Devotion for the Monday of the Second Week in Advent

Theme for the week: love

Devotion for the monday of the second Week in Advent (Day 9)

Reading: Luke 3:1–17 (NRSV)

¹ In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, ² during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³ He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. ⁵ Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; ⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” ⁷ John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹ Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” ¹⁰ And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” ¹¹ In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” ¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³ He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” ¹⁴ 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.” ¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ 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.”

Reflection:

For those of you who were in church yesterday or who read the Revised Common Lectionary Reading for the Second Sunday in Advent, this reading will sound familiar. Yesterday we read Matthew’s version of the story of John the Baptist in the wilderness. This morning’s reading is Luke’s version of the same story. There are some differences in these versions which emphasize some of the differences between these two gospel writers, the points they are trying to make and their audiences. The one difference that I would like to reflect on this morning is the question Luke has the people ask John, a section which is missing in the Matthew Gospel.

The general crowds, the tax collectors and the soldiers ask John for advice as to “What then should we do?”, after John calls them a “brood of vipers”. John’s advice to them is advice that looks a lot like “kingdom living”. In other words, John the Baptist tells the people to live as if the kingdom of God were at hand. If you have more clothing than you need, don’t put an extension on your closet, share with someone who has none. If you have surplus food, don’t build barns to store it, share with those who are hungry. When you do your job, do it honestly, don’t cheat others and don’t cause harm to others.

This sounds like pretty simple advice, but I imagine most of us living in our affluent American society don’t follow this counsel too closely. Many of us, living in this cold winter climate have more than one coat, and yet we are not emptying out our closets to clothe the people huddled in the corners of the shopping centers and under the bridges. Most of us could survive for a week or more with the food we have stored in our pantries and freezers, and yet there are hungry people all around us. Even those of us who give to charity regularly and work to support social service agencies that help the hungry, homeless and ill-clothed are typically giving out of our abundance, rather than sharing our last pieces of clothing or our last morsels of food. In the kingdom of God, all will be able to live abundantly; no one will be living in excess and no one will be living below the margins.

This passage forces us to look at our lifestyles. We come to realize that we have been blessed with abundance and simultaneously to realize that we are among those whom John would have called a “brood of vipers”. We stand in need of the grace that is born and made human in Jesus Christ.

Prayer:

Pray for those who are cold, hungry, homeless and ill-clothed. Pray for families whose children go to bed hungry, who have insufficient access to medical care and who wake up cold every morning. Pray that your heart may be softened to recognize the needs around you and work to alleviate them.