The Voice Crying Out – 17 December 2017 – Third Sunday in Advent

On this penultimate Advent Sunday, John the Baptist enters to give us our marching orders:  Straighten the road for the Lord is coming!

And who is John? asks one of the Homily Service writers from 2002. John is one who is not worthy. He is, therefore, a model for our lives. He is focused on the One who is beyond him and who he yet knows so intimately that he cannot presume even to serve this coming one.

John is a voice crying into emptiness. Into the wilderness. Where we live. We need to hear him.

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Like the prophets before him, and like Jesus, John has been sent (apestalmenos) from God. The people in Jerusalem, in contrast, were the ones [who] sent (apesteilan) the "priests and Levites" to question John (v 19), as on another occasion, most probably, the Pharisees were sent to question him (v 24). Here we see an example of one of John's favored contrasts: John the Baptist, sent from God, is questioned by religious leaders, sent from human beings, the power figures of this world . . .

Who, then, is John? "A voice crying in the wilderness to make straight the way of the Lord" (see Isaiah 40:3), And how does one make straight the way of the Lord? By repentance.

This repentance is specified clearly in Luke. After quoting more of Isaiah's words (40:3-5 and 10-14), Luke has John the Baptist give precise answers to questions about preparing for the coming kingdom. His words have to do with sharing one's cloak and food; collecting only prescribed taxes, without the kick-back; and not extorting or falsely accusing others. Significantly as well, only in Luke's gospel are Isaiah's words from today's first reading cited at the start of Jesus ' ministry (Luke 4:18-19). –– S. Marian Bohen, OSU

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

These well-known words of glad tidings to the lowly come from the tradition of the Third Isaiah, who sings of glory and hope after suffering. The Spirit of God was promised to the messianic king (Isaiah 11:1-2) and to all the people (Joel 3; Zechariah 12:10), the Spirit always associated with the great works of God. The servant who sings the song describes the good news. . . Those who are singled out as recipients of the glad tidings are not the rich and powerful, not the religious leaders and pious devotees. The glad tidings are for the lowly, the brokenhearted, captives and prisoners, those who mourn. The salvation announced by the servant is one of justice and liberation: a setting right of all aspects of human society. . .  

The following section (vv 8-11) begins emphatically, "I, the LORD. . .." The stress is again on "rightness" and "justice." If the people are open to the salvation offered them––if they live in justice, creating a just community––then the "lasting covenant" will be theirs, and they will be "renowned" as a blessed people. –– S. Marian Bohen, OSU

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

The Christian community is to live the way of the Spirit: a way of loving esteem for those working to lead the community; a way of peace among the members and of mutual correction, encouragement and patience (vv 12-14). This exhortation encourages community members to "follow good" always rather than to repay evil with evil. The ideal presented here, though on a smaller scale, is basically the vision of Isaiah: Salvation is offered to humans in . . . their personal and societal relationships.

Whereas Isaiah's vision was presented as proclamation and promise, Paul's vision is presented as a way of life made possible by the free gift of God and made attainable when people attempt to reflect that vision and gift in themselves. –– S. Marian Bohen, OSU

S. Marian Bohen, OSU, a writer and editor, was engaged in formal education for twenty-four years in Indonesia, has taught at Marist College, the Maryknoll School of Theology, in Sing Sing Prison in New York, and in Stateville Prison, Chicago.

Homily Service 36, no. 1 (2002): 29-34.

John cries, Pay Attention! – 4 December 2016 – Second Sunday of Advent

The core of John's message is the same as that announced by Jesus, the nearness of God's reign (cf. Matthew 4:17). Matthew also identifies John as the one described by Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 40:3), reshaping the exilic oracle to point to the wilderness as the location of John's activity. These features of the text are typical of the manner in which Matthew weaves together a thick web of images and key words that resonate with important Old Testament themes and stories. – Aaron J. Couch

Matthew 3:1-12

Into the dark, quiet, watchful season of Advent bursts John the Baptist . . . His ascetic diet of locust and honey, his rough clothing, his earnest message of “Repent!” all seize the imagination. We sit up, take notice, of this voice crying in the wilderness, sensing we must give our full attention.

John stands as a man between times, and in Matthew's account of him, he is aware of it. He is a preparer of the way, sent to make all ready the One who is to come. His baptism is a baptism for repentance, a cleansing from the accrued detritus of sin. A sorrowful, humble recognition of the need for cleansing is part and parcel of its efficacy. Therefore, when the Pharisees and Sadducees come to the Jordan to be baptized, John is outraged. He sees them as insincere. They are not coming because they see themselves as stained and dusty, weary with sin, weary of the darkness in which the world hangs waiting. They are seeing this baptism as simply another gold star on their perfect charts. . . .

John is trying to shake complacency. His is a scream for attention, a grabbing by the shirt, in-your-face confrontation. “You think you're pure? You think you're favored? You think God can't do something completely new? Something is happening, and nothing will ever be the way it was! Wake up!”

John was a man of the in-between times, standing in the darkness, but straining for the light. And this is the mood of Advent. As we stand in the darkness and strain once again for the light, may we let our complacency be shaken, may we examine ourselves with eyes wide open, may we recall that in the Nicene Creed, which we recite almost automatically, there is a reminder that there is a new thing that God is prepared at some point to do: “Christ will come again.” – Judith Buck-Glenn

Isaiah 11:1-10

Having announced the judgment of God by which the mightiest of trees will be cut down (10:33–34), the prophet turns his attention to the stump that remains. Both the tree and the stump symbolize the nation of Israel as defined by the monarchy. The stump, the end of the tree, represents an end for the dynasty of David. But it is also the beginning of a new work of God. – Aaron J. Couch

Romans 15:4-13

The challenge for our nation during Advent, and especially following a contentious election, is to consider the meaning for each of us and for our congregations that the Apostle Paul admonishes us to greater and deeper concern for our neighbors.  

Paul insisted that the weak and strong should never despise each other, but instead act with love, accommodating as best they can the needs and scruples of their neighbors. – Aaron J. Couch

Judith Buck-Glenn is associate rector at Christ Church Episcopal in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania.

Aaron J. Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

Homily Service 41, no. 1 (2007): 21-31.