15 December 2024 - Advent 3, Year C

 

Theme

There is a clear theme of joyful rejoicing throughout the Lectionary readings this week. Zephaniah, Isaiah and Philippians all contain exhortations for God’s people to rejoice in the Lord. The reason for their rejoicing? God is with them. Even though they might face opposition, God liberates and offers salvation. The Gospel reading is another foretelling of Jesus’ upcoming ministry by the charismatic John the Baptist.

Scriptures

Zephaniah 3:14-20 - An instruction to rejoice in God and sing God’s glories. A song declaring that God is in the midst of the Israelites and they should not fear. God sings over them, declaring that a time is coming when all their enemies and oppressors will be overcome.

Isaiah 12:2-6 - God is our salvation. The Israelites will joyfully sing God’s praises as they drink from the well of salvation.

Philippians 4:4-7 - An encouragement to rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoicing is linked to gentleness. “Do not worry about anything, but pray about everything with thanksgiving.” The peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Luke 3:7-18 - John swears at the crowd who came to be baptised (brood of vipers). He says that we should not rest on our ancestry, God is able to raise up new children of Abraham out of the stones. Rather, we need to bear fruits worthy of repentance. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. In answer to the crowd’s question of “what should we do?” John responds: Share what you have with others; Do not take more than you need; Do not steal and be satisfied with what you are given. John then declares that he baptises with water, but one greater than him is coming who will baptise in Spirit and Fire.

Personal Application

John the baptiser encouraged people to take their baptisms seriously. He did not baptise people so that they could go back to living lives of selfishness and immorality. In the same way that John did not want people to rest on their status in society because of their ancestry, so too he did not want them to rest on their laurels now that they were baptised.

Being baptised into the community of believers requires repentance and renewal. Repentance means turning away from our past failings and living a new, abundant life of joyful rejoicing.

As we think back to our baptism into the Christian faith, how have our lives changed from before we were baptised? Have we become less selfish, more generous? Are our lives producing the good fruits that John is referencing?

Communal Application

Our local church communities are the ideal places to live out lives of joyful rejoicing. Throughout the history of the Israelite people, rejoicing in God’s goodness was paramount to their communities, especially in times of struggle and oppression.

The Psalms are full of beautiful, honest songs of God’s people expressing their hurts and pains and yet rejoicing in spite of them. Much of our worship music today is very personal. We ask God to save me, heal me, and fix my problems.

How can we learn from the Jewish people and praise God in the midst of our storms? As a community of believers, the local church needs to learn to joyfully drink from the wells of God’s salvation, even in the face of opposition, grief and struggles.