3rd Sunday of Advent Year C

Zephaniah 3:14-18a; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18

Rejoice! Why? because there is a solution to human Unhappiness – Jesus Christ!

 

A young girl went to her mother to ask her about the origin of human beings. Her mother said to her, my daughter, we are all descended from Adam and Eve: they were our first parents. Not very satisfied with the response she got, she went over to her father to ask him the same question: Dad, where did human beings originate from, she said. Her father responded: we are a production of evolution, we evolved from apes and monkeys, they were out first parents. More confused than ever, the little girl returned to her mother to say: mom, I asked you about the origin of human beings and you said we are descended from Adam and Eve; I asked Dad the same questions and he said we evolved from apes and monkeys: who is telling the truth between the two of you? Her mother replied: my daughter, I told you where my family descended from, and your father told you where his family descended from!

One thing today is sure – happiness is in short supply, no thanks to fundamentalisms of all kinds, and killings of all proportions. Our television sets are the theaters where theses violence reach us. Unfortunately, some of us are affected by the ripple effects of violence, not to mention collateral damages; these days, not even the Vatican City is spared extra security measures, as she celebrates the begin of the year of Mercy.

It might appear that the elimination of ISIS, Boko Haram, etc. will guarantee peace upon earth. But what about the gun violence, gangsters’ killings, substance additions, pornography and prostitutions of children or organ trades and slavery? Added to the list is the rise in the number of suicide cases, when individuals and groups believe that life is meaningless, so not worth living!

Surely, the list of woes plaguing our times are endless; listing them is sufficiently nauseating, but one good comes from this enterprise – humanity needs help! This help goes beyond politics and human legal systems – America has not succeeded in curbing gun violence; NATO has not stamped out Islamic radicalism; the Catholic Church has not obliterated child abusers from its ranks; narco-trafficking continues unabated in South America; the cancer of human rights eats deep into Asia; underdevelopment and humanly created sufferings have become cherished virtues in Africa.

Just like in our story above, where evolution replaces Christian account of human origin, all the different humanly contrived solutions to human problems are doomed to fail. However, there is a way out of human misery and the total failure of human enterprises to salvage humanity from its entrenched mess – God! God is the answer to the problem of a failing humanity, not to say humanity on the edge of a precipice. The first stage of human happiness comes from the knowledge that a solution exists in Jesus, the Savior of humanity.

Zephaniah 3:14-18a bases the joy of the returnee Jews on two reasons: first, what the Lord had done and, second, on the Lord’s presence among his people: “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more” (Zephaniah 3:15). The presence of God is in tandem with his intervention to bring happiness. This happiness is in two ways: the human person is happy because the sources of sadness and unhappiness are taken away by God, but God too is happy: “he [God] will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival” (Zephaniah 3:17). Fidelity to God is the source of human happiness, and human sadness and sorrow comes from a divorce from God’s will for human life – sin!

The sources of unhappiness, which are the visions of life contrary to God’s desire for human beings, that is, God’s desire to dwell with human beings, are avoidable by prayer. This is the point Paul makes, when he says: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). The power of prayer is essential because God only gives good gifts to his children. The things we pray for and do not receive, it simply means that God judges them unnecessary for our lives.

Another dimension to prayer is that it serves as a means to invite God into our lives and situations. The separation which our sins continue to cause experiences an overhaul through prayers because God returns to us when we invite him back into our lives. A sincere pray is a determination to change for the better as today’s gospel shows: a change that returns happiness to those who have lost it, and gives happiness to those who lack it.

John the Baptist gives pieces of advice today in order to ensure human happiness – the avoidance of sin – corporal works of mercy (sharing with the needy); justice – no extortion. These pieces of advice come on the heels of the request/prayer of the soldiers and tax collectors to John – their desire to change their lives for the better, and to invite God into their lives and society. “So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people” (Luke 3:18). Basically, every preacher’s job is to proclaim the “good news,” not bad news. Christianity is good news; and, it remains good news only with the presence of God in our lives and society.

Whatever our health, family, financial, racial, religious and political conditions may be, if we find reasons to be happy and bring happiness to others, God will dwell among us, and his presence will bring us joy. Remember that, every good action, like joy, is contagious; let us contaminate and infect others with the virus of happiness and goodness, for an eventual creation of a happy world!

 

Assignment for the Week

Could you be an emissary of joy this week: spreading only good news, not bad news by offering something nice to a needy person for Christmas?

 

 

An Exegetical Homily on Luke 3:10-18 for 2nd Sunday Advent Year C (Dec. 13, 2015)

Step I: What does the Text Say?

And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” (Luke 3:10) In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” (Luke 3:11) Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” (Luke 3:12) He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” (Luke 3:13) Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” (Luke 3:14) As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, (Luke 3:15) John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16) His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Luke 3:17) So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. (Luke 3:18)

 

Step II: What does the Text Mean?

Happiness is Sharing with One’s Neighbors

1. Continuing with our basic literary exegesis, we look at the tenses of the verbs in today’s gospel and deduce the meaning of the gospel pericope for third Sunday of Advent Year C.
2. Our pericope (Luke 3:10-18) is divided into two: Luke 3:10-14 and Luke 3:15-18. The first part (Luke 3:10-14) structures the text on past time and present continuous time. All the questions were in past time, and all the responses in present continuous time.
3. The past time used is the aorist; this means something done just once. In other words, the questions of the tax collectors and soldiers were once and for all. However, the response of John, all in present continuous time, indicate the perenniality or the continuous validity of John’s responses for all times, not just for the days of John.
4. John’s admonition to share one’s food and clothing with those lacking those necessities does two things: happiness comes from sharing, and needy situations engender unhappiness and violence of all kinds.
5. Christian baptism and charity go hand in hand. All those who came to John came to be baptized, having listened to his call for repentance. The ethical imperatives, “share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise” (Luke 3:11) demonstrate the practical dimensions of Christianity, without which unhappiness invades human societies.
6. The second segment of our gospel (Luke 3:15-18) distinguishes itself from the first by indicating that a Christian does not replace God/Christ, but simply mirrors Christ. The activities of John closely linked him to the Messiah, so much so that the crowd were confused about his identity. So, Christian identity comes to live through what Christians do; and Christian identity disappears when Christians do not live up to their ideal.
7. John points to his activity and Jesus’: “I baptize you with water . . . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16). Notice that John’s reference to himself is in present time – “I baptize you with water,” but Jesus’ is in future time “he will baptize you.” By implication, what John is doing is the precondition for what Jesus will do – the moral reform of the people makes possible the appearance of Jesus among them.
8. “He was announcing the good news, exhorting the people,” is my translation of παρακαλῶν εὐηγγελίζετο τὸν λαόν (Luke 3:18). The advantage of my translation is that it brings out the imperfect of the verb εὐηγγελίζετο, showing that John did not just announce the good news for one day, but many days, as well as make clear that the good news is a continuous – exhorting (παρακαλῶν) – moral boost for Christians of all times.
9. Finally, even now, just as it was the case for John’s time, there are those who will refuse to be guided by the good news; to such people, there will be God’s judgment: “but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” This judgment is not immediate, but in the future – “he will burn.”

 

Step III: Points for Homily

1. Happiness will be ours today, should we choose to reveal our Christian identity through acts of sharing and caring for one another.
2. The unhappiness we experience in life is consequent upon the inauthentic Christian living of our generation.
3. Our repudiation of God in moral and political spheres inaugurate all sorts of violence and sadness. God wants you and me to make him the centre of our politics and moral lives today.
4. There will be some today, who will refuse God’s ways. The Christian option is to be the change he/she wishes to see. We are to create the happiness we wish for.
5. Remember – “Do not curse the darkness; rather, light a candle!” Your life is your candle – you received one lighted candle at your baptism: where is it and is it still burning brightly?
6. It is good to be educated, but when human intelligence negates God and his commandments, sadness is imminent!