Homily for 2d Sunday of Advent

Homily for the
2d Sunday of Advent

Dec. 8, 2019

Matt 3: 1-12
St. Pius X, Scarsdale, N.Y.

“John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea…” (Matt 3: 1)

The preaching of John the Baptist (Pieter Bruegel the Elder)

With this Sunday’s gospel, we begin a transition from looking toward Christ’s 2d coming at some unknown time in the future—the End Time, the Last Day that figures so prominently in the prophecies of Isaiah—toward Christ’s historical 1st coming.  The End Time isn’t entirely gone from our Scripture readings, however.  The passage from Isaiah this morning (11:1-10) begins, “On that day” and speaks of the coming of the great Judge of the universe and with him an era of universal peace.  The preaching of John the Baptist announces not only the coming of the Lord in the ministry of Jesus but also of “the coming wrath” (3:7), of bad trees “being thrown into the fire” (3:10), of “chaff being burnt with unquenchable fire” (3:12)—of judgment on evildoers, in other words.

John appears out of nowhere, it seems; he emerges in the desert and preaches there.  But he has an audience:  “Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized … as they acknowledged their sins” (3:5-6).  Scholars tell us that at this time in Israel’s history people were feverish with expectation of some kind of divine deliverance from the oppressions of Rome and of their hard daily lives.  Today we may speak of a 1% who make up the crème-de-la-crème of society, but we have a very substantial middle class.  Not so in 1st-century Palestine, or anywhere else in the ancient world.  Below the 1% of the nobility and the rich there may have been another 1% of merchants, artisans, scholars, and priests who constituted a middle class; and then there were the 98% living in wretched poverty, trying to scratch a living out of the soil, and to avoid getting into trouble with landowners, tax collectors, and other authorities.

So if John the Baptist came announcing that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, hopeful people would be eager to hear what he had to say.  He came resembling the prophet Elijah of old, emerging from the desert and dressed as the prophet had dressed.  The prophet Malachi had foretold Elijah’s return before the “great and terrible day of the Lord” (Mal 3:23).  So the Lord’s day seemed to be at hand, with John as Elijah announcing its approach.

Indeed, John does announce its approach with a call to repentance, speaking the same message that Jesus will speak when he begins his public ministry:  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (3:2).  The baptism that John performs is a sign of repentance, of people wishing to be cleansed of their sins.  John promises something better in the future, a baptism “with the Holy Spirit and fire” when a mightier prophet than he will come (3:11).  That reference to the Holy Spirit echoes Isaiah’s prophecy that the spirit of the Lord will rest upon the Messiah, the “shoot that shall sprout from the stump of Jesse” (11:1), and the Spirit will guide the Messiah as just judge and bringer of peace.  By baptizing others with the Spirit, by burning them with cleansing fire, the Messiah, the one mightier than John, will inaugurate the kingdom of heaven.

This is what John promises, what the prophets of old had forecast.  And it’s wonderful news, good news, gospel!  We want to be relieved of the burdens both of our sins and of our daily grind.  We want to be delivered.  We want to be saved.  We want the peace, security, and joy of heaven.

There’s a catch, tho.  John (and after him, Jesus) demands repentance.  Getting dipped in the Jordan means nothing if one doesn’t renounce one’s sins—just as our Christian rituals like adult Baptism and the sacrament of Reconciliation are useless if they’re not signs of sincere conversion.  And John turns on those whose appearance at the Jordan he knows isn’t sincere, “many of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” whom he calls out as a “brood of vipers” (3:7), a bunch of snakes.  His denunciation foreshadows Jesus’ future troubles and eventual condemnation by these same snakes—men interested not in justice, in the struggles of “the land’s afflicted” (Is 11:4) but in their own power, wealth, comfort, and prestige.  John demands that they give evidence of their repentance—evidence in their actions, not in their descent from Abraham (3:8-9).  The just Judge, when he comes, will be strict and severe, “gathering his wheat into his barn and burning the chaff” with hellfire (cf. 3:12).

John’s preaching is addressed to us, sisters and brothers.  In the Collect of today’s Mass, we prayed to the Father that “no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son.”  As we look for the coming of the Lord—coming on Dec. 25, coming at this Eucharistic celebration, coming on the Last Day, coming on the day when he will call us to himself—we need to “acknowledge our sins,” for which we have our daily examination of conscience and a brief moment at the start of Mass, and to seek cleansing thru repentance and sacramental confession—thru the Holy Spirit and fire.

What do we repent of?  St. Paul suggests today that we “think in harmony with one another” (Rom 15:5), which is a little vague.  We might examine ourselves about truthfulness with one another, fair treatment, gossip, patience, consideration and helpfulness.  We might review our relationship with Jesus Christ, e.g., in daily prayer and attention to his teachings about purity of mind and body.  We might consider our use of time—at work, in our family relationships, at our electronic devices.  Those are just some examples; you can find some good examinations of conscience on line, tools to help us repent, to “learn of heavenly wisdom” (Collect), and to get ready for the coming of God’s kingdom in the person of Jesus our Lord.