Homily: 3rd Sunday of Advent – Cycle C
Friends,
our readings for this third Sunday of Advent reminded me of a characteristic of
our human nature that I found intriguing, because it seems to be one for which
the Word of God has a solution. So let’s
consider it.
For
those of us who strive to live morally good lives, our natural reaction to
falling into an occasion of bad behavior is to revolt against that behavior:
that is, to say to ourselves, “That wasn’t good for me to do. I’m going to
avoid doing that again.” The interesting
thing about this behavior is that our response only seems to work when we are
reasonably sure that we won’t suffer the consequences for our past bad
behavior. For example, going too fast in
your car in front of a police officer.
If the officer doesn’t pull you over, you may think, “Whew. That was
close! I’m not going to do that again!” You
know that you won’t be punished for the bad behavior in the past, so you feel
energized to avoid doing it again in the future, so that you don’t put yourself
at that same risk again.
If
the bad behavior in the past is something that one can be punished for still in
the future, our attitude can change.
Maybe I stole something valuable and kept it. Many of us, of course, will be anxious about
that and will avoid stealing anything else in the future. It is within our nature, however, (as many
others have proven) to consider it this way: “Well, I am going to be punished
for this one bad act, so why not commit more of the same; the punishment, if it
comes, will be the same either way.”
Most bad actors have lost their moral compass and truly believe that it
is okay to continue with their bad behavior.
Yet there are some who have this attitude: “I’m going to be punished,
either way, so why not enjoy the immediate benefits of continuing to do these
things?” It’s an attitude that I’ve
heard some people express when they say, “Well, I’m going to hell anyway, so
why not enjoy myself now?”
This,
of course, is a terrible attitude to have; but it is an understandable attitude
if a person believes that there is no forgiveness for past offenses. A person who believes that he/she can be
forgiven of bad behavior in the past is very likely to abandon the bad behavior
and so to strive to avoid it in the future, so as not to put themselves at risk
for punishment again. Our readings today
are relatable to this situation.
In
the first reading from the prophet Zephaniah, we heard this: “Shout for joy, O
daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has removed the judgment against you…” “The Lord has removed the judgement against
you…” At the time that this was being
written, the land of the Israelites was under threat from being conquered by
the Babylonians and many prophets had informed the people that it would be
because of their sins that God would allow them to be conquered. Thus, the people lamented for their bad
behavior. Many of them, however, didn’t
repent. Rather, they thought, “Well, we’re
going to be punished, anyway, so we might as well keep doing what we have been
doing.” This message from Zephaniah was
sent to console the hearts of the ones who did repent as well as to call to
repentance those who were reluctant to repent.
It was as if God was saying to them, “If you’re waiting to know if you’ll
be forgiven (and, therefore, not punished), then here is the news you were
waiting for: ‘The Lord has removed the judgment against you.’” I imagine that this prophesy was received
joyfully by those who were reluctant to repent and that most of them untied
themselves to those who had already repented and joyfully turned to correct
their behavior. ///
Our
Gospel reading then seems to provide the “next step” in regards to this. Once someone knows that their bad behavior
from the past will be forgiven (and not punished), they often want to know, “Well,
what do I do now?” This was the situation
of those who had been baptized with the “baptism of repentance” of John the
Baptist. They believed John’s good news
that the Messiah was coming and with him would be forgiveness for sins (“The
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”) and so they came to perform
a sign of repentance for their past sins by being baptized by John. Having done this, they then looked to John
and asked, “Now what?” They wanted to
know, “How should we live our lives now that we have turned away from this bad
behavior. Thankfully, John had a ready
answer.
To
the “crowds” of everyday folks who were coming to him, he encouraged giving
alms (share from your surplus with those who lack the essentials). To the tax collectors and soldiers, he
exhorted them to be radically honest in their dealings. To each and all, the basic message was the
same: “Now that you’ve accepted the good news that your past sins will be
forgiven, do not return to your sin!” John seems to be addressing that tendency in
some of us to think, “Well, I’m just going to be punished anyway, so why not
continue”, and encouraging us to recognize that we aren’t going to be punished
and so to turn definitively away from that bad behavior so as not to fall into
the threat of punishment again.
Friends,
this is both the fundamental Christian message as well as our specific message
during Advent: “The Lord has removed the judgment against you”, and so we
should definitively (and joyfully) turn away from our bad behavior and order
our lives rightly once again. This is
such a happy message that the Church gives it to us on this third Sunday of
Advent, whose theme is Gaudete—or “Rejoice”. “Rejoice” because the judgement of the Lord
has been removed from you. “Respond” by
joyfully abandoning your sin and serving the Lord fully and faithfully once
again. In doing so, we will have no need
for fear when the Lord returns on the final day (even though the day itself
will be a fearful thing to behold), but rather we will stand with heads raised,
confident in the loving mercy we have received from our Savior.
My
friends, in these final ten days of Advent, I encourage all of you to strive to
remain focused on this joyful good news: the Messiah has come to us to remove
God’s judgment from us! Therefore, we
can (and must) leave our sin (our bad behavior) in the past and turn to serve
God fully in our lives. Where do we begin? Start with the Works of Mercy. We serve God whenever we serve the needs of
one of our neighbors. As an added
benefit, when we are busy serving the needs of others (both in our families and
beyond our families), we will have no time for sin 😊.
With
all this in mind, let us respond today to the command of Saint Paul in the
second reading and rejoice, especially in this Mass, in which we give thanks to
God for the advent of his Son, Jesus Christ, which removed his judgement from
us. Then, with Mary and all the saints,
let us go forward to serve God in our lives: both in our prayer and in our
works of mercy. May God be glorified in
all that we do in thanksgiving for all that he has done for us.
Given in Spanish at St. Joseph Parish: Rochester, IN –
December 15, 2024
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