just as Jesus emerges on the scene, the Baptist fades away. Yet,
his role and ministry is hugely important – like of that of Mary the mother of
Jesus.
When the Pharisees and Sadducees presented themselves for
baptism, John in characteristic mode was not operating from the manual ‘How to win friends and influence people’
in declaring:
‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”.
This declaration is a direct assault on a religion of show,
power and entitlement. Its purveyors miss the key point of real religion which
is to bear good fruit born of a loving relationship with a God who is no more
or no less than love. This is the meaning of true repentance – a decisive turning
away from what is wrong and harmful and a turning towards what is good and
wholesome. Such a dramatic change of
mentality and heart may be gradual or sudden as the case may be. For most of us conversion – in the true sense
of the term – is a slow, painful, two steps forward, one back (or one forward
and two back at times) process. To be
saved is to know that peace and freedom that comes from a life well spent.
This advent is a time to be refreshed and to experience,
again, the fruits of our own baptism. Advent is about waiting. But, it is also
about openness to change. Change is possible no matter who we are and where we
are at.
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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH MATTHEW 3:1-12
John the Baptist features this Sunday and next. Then he
fades away somewhat from the gospel story lines at least after the baptism of
Jesus which signalled the beginning of his public ministry.
v.1-3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. ’This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”’
John the
Baptist knows his scripture and knows that something new is hidden in the Old
while the Old is now about to be revealed in the New. He quotes Isaiah 40:3. Where are
today’s prophets crying? And, what do they cry out?
v.4-6 Come to the waters
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
A large number of people came to him for healing and liberation from
their demons. The image of water and immersion in it is powerful. It connects
us with a Baptism in water and in the Holy Spirit which would follow in the not
too distant future.
v. 7-10 John gives the religious respectables a
lashing
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”.
John did not mince his words!
“The Christian of every generation is called to be awake and attentive
to where society is slipping into wrong ways and to cry out like the prophet to
return to the ways of God” (Archbishop Diarmuid Martin (December 2019).
v. 11-12 a baptism of fire beckons to us
‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
There is a clear difference between John’s baptism and that
of Jesus (though it seems that Jesus did not, himself, baptise during his
earthly ministry). This distinction was
important for the early disciples to grasp since even after the death and
resurrection of Jesus some followers clung to John the Baptist. They had do let
go of the good Baptist to fully immerse in the Holy Spirit.
We live our own baptism throughout our lives and not just at
one special moment of decision (although this may also feature in the
disciple’s journey). The Baptism of John
was an important sign and challenge for the people of his time. The Baptism of
Jesus would not be revealed until after his death when he poured his Holy
Spirit on the those who believed in him. This latter baptism is witnessed today
by countless millions starting with a once-off sacramental event but not
stopping there because our baptism in the Holy Spirit and in the fire of God’s
love is never finished until we have run life’s course.
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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS
During this time of special preparation for the feast of the birth of our saviour we unite our prayers with those of Christians throughout the world. In particular we pray for:
True freedom of conscience and expression in society including the Middle East…..
Those suffering the effects of sectarianism, war and terror…
The people of Iran at this time …
The communities in which we live and work…may we extend a genuine and warm welcome to those who seek truth and love….
The Christian churches … that we may hold to the true faith of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit entrusted to us…
One another….
Other named persons ….
Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….
… praying in silence….
Loving God accept gather up our prayers – those spoken and those unspoken in the depths of our hearts. In the places we live, work and communicate, may we be channels of peace and reconciliation in a tormented world.
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