For Sunday
Advent 3C
Collect
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
Reading about John the Baptist in Advent, as people are preparing for Christmas, is an odd experience. It isn’t a juxtaposition exactly, but it is certainly a competing vibe.
People are flocking to John because his message of repentance strikes the masses as needed. They want to change their lives. And the reason is both something personal and common. Each of these people feels the need to change themselves and they know the world needs to change. They hear John’s message as essential.
What is at stake for them (and for us) is our delicate relationship to that truth. We know we need to change and yet so many of us hate hearing someone tell us why and how. It feels personal, like an insult, like going to the doctor knowing you could stand to lose some weight and then having them tell you that.
When the people ask John what they need to do, he tells them to be generous and not to exploit other people. These are complimentary messages that are for everyone, but have greater impact the more wealth they have, the more wealth is built on the backs of others.
Generosity is an easy message this time of year. But a refusal to be selfish, to deny others of protection: clothes, homes, food, water: to profit off of another’s poverty: that’s a message that is never easy to hear. Both are essential, however; necessary. And the more we have the greater the obligation to give.